UK Rescues LGBT+ Afghans, Officials Say More To Be Rescued In Coming Months

UK Rescues LGBT Afghans: The United Kingdom has managed to evacuate 29 LGBT+ Afghans on October 29. The urgency to rescue the member of the LGBT+ community came in after a Taliban spokesperson made it clear that the organisation will not respect the rights of the community living in Afghanistan.

According to a statement made by the Foreign Ministry of Britain on October 30, the state hopes to rescue many other LGBT+ Afghans in the coming months. Thousands of Afghans including women, LGBT+ people, officials who worked in the previous administration were trying to flee the country but were unable to access the foreign evacuation flights.

There have been reports from the last time the Taliban was in power, 1996 to 2001, the members of LGBT+ were stoned to death.

The Foreign Secretary for Britain in a press statement said that the state played an important role in rescuing the group of people and are expected to do the same for "at-risk" people stuck in Afghanistan.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that the people rescued will be given bridging accommodation although she did not reveal the legal status of the people rescued and denied to disclose the route of rescue for safety reasons. "Britan is a fierce champion of freedom and rights of all people to be themselves and love who they want free from prosecution," said Truss.

Sebastian Rocca, the chief executive of Micro Rainbow, a charity group for LGBT+, said that safe houses are being established for the ones rescued. Also, the organisation will give counselling, jobs and health care as well as social workers who speak Pashto and understand Dari.

The Foreign Ministry said that two organisations that are putting in the rescue efforts are Stonewall, Britain's biggest LGBT+ group and Rainbow Rail Road, which is a Canadian organisation.

"However, our work is yet not done. We will continue advocating for international support for LGBTQ+ Afghans, including those who remain in Afghanistan, and we will also continue to work with the UK government to ensure that the LGBTQ+ Afghans who arrive in the UK are given the support they need to thrive, said Nancy Kelley, who is the Chief Executive of Stonewall, the group helping them to escape.

(Feature Image Credit: Todayuknews)

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