Albanian lesbian immigrant fears persecution

LONDON, Oct 5 – An Albanian woman who says she faces persecution in her home country because of her sexuality has been told she must leave the UK.
The woman, named only as K for legal reasons, is living in Southend, and insists she faces persecution in her native country if she is forced to return because she is a lesbian.
In June 2006 her lawyers managed to persuade an immigration judge that she should be allowed to remain in the UK because to send her home would violate her human rights.
But the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal has now overturned that ruling, meaning K will have to go back to Eastern Europe.
The tribunal heard K, in her late 20s, has known since she was a teenager that she was a lesbian.
She says in her home country lesbians are seen as “vile and disgusting” and when her family found out about her sexual orientation they told her she was “dead to them” and refused to speak to her.
She says that if she has to return home she will get depressed and have suicidal thoughts.
At the tribunal, three judges ruled there was no real risk lesbian women in Albania would face inhuman or degrading treatment that would breach the Human Rights Act.
They said that in general, lesbians in Albania were able to carry on relationships with other women and, even if they faced persecution from their families, would be protected by the state.
The decision was also likely affected by the recent call by the Albanian government to pass a law allowing same-sex marriages.