Leads: Gursheen Cheema (3L), Mishail Adeel (3L)
Members: Rachel Quicahn Li (GPLLM), Jeffrey Ma (2L), Patrick Cowley (1L), Sian Shin (1L), Zhen Yu (Isabel) Yang (1L), Mahnoor Noor (1L), Madeline Schneider (1L), Caroline Swiderski (1L), Chelsea Gordon (1L), and Yu-Kai (Stanley) Chang (1L)
The Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) working group is expanding the IHRP database on country conditions, housed at the U of T Faculty of Law, regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity worldwide. These reports evaluate legislation, case law, and media reports to assess the status of LGBTQIA2S+ persecution. These reports aim to assist refugee lawyers worldwide, and we aim to partner directly with organizations that can utilize our work. This year, the team is updating the resources on South Africa, Latvia, and Nepal. The goal is to provide a more recent status update on country conditions that may impact LGBTQIA2S+ communities.
Students gain essential exposure to international human rights law concerns and have the opportunity to analyze legal issues and conduct value-driven legal research. It is important for law students to be aware of how laws and cultural attitudes in other countries can limit important rights and freedoms of LGBTQIA2S+ individuals. While the reports aim to help refugee claimants, they are also crucial for raising awareness about the day-to-day realities of LGBTQIA2S+ individuals living in other countries.
The SOGI Country-Conditions Memos can be accessed at https://ihrp.law.utoronto.ca/page/working-group-and-clinic-reports/sogi-resources.
