NPL BME communities, Sex and the Law Parminder Sekhon, Deputy Chief Executive September 2010

1. NPLBME communities, Sex and the LawParminder Sekhon,Deputy Chief Executive September 2010

2. SampleOrigins Issues Horn of Africa • Ethiopia • Somalia, • Eritrea • Major cultural, religious and linguistic issues in working with these communities • Iraq • Bangladesh • Pakistan • Major stigma attached to homosexuality • Historical roots of NPL Muslim Portuguese-speaking • Brazil • Angola • Mozambique • Historically limited provision for these communities through mainstream London providers Who we are: Who we serve } Spanish speaking • Peru • Guatemala • Colombia • Innovative targeted pilot with Black men who have sex with men • Homophobia and stigma • Jamaica • Nigeria Other African and African Caribbean

3. NPL’s Experience • LGBT Asylum Seekers • Forced Marriage • FGM • BME young people and Sex and Relationships Education • Entitlement to NHS HIV Treatment subject to immigration status • Criminalisation of HIV

4. Sex getting into trouble with the Law • 1327 – Deposed King Edward II is killed • 1533- King Henry VIII made same sex male sexual activity punishable by death • 1861- penalty for buggery reduced to imprisonment 10 years to life. • 1957- Wolfenden Committee’s report recommends decriminalising consensual homosexual behaviour in UK • 1961 – Pill introduced in UK for married women only • 1985 – Gillick Competency Fraser guidelines • 1988 – Section 28 is passed • 2000 – Equalisation of age of consent • 2003 – Section 28 repealed • 2004 – The UK Gender recognition Act becomes law, offering transgender people full legal recognition of change of gender • 2005 – Civil union and Partnership Laws • 2007 – Anti Discriminatory legislation to protect

5. Sexual Orientation • 72 countries and 3 entities (Turkish Cyprus, Gaza and Cook Islands) punish consenting adults with imprisonment, while 5 countries (Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and parts of Nigeria and Somalia) punish with the death penalty. (ILGA 2009) • This impacts on UK communities because homophobia leads to persecution leads to individuals seeking asylum in what they perceive as a safe haven • July 8th landmark judgment by supreme court justices in London which deemed in the case of 2 gay men from Cameroon and Iran that there was a well founded fear of persecution entitled them to protection under the Convention for Status of Refugees and rejected the court of appeal decision that both men could conceal their sexuality to avoid persecution.

6. Forced Marriage • In 2009 Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support to 1682 cases. 86 percent of these cases involved females and 14 percent involved males. • Over the past year, the number of calls from men to the unit increased by 65%, from 134 in 2008 to 220 in 2009.

7. Entitlement to HIV treatment • If you are seeking asylum and have application in with the Home Office you are entitled by law to free primary and secondary care. • If you are a failed asylum seeker but require treatment you are still entitled to be given ARV’s as long as you started hospital treatment before decision of refusal (this includes HIV monitoring).

8. Entitlement to HIV treatment • 30th July 2009 Court of Appeal judgment overturned the decision of the High Court that refused asylum seekers should be able to access free NHS care whilst in the UK. • The decision to offer treatment is up to the doctor. The hospital providing the treatment is entitled to try and recover the costs of this treatment and many have an Overseas Payment Officer who assesses a person's ability to pay. • This has the potential to hugely undermine social cohesion, increase avoidable illness and death, harms vulnerable children and older people, and contributes to the spread of infectious disease

9. Female Genital Mutilation • In the UK, researchers suggest there are up to 3-4,000 cases of FGM per year. • FGM not cultural or religious practice but a systematic child abuse. FGM is a child protection issue. • FGM was made illegal in UK under 1985 Prohibition of female Circumcision Act. • Since 2008, 125 cases have gone to the Police. In 2009 intervened in 59 cases. • Specific child protection guidance should be made available to all professionals potentially involved in identifying FGM.

10. Sex and Relationships Education • Currently, English schoolchildren are taught about sex in Personal, Social And Health Education (PSHE) classes and parents have the right to withdraw their children from any sex education lessons up to the age of 19. • From September 2011 SRE will be part of statutory national curriculum and all 15 and 16 year olds will have to learn about SRE during last year of GCSE (opt out clause still there for parents before 15) (now proposal axed) • However there is amendment to the Children, Schools and Families Bill effectively provides an opt-out for faith schools from teaching full, comprehensive and objective SRE

11. Sex and Relationships Education • In 2006 NPL conducted a study into Sexual Health Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours among Black and Minority Ethnic Youth in London. • BME adolescents reported experiencing dichotomous, and often conflicting, sexual norms and values between family and/or community, and life ‘outside’. The pressures and values evident between the family home and outside environment caused a tension for some • Irrespective of religion or ethnicity, the vast majority saw the value and necessity of SRI. An appreciation and desire for good sexual health was universal among BME youth. Good sexual health education was expressed both in terms of avoiding physical outcomes such as unintentional pregnancy and STIs, in addition to psychosocial matters including being sexually responsible and resisting peer pressure to have sex.

12. Kisses Postcards 2009

13. Families against Homophobia 2005

14. Bhangra Against Homophobia 1995

15. MSM Campaigns