Edson Cosmas campaign goes global

A US-based lesbian and gay rights group All Out has joined UK-based 38 Degrees to jointly campaign against the deportation of a Tanzanian gay rights activist who is seeking refuge in Britain.

The groups have launched a global campaign and are asking supporters to write to Home Secretary Theresa May in a bid to stop the process.

Gay rights activist Edson “Eddy” Cosmas could be deported back to Tanzania where he faces life in prison for being gay if the campaign fails.

Eddy applied for asylum after moving to Britain because he felt safe here as a gay man. But after turning in his paperwork he was detained at Hardmondsworth detention centre and put on a ‘fast track’ process.

This ‘detained fast track’ process was introduced to deal with asylum claims in the UK. Individuals placed in the ‘fast track’ are removed as quickly as possible, and the majority of sexually-based claims are being rejected and sent on the ‘fast track’. For lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people who are trying to escape persecution, torture, and fear, the ‘fast track’ system is detrimental.

The group Movement for Justice has been campaigning for Eddy for many weeks and Eddy’s case is now drawing international attention. US-based group All Out and UK-based 38 Degrees have jointly launched a global campaign on the treatment of LGBT asylum seekers in the UK. They are calling for a release of Eddy and removal of all sexually based asylum claims from the ‘fast track’ system. In addition, Eddy has been on a hunger strike since Friday. He is demanding the right to a fair trial and Amnesty Now for all immigrants.

Eddy was told by an immigration judge that there is no threat for gay men in Tanzania. But Eddy told All Out by phone in Harmondsworth:

"Of course I’m in danger there in my country. They know who I am. They’ll arrest me when I get back there."

Despite a recent Supreme Court ruling in the UK obliging the government to take special consideration with LGBT asylum seekers many have been sent back to dangerous home countries where they face torture, prison, and death.

Eddy has won a reconsideration of his appeal and campaigners are asking supporters to write to the Home Secretary Theresa May to halt Eddy’s deportation, and immediately end the unfair 'fast track' process for LGBT asylum seekers.

The petitions against Eddy's deportation can be signed on the AllOut and 38degrees websites.

Teasha Bayles