No Pacific Solution

LGBTQIA people seeking refuge in Australia face a unique set of issues. Among them is the horror of fleeing sexuality-based persecution only to be mandatorily resettled in a country that criminalises homosexuality.

At this Midsumma event we gathered a panel of leading advocates and experts to discuss issues facing LGBTQI asylum seekers. Our speakers were:

Dame Carol Kidu, former PNG Minister for Community Development, who holds the Sir Ebia Olewale Chair of PNG Studies at Deakin University.

Kristen Walker SC, a senior barrister with extensive experience in human rights and refugee law. Kristen is also an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne and has taught gender, sexuality and international human rights law at Columbia University.

Senthorun Raj, an LGBTI advocate and doctoral student at Sydney Law School. Sen has been awarded the Australian Lesbian & Gay Archives Thesis Prize for his research on sexual orientation asylum claims and recently completed a Churchill Fellowship on this issue.