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Refugee status was first granted in a UK court over a person’s non-binary status, following a landmark ruling.
The sentence, in the superior court, was decided in the case of Arthur Britney Joestar of El Salvador after concluding that they would face persecution for their identity if they returned to their country of origin.
In El Salvador, transgender women have a life expectancy of 35 years due to violence. In the Latin American and Caribbean region, the figure ranges from 30 to 35 years, compared to the average life expectancy of 65 to 81.
In July, activists had welcomed the “landmark ruling” when a San Salvador judge found three police officers guilty of the 2019 murder of Camila Díaz Córdova and sentenced each to 20 years in prison as fundamental, it was the first conviction for a hate crime against a trans woman in the countryside.
The UN has repeatedly called for more to be done to address the violence there.
The UK ruling states that Joestar is likely to face specific threats, including physical and sexual violence, if he returns to El Salvador.
Joestar, 29, now based in Liverpool, came to the UK in October 2017 to escape daily abuse in his home country.
“When I walked the streets, people threw garbage at me from their windows; once, someone threw a plastic bag full of urine at me, ”they said. “In El Salvador, non-binary people are in great danger, I have seen corpses. Anything could have happened to me. I could have been tortured, raped, shot, murdered ”.
In one incident, in the capital San Salvador, Joestar was detained by the police. “One of the policemen started asking me about my hair, telling me that it was not normal, that they wanted to teach me to be a man. Then they punched me in the chest and threw me to the ground.
“I’m not sure which was worse: the attack or when they left me there and no one came to help me. I had a lot of bruises, my arms were bleeding and I was crying. But nobody cared. It was really scary, ”they said.
Joestar had previously been denied asylum in the UK. The first claim, in November 2018, was dismissed by the first-tier court that said police brutality “was nothing more than discrimination” and occurred only once. The second, in February 2020, on the basis of a non-binary identity, was initially rejected but confirmed on appeal.
“The way the judge handled the case: she just understood me, all the little details … she saw the big picture,” they said. “In the end, he turned to look at me and began to speak to me in Spanish, to tell me that he granted me the right to stay in this country and the right to be who I want to be. I started to cry. I felt like I was born again. “
At the appeal hearing, Judge Bruce criticized the earlier decision that the Salvadoran police attack was not a manhunt.
“It was a physical assault, by the police, motivated nothing more than homophobia,” he said. “Five minutes is a long time to win. I have no doubt that it was a terrifying experience for the appellant.
“Having taken into account the background tests of the country,” he added, “and the evidence personally related to the appellant … It follows that the appeal must be admitted.”
The judge said that in previous hearings he had made a mistake in using the pronoun “he.”
Activists welcomed the sentence. Nancy Kelley, Stonewall CEO, said: “We are incredibly pleased with Mx Joestar, whose landmark case will likely make it easier for non-binary people to seek asylum in the UK. No one should be subjected to attack and violence simply because of who they are, and it is vital that the UK offers refuge to those for whom their own country is not safe. “
Joestar hopes the case will help others.
“All the injustice that I suffered, perhaps it is worth it, to show people that there is something positive to take out of all the suffering. I just hope that soon people can see us and we can finally say that we are not invisible. “
