Thanks to my post on Wednesday, I have been contacted by the law firm working on behalf of Alvaro Orozco, the 21 year old Nicaraguan young man who is fighting deportation proceedings in Canada after the Immigration and Refugee Board refused to grant him asylum based on fear of persecution for being gay. The reason? After a live long-distance video interview with Mr. Orozco, the court deemed that he wasn't gay enough and that it was unclear how Mr. Orozco could know he was gay at twelve years of age when he ran away from home as he wasn't sexually active during his teen years.
Today The Globe and Mail reports that Mr. Orozco's new lawyers have won a small victory: He will not be deported on Tuesday as scheduled as the Canadian Justice Department has granted a two month deferral (though they could have decided to grant him refugee status instead and did not do so).
I am working on sending published articles on the treatment of gays and lesbians in Nicaragua over the last 5 years that support Mr. Orozcos' fear of persecution should he be deported to Nicaragua.
What you can do:
A website has been set up on Alvaro's behalf at: Alvaro Orozco
Once there, you can get information on a letter writing campaign that might help to sway the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to grant asylum for Mr. Orozco (including sample letters).
To find out more about the case you can connect to video reports here and here (even if they were conducted before the two month deportation deferral).
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2 comments:
Andres, thanks for the heads up. "Not gay enough"...what the bureaucrats will come up with to deny basic human rights!
This is great information. I'll do my part and spread the word too. Thanks for the info.
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