International Expert to Discuss LGBT Refugee Protection April 13

Neil Grungras, founder and executive 

director of the Organization for Refuge, 

Asylum & Migration (ORAM), will give 

a talk on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and 

Transgender (LGBT) refugees from  

12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 13, 

in Room 1117 of the University Capitol 

Centre (International Commons). Light 

refreshments will be served. The event 

is free and open to the public.
  

Grungras' talk is titled "Is the 

International Protection Regime Failing the World's Most Vulnerable 

Individuals?" Grungras is an internationally known expert in matters 

of LGBT refugee law and procedure, and ORAM is the first NGO 

devoted to protecting LGBT refugees worldwide.

The lecture will present international law and procedure against an 

analysis of ethno-cultural realities in the Global South. Grungras will 

discuss the unprecedented violence against sexual minorities that 

has occurred over the last year in several locations worldwide. These 

acts, described by some as moral cleansing, drove thousands to escape 

their home countries in search of safety.

This event is co-hosted by the University of Iowa Center for Human 

Rights, a part of International Programs, the UI LGBT Resource 

Center, the UI Department of Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies, 

and the Iowa City Human Rights Campaign.

(Above: Gay Iranian Teenagers who were executed for being gay in 2005)