PRESS RELEASE DATED: 4/30/2020 ​ALIGHT and Event Contact: Steph Koehne:stephaniek@wearealight.org AHRC Contact: Melanie Nathan: nathan@africanHRC.org Fun-Filled Event at the Heart of Alight, AHRC and Refugee LGBTI Community Alliance in COVID-19 Response African Human Rights Coalition (AHRC) is pleased to partner with our friends at ALIGHT for the ongoing OUR KITCHEN TABLE initiative. Together with the LGBTI community in Kenya, we are collaborating through this programmin

Yesterday we reported and on the group of some 50-60 LGBTI refugees who had left their community shelters at Kakuma Camp in Kenya for the UNHCR Compound at the Camp, staging a protest and asserting security concerns, with demands to leave the camp, which is not possible under encampment laws and COVID-19 new rules. The refugees, despite extensive negotiations with the Chief of Police himself offering heightened security, and UNHCR, as well as warnings about COVID-19 shelter a

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, expressed today its concern about a sit-in in front of its office in Kakuma, Kenya, organized by some 60 people all purporting to be LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers who are citing security concerns and asking to be resettled to a third country. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resettlement departures have been temporarily suspended worldwide. The refugees camping out are fully aware that Kenya has an encampment policy and that they have nowhere el

African Human Rights Coalition (AHRC) understands the limitations and dangers presented by CoronaVirus with regard to refugees. AHRC, in alliance with partners and in conversation with UNHCR, has assisted to provide shelter, food and hygiene products to LGBTQI refugees in Nairobi and Kakuma, Kenya, in preparation for COVID lockdowns. Much more will be needed in the coming months for LGBTQI refugees as well as all refugees, and in adhering to the call by UNHCR for partners a

Today, Friday 24th April 2020, Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) filed a case before the Civil Division of the High Court of Uganda challenging the denial of the 19 LGBTI persons currently on remand at Kitalya Mini Maxi Prison access to their lawyers by refusing to grant permission to the lawyers to access clients in prison, citing ‘the current COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.’ The case is Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) vs. Attorney General and

Melanie Nathan: "African Human Rights Coalition (AHRC- African HRC) has submitted the following comment and objection to the CDC Rule change that is harming all asylum seekers, especially the most marginalized who make their way to the Southern Borders of the United States. The Letter I wrote, and formally submitted to the comments section of the Government Docket, speaks for itself. The Government has no reason for rejecting asylum seekers who can all be quarantined within t

African Human Rights Coalition is a proud signatory to a letter, in coalition with CGRS, tASISTA, the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, Tahirih Justice Center, and over 180 other organizations which was sent today to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, calling on DHS to immediately rescind its policy of expelling asylum seekers at the border. The letter notes that this policy places survivors of domestic and sexual violence at particularly high risk

African Human Rights Coalition is deeply saddened to hear of the tragic passing today of Ugandan national, and refugee Aneste Mweru, age 27. We extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to all of those who knew and loved Aneste. May he rest in peace and his memory be a blessing. UNHCR has advised that the Kenyan police have initiated an investigation into the events leading to this tragic incident. UNHCR has assured that they will closely follow this ongoing police investig

FACT SHEET RE KAKUMA CAMP: COVID-19 FOOD RESPONSE Emergency Response Preparation by ALLOut – RefCEA – AHRC- April 09, 2020 A. INTRO When the United States went into various forms of lockdown because of CORONAVIRUS - COVID-19, AHRC and other organizations realized that the CORONAVIRUS would be spreading to Africa, and that early preparation was the key. We hoped that even if the CORONAVIRUS never ever hit Africa the way it did in the rest of the world, that we would prepar

NOTE: Please make use of the COMMUNIQUE below if you are LGBTQI and/or have any human rights issues in Uganda during COVID-19. Anyone reporting to these entities are welcome to copy CASEahrc@gmail.com and to report your situation and the result of your outreach to African Human Rights Coalition, which is deferring to organizations on the ground in Uganda at this time. A joint communique shared on behalf of: Defenders Protection Initiative (DPI), Defend Defenders (DD), Gala In