TGEU publishes Organising On The Margins And Beyond: Strategies for sustaining trans refugees’ intersectional movement building & rights advocacy
Over the last ten years, the legal landscape for trans people seeking refuge has become increasingly hostile. However, from a movement-building perspective, trans refugees’ resistance and community mobilising have strengthened.
Our new publication, developed through the Trans Refugee Network (TRN), highlights the gravity of these challenges but, most importantly, amplifies the agency of refugees who are building communities and collectively organising allies in their host countries and beyond borders.
Sharing Strategies, Tools, and Collective Wisdom
This resource is a labour of shared love and collective wisdom from trans refugee activists and their supportive allies on the ground. It aims to offer strategies, tools, and insights to other trans refugees and partner organisations. Most importantly, it sets out to equip those who want to step up and support while offering ways to collaborate with refugees at the centre. It is not a prescriptive manual but an open invitation to reflect on these richly diverse insights, build on them and put them into practice.
Why this matters
Many trans and gender diverse asylum seekers face suspicion, discrimination, and policies that do not recognise the reality of their lives. Instead of protection, they often face more barriers, including unsafe living conditions, lack of access to relevant healthcare, and systems that do not respect their gender identities. While trans refugees are asserting their agency, reclaiming space, and speaking out against these injustices, they cannot do it alone.
The work of resisting oppression demands that we organise collectively and sustainably, creating and sharing resources, tools, and radical care across communities and borders. What we can do now and must do well is to be intentional about building collective power to confront all forms of oppression and to nurture diverse communities, centring the experiences of the further marginalised.
Why policy matters for trans refugees
The European Union has promised to protect the basic rights of everyone within its borders, including non-citizens. These rights include the right to dignity, the right to asylum, and the right to be free from discrimination. However, in practice, these commitments are not always honoured.
The recent changes to EU asylum laws create an even more hostile situation for those seeking safety. These policies call for faster asylum procedures at borders, more surveillance, and stricter rules for obtaining protection. For trans and gender diverse people, this often means less time to explain their story, fewer chances to appeal a decision, and a higher risk of being held in unsafe conditions.
About the Trans Refugee Network
Since 2020, TGEU has resourced and supported trans refugee-led organising through the Trans Refugee Network (TRN). Formed at the height of COVID in late 2020, the network is a proactive response to address the elevated isolation and vulnerabilities that trans refugees experience. TRN’s main aim is to coordinate and galvanise support for trans refugee community engagement and to enhance the collective solidarity for LGBTQ refugee rights advocacy in the region.
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We work across Europe and Central Asia to advance trans rights, build strong communities, and drive change through research, advocacy, and community-building.
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Views and opinions expressed are however those of TGEU only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.