Germany to deport Ugandan lesbian to country where homosexuality carries death penalty

On Monday, Germany plans to deport a lesbian Ugandan woman. In her home country, one of the world's harshest laws against homosexuality is in effect.

Deportation into misery or worse: The authorities want to force Angel back to Uganda (symbolic image) Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa

By Joscha Frahm

When Consolate speaks of Angel, she sounds freshly in love. "Angel loves to dance. Most of all to Afrobeat and Jamaican music," the 28-year-old Ugandan tells taz on the phone. "She wants to become a programmer, likes going to the cinema and swimming."

The two young women, who should only be referred to by their first names here, met last summer through a mutual friend. They exchanged Snapchat names, went on trips to the outdoor pool, and went out together. They have been officially a couple for a year.

"Maybe I'll see Angel for the last time tomorrow," says Consolate in a flat voice.

Since the end of May, Angel has been in deportation detention in Hof, a small town in northern Bavaria. The 23-year-old asylum seeker from Uganda is to be sent back to her home country on a deportation flight on Monday. As a lesbian woman, she faces violence, imprisonment, and in the worst case, the death penalty there.

In 2023, one of the world's harshest anti-LGBTQ laws came into force in Uganda. Despite this, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) wants to deport her there.

BAMF Cites Lack of Credibility

Because Angel did not sufficiently express herself about her sexual identity during the hearing before the BAMF, the authority sees no reason against deporting the young Ugandan woman. In the asylum decision from the BAMF, which is available to taz, it states that the applicant did not make her "fear of persecution" credible.

"The engagement with her homosexuality remained poor in detail, vague, and superficial," the authority writes.

"The hurdles to proving one's queerness to the BAMF are incredibly high," says Julia Serdarov from the lesbian-queer counseling center LeTRa, who is handling Angel's case. The authority expects a chronological narrative that traumatized people often cannot provide. Additionally, those affected must credibly demonstrate an inner conflict in a certain way to prove their homosexuality.

"These criteria are completely arbitrary," says Serdarov.

The Accusation: All Just Made Up

In response to a taz inquiry, the BAMF does not want to comment on Angel's specific case. In the written response from the press spokesperson, it states that considering the concerns of "LGBTIQ members" in the asylum procedure is an "important concern" for the BAMF. The "type and severity of measures threatened in the country of origin" as well as the "individual involvement" of the applicants are decisive. Since 1996, the BAMF has been using "trained special representatives" to address the needs of vulnerable groups of people.

According to Nora Brezger, a consultant at Pro Asyl, the protection needs of queer asylum seekers often remain undetected. "For people from countries like Uganda, where it is extremely dangerous to talk about one's own homosexuality, it is difficult to suddenly open up in an asylum hearing before the BAMF," says Brezger. The BAMF repeatedly accuses asylum seekers of just making up their homosexuality.

The Day of Arrest

When asked about the day Angel was arrested, Consolate's sentences become shorter. She has to pause to keep from bursting into tears.

Angel had been having problems with her papers for a while, her residence permit was marked as invalid, part of her benefits were cut. She was not informed why.

"When she wrote to me that she had been stopped by the police, I wasn't worried at first." They had planned to meet later that day to cook together.

The police then told Angel that she had to register again at an initial reception center. Both thought it was about a formality.

"I took a nap. After I woke up, the messages to Angel were no longer being delivered," she says.