About ORAM
ORAM—Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration—is the leading agency advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) refugees worldwide. Based in San Francisco, we are the only international nongovernmental organization (NGO) focusing exclusively on refugees and asylum seekers fleeing sexual and gender-based violence.
We run advocacy and client representation projects abroad. We recently formed an historic “Joint Secretariat” on LGBTI refugee issues with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland. Through this and other strategic initiatives, ORAM is working to transform the agendas of “mainstream” humanitarian NGOs worldwide to include LGBTI persons and to secure these refugees’ safety.
Our caseload includes clients seeking refugee status as well as resettlement in the U.S., Canada, Australia and other countries. In 2011, we launched the first-ever U.S. resettlement project for LGBTI refugees. This program is being expanded to provide a comprehensive framework of LGBTI-sensitive services and resources to assist LGBTI refugees in the resettlement and integration process.
Informed by our intensive fieldwork with refugees, we also conducts domestic and international advocacy to advance the protection of all LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers. Since our inception, we have conducted an ongoing campaign to inform key educators, U.S. community leaders and decision makers about these highly vulnerable individuals, and to include LGBTI refugee issues in the international human rights agenda.
Among our current research projects, we are completing a groundbreaking study of NGOs that serve refugees around the world. The survey of over 1,000 organizations is focusing on the attitudinal and practical hindrances to full protection of LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers. We are also conducting field research on the protection gaps facing LGBTI refugees in South Africa, Uganda and Mexico, focusing on barriers they face to police protection, basic services and access to asylum systems.
We also maintain a community focused program encouraging individuals and institutions to provide financial, vocational and housing assistance to LGBTI refugees resettled in the U.S. This assistance helps these refugees access community support and appropriate services, enabling them to become productive members of their newly established communities.
