Impact case study database

A significant increase in the number of Russian LGBTQ asylum seekers since the introduction of the so-called ‘gay propaganda law’ in 2013 created an urgent need for research-led interventions to enable judges in asylum cases to come to informed conclusions. In 2016, the number of Russians claiming refugee status in the US reached its highest level in two decades (1,912), having already doubled year on year from 2014-2015 to 1,454. US immigration lawyers suggest that the majority of Russian asylum claimants are LGBTQ, although the precise number cannot be known; the US Department of Homeland Security does not disclose relevant figures and not all of those seeking political asylum self-identify as LGBTQ as a result of political and societal homophobia in Russia.

Through the provision of expert evidence, Richard Mole has played a central part in the decision-making in asylum cases by five Russian gays and lesbians in the United States.

Between 2016-2020, Mole provided affidavits (export reports informed by research [ R1, R2, and R3]) in 10 legal cases: 4 of these cases (relating to 5 individuals) have concluded resulting in five Russian gays and lesbians being granted asylum in the Unites States. Mole’s research-led reports were central to judges’ decision-making: they provided detailed Country of Origin Information ( COI) required to assess the credibility of claims and potential risks if the applicant were forced to return home, in these instances to Russia.

Between 2016-2019, Mole was contacted by lawyers representing: a lesbian couple, who had faced persecution in Russia due to their sexual orientation and fled to the US [case 1, see ( A, B)]; a gay man fleeing Russia [case 2, see C, D]; a gay man fleeing persecution from a Muslim-majority republic in the Russian Federation [case 3, see E, F]; and a gay activist and journalist from Russia [case 4, see G, H]. The legal representatives explained that the legal standards for asylum had become increasingly restrictive and convoluted in the United States, making ever more critical the participation of a ‘country conditions expert’ who could speak specifically to the dynamics at play in the country of feared persecution. After reviewing the asylum-seekers’ testimonies, Prof. Mole produced expert reports on the credibility of the claims made in respect of their specific circumstances: namely, death threats and medical treatment refused as a result of the claimant’s sexual orientation [case 1]; the difficulty of keeping a same-sex relationship secret in Russia [case 2]; the specific threats facing queer Muslims in Russia [case 3]; and the threats facing gay activists and journalists [case 4]. Mole’s research has had an impact on the outcomes of these individual asylum hearings; individual asylum-seekers’ lives, and US legal practice:

Asylum hearings: According to the lawyers of the clients in case 1, Prof. Mole’s report [ A] assisted them in meeting almost every element of the asylum definition, including proving that there was no safe opportunity for their clients to internally relocate within Russia. The lawyers presented the case to the asylum office and went for the interview on 15 May 2017. The decision to approve asylum for this couple was issued in October 2017. The asylum office does not issue written decisions in these claims but the lawyer confirmed, based on her years of experience with hundreds of asylum cases, that Prof. Mole’s report was a critical piece of evidence and significantly influenced the positive decision and bolstered almost all aspects of the legal argument [ B].The lawyers for the client in case 2 similarly confirmed that Prof. Mole’s report was ‘extremely helpful’ and that they cited Prof. Mole’s research many times within the legal brief they submitted to the immigration court [ D]. The immigration judge granted the client asylum at his individual calendar hearing in January 2018. In case 3, the lawyer noted that ‘Dr. Mole provided such clear and precise research that the government attorney stipulated to his report and waived cross-examination of him, which meant the government accepted his report as evidence and saw no need to question him to try and impeach his report.’ He summed up that Prof. Mole’s report was ‘significantly influential in determining the possibility of future harm to Mr. R- [the asylum-seeker] and his inability to relocate’, which he explains as ‘vital in an asylum case [because] the immigration judge may deny the case if he or she finds relocation is possible’ [ F]. At the asylum hearing for case 4, ‘the immigration judge indicated she was so thoroughly convinced by the country conditions evidence we had presented that she was prepared to grant without needing to even hear oral testimony from Dr. Mole. […] The Immigration Judge ultimately granted ((name redacted)) asylum in November 2019, citing Dr. Mole’s report in her oral decision’ [ H].

Asylum-seekers’ lives: According to their lawyers, the impact of Prof. Mole’s research on the lives of the women in case 1 has been transformative: ‘prior to the asylum grant, both of the clients were living in limbo, and one of them in particular was suffering extreme anxiety around the pending asylum case as she contemplated a forced return to Russia. Interacting with the clients after the asylum grant, it is like interacting with different people – with positivity and a happy outlook on life’ [ B].Similarly, the granting of asylum in case 2 resulted in the end of five months of detention, enabling the client to live and work in the United States and apply to become a lawful permanent resident. Moreover, according to his lawyers, ‘he is free to express his sexual orientation and identify as a gay man without fear of persecution’ [ D].

Legal practice: US law requires that asylum seekers demonstrate that they have experienced persecution, or will face persecution in the future, on account of one of five protected grounds. LGBTQ claims typically fall under the ‘particular social group’ ground. In case 1, the group the lawyers put forward was ‘married Russian lesbian women’. With Prof. Mole’s assistance, they were able to convince the asylum office that this group met the three tests now required to establish a viable particular social group: 1) that the group shared a common, immutable characteristic; 2) that the group is socially distinct (perceived as a group by Russian society at large) and; 3) that the group is particular (meaning that membership in the group can be determined and it is a discrete group).

Richard Mole provided the Government of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) with Country of Origin Information for Russia in respect of LGBTQ asylum-seekers [case 5, see I, J]

Recognising that deficiencies existed in the Country of Origin Information ( COI) on which it made its asylum decisions, the IRB sought Mole’s expertise in 2019 to ensure that asylum adjudicators had access to the latest research on homophobic persecution in Russia in its social, legal and political dimensions. The IRB asked Mole to produce a report on sexual minorities in Russia for its national documentation package ( NDP) on Sexual Minorities in Russia [ I]. An NDP provides documentary evidence of the social, legal and political conditions in a particular country that can be used by adjudicators to assess asylum seekers’ claims of persecution. Mole’s research findings were incorporated into the IRB’s NDP report on the ‘Situation and treatment of sexual and gender minorities; legislation, state protection and support services’ [ l]. The report contains Mole’s analysis of the socio-political context of homophobia in Russia; the stigma, prejudice and discrimination faced by LGBTQ Russians; the government’s inability and unwillingness to protect LBGTQ individuals from hate crimes; the stigma LGBTQ individuals face from Russian medical professionals, and; the limited sexual citizenship rights available to LGBTQ Russians. According to the IRB, Mole’s research ‘contributes to our overall understanding of the current LGBT rights situation in Russia’ and ‘will serve as documentation for those involved in the refugee determination process in association with Russian LGBT-related asylum claims’ [ J].

The resultant IRB NDP report on ‘Sexual Minorities’ in Russia, which incorporates Mole’s research, is publicly available online on the IRB database [ I]. It enables judges in asylum cases to understand the background of the LGBTQ issue in Russia and helps asylum applicants and their lawyers by ensuring that the latter understand the contextual COI and are basing their claims of persecution on behalf of their clients on the same information made available to the judges [ J].

Mole’s research makes COI information accessible for all parties involved in LGBTQ asylum hearings in Canada: between 1 January 2017 and 31 October 2020, the Refugee Protection Division of the IRB finalised 116,790 refugee claims. Of this number, 8,295 claims were identified with the LGBTQ claim type, which represented 7.1% of all claims finalised within the reporting period. In addition, 129 LGBTQ claims were identified with "Russia" being their first country of persecution, which represented approximately 0.1% of all claims finalised within the same reporting period (confirmed by Representative of Government of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board [ K]).