Annual Report 2012-2013

April 1st 2012-March 31st 2013

Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees— Bay Street th Floor , ON MJN www.irqr.ca !!"-!"#-!"#-!"#" [email protected]

| 2

CONTENTS

Our Leadership 3

About Our Work 4

What is IRQR 4

IRQR’s Mission 4

What does IRQR offer? 4

Message from the Interim President of the Board 5

Executive Director’s Report 6

Meetings with the UNHCR office in 7

Iranian Voices on 8

Toronto and Ottawa Pride Parades 8

10th Anniversary of Iranian Queer Voice Celebration 9

International Meetings and Conferences 9

Financial Report 10

Statement of Activities 10

IRQR Donors 11

| 3

Our Leadership

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS Arsham Parsi Joni Serio, President Paul Durber, Secretary Hossein Moghtaderi, Treasurer

VOLUNTEER STAFF Deputy Director: Danial Amini Program Director: Samaneh Riazi Database Developer: Stephen Weiss Webmaster: Masoud

The IRQR volunteer board of directors ensures good governance and oversees the appropriate spending of our donors’ contribution.

IRQR Website: www.irqr.ca

IRQR Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/125495807546510/

IRQR Twitter: @IRQRTweet

| 4

About Our Work

What is IRQR

The Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees (IRQR) is an international, non-for profit, queer human rights organization based in Toronto, Canada, founded on October 9th 2008.

IRQR’s Mission

The IRQR’s mission is advancing human rights for Iranian queers asylum seekers/refugees to increase public awareness of their plight and to provide continued support to them where and when it is required.

What does IRQR offer?

The IRQR exists to support Iranian queers around the world. Due to ’s tyrannical laws with regards to the queer community many Iranian queers choose to flee Iran. In Iran, is a crime punishable by capital punishment.

Upon registration, IRQR follows Iranian queer refugee cases at the various stages of asylum seeking. We provide support during the entire refugee process, and also provide emotional and practical support once a refugee is resettled in their new country. Many queer Iranians flee to Turkey, since Iranian’s have no visa requirement to enter Turkey. Turkey is also one of Iran’s neighboring countries in the north. Upon arrival in Turkey, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) interviews these refugees and decides whether their case for asylum is valid. Upon approval, refugees are referred to a safe third country for resettlement. We continue to assist refugees throughout the entire process and even once they are resettled.

| 5

Message from the Interim President of the Board It has been over four years since our gallant little organization took up the challenge of helping those who have fled persecution in Iran because of who they love. We have worked to turn loss, trauma and despair into hope for the future and freedom to be oneself – in new lands, alive and having a future. In our largest cities, we Canadians cheer at gay pride parades and delight in our diversity. But we also know that the society we are still building needs our energies to demonstrate the value of liberties. Causes like our brothers, sisters and cousins from Iran remind us of who we want to be ourselves. We can draw inspiration from stories of their struggles, their courage in exile and their finding companionship even in the devastation of their lives. The IRQR has continued to showcase those stories. They deserve to be heard. They bring us to the heart centre of our own lives, to what ultimately matters to us as human beings. I have read many of the stories in our website – www.irqr.ca and urge you to do so as well. It has not been an easy year for them, or for the IRQR. We have had to work a little harder to help our refugees through the ever-lengthening waiting lines in Turkey to get permits and visas. With wars and civil unrest in that part of the world, it is becoming more crowded with exiles. Our Executive Director, Arsham Parsi still maintains his sunny and hopeful energies, reaching out to people who have little or no resources and practically no protection in their temporary asylum in Turkey. Our challenges also continue to be those of resources, which Arsham has helped us to meet, giving up our office for on-the-go facilities where we can meet those refugees who have come to Toronto for new lives, counselling and supporting them. We have said a grateful au revoir to our President, Joni Serio, and wished her the best with a new young family. And we have been thankful to old friends like Gilles Marchildon for help in finding three new, enthusiastic supporters who would like to join our Board. This coming year we are sure that with further support from long-time and new donors here and in the United States and Europe, our finances will recover and that our means for helping Iranian GLBT refugees will improve. The needs are great and we cannot foresee changes in Iran that will stop the deprivation of rights to love and even to live. Finally, we thank all those supporters. Without you, we could not have helped the hundreds who have escaped to Europe and North America, and continue to do so. You are indeed our “good Samaritans”.

Paul Durber Interim President Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees

| 6

Executive Director’s Report We have had the highest number of refugees per year in 2012. At least 158 Iranian queers were forced to leave all their belongings and escape their family, friends and home to seek asylum in order to be safe just for being a queer individual. I am only referring to those who approached the IRQR for assistance and this does not include all Iranian queer asylum seekers and refugees. In 2012, we had 3 additional refugees per month in comparison with our 2011’s records, which amounts to 13 new refugees every month. This is a significant increase in number of our refugees but our resources have remained almost the same. While we have made every effort to accommodate the increasing demand, it has been a challenge addressing all concerns. For example, we were responding our emails within 48 hours in 2010-2011 and it was increased to 10 business days in 2012 and 15 business days in 2013. It is one of our major concerns because there are a lot of urgent email communications and requests that are a matter of life and death. The 15 days waiting time is a long time to wait in the special circumstances. The Board has agreed that we need to improve our fund-raising to bring our staff resources to a level that makes us effective. We have also had to reduce travel, even though visits to Turkey and meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other officials produces real progress for our refugees. Unfortunately, I was not able to pay a visit to Turkey since January 2013 and in last eight months just two refugees left Turkey to Canada compared to our past experience that we had at least two new comers every month in Canada when I was able to travel to Turkey every other month. We know that we need to get past this financial shortfall. That is something many not-for-profits also face, so we know we can meet the challenge. We also have achieved a great deal without a lot of money. With more, we are convinced of greater success. We are getting ready to welcome our new members of the boards and I would like to use this opportunity to thank the previous, current and future board of directors because without their support, I were not able to do much. Moreover, I would like to sincerely thank our dedicated volunteers especially Ms. Samaneh Riazi for their wonderful help and support.

Sincerely Yours, Arsham Parsi

| 7

Meetings with the UNHCR office in Turkey

In April and September 2012, and January 2013, I traveled to Turkey to meet with officials at the UNHCR office in Ankara. Over the past few years we have built a strong relationship with UNHCR offices in Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia and India to follow the Iranian queer asylum seekers/refugees cases. The UNHCR office in Ankara has been extremely helpful in recognizing the urgency in some of our cases and expediting the refugee process. We continue to work closely with the UNHCR offices around the world to provide them with the most up-to-date information on the situation in Iran.

Our Success · Total number of applications from 2005 to August 1st, 2013: 750 · 64% were granted refugee status and resettled/will be resettled in Canada, the USA and Europe · 8% were interviewed and they are still waiting for their refugee status · 14% are waiting to be interviewed · 10% were rejected mostly by European governments and they are in a limbo situation. · 4% were helped by the IRQR to solve their family issues and voluntarily returned to Iran.

| 8

Iranian Voices on Homophobia

On May 17, 2012, the International Day Against Homophobia, IRQR organized the Iranian Voices on Homophobia event in partnership with IAUT (Iranian Association at the ), SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency), Riksteatern (National Theatre of ) and Shahrvand newspaper. This event was a panel discussion, hosting the famous Iranian actress and director, Susan Taslimi; Iranian playwright and TV host, Kambiz Hosseini; the producer of Riksteatern, for Iranian Voices project, Mansour Hosseini and Dr. Victoria Tahmasebi from the University of Toronto. Around 250 people attended this event and more than 3000 people watched this event on Youtube.

Toronto and Ottawa Pride Parades

On July 1st, 2012, for the second time an official Iranian contingent marched in Toronto’s Pride Parade. More than 30 Iranian queers, refugees and supporters participated. More than 700 people visited the IRQR’s booth and received the updated information about the plight of Iranian queers and those who had to leave Iran and seek asylum just for who they are. On August 26th, 2012, for the first time IRQR joined the Ottawa pride event. More than 150 people visited the IRQR desk.

| 9

th 10 Anniversary of Iranian Queer Voice Celebration

September 24th to October 1st 2012 marked the 10th anniversary of Iranian queer voice celebration week and its official launch party was held in Toronto, Canada. About thirty Iranian queers, their friends and family were in attendance. A number of Iranian queers spoke at the event and shared their stories. It was a great event and we hope to celebrate this historical event annually.

International Meetings and Conferences

In September 2012, I was invited by Secret Garden based in Amsterdam to to participate in the Queer Muslim conference and speak about Iranian queer human rights and international refugee system. Traveling to the Netherlands provided me an opportunity to organize several meetings with COC Netherlands, Hivos, and a few Persian and Dutch media as well as in order to raise awareness and create a professional relationship and possible partnership in the future. Moreover, Mezrab that is an Iranian cultural institution organized an event and invited the Iranian community as well as Iranian queer refugees in Amsterdam to get together and share their information in order to expand the IRQR networks. In October 2012, I was invited to speak at the 4th Funding Strategy Conference in Berlin, Germany. It was a great opportunity to share the challenges that not-for-profit organizations are facing to find a way to receive financial support in order to run their organization. In January 15, 2013, IRQR was asked to invite a number of Iranian queer refugees in Turkey to meet Hon. Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada during his trip to Turkey. Eight refugees were able to join the meeting and share their experience as an asylum seeker/refugee in Turkey and the challenges they are facing particularly when it comes to resettlement and Canadian Embassy application process.

| 10

Financial Report Note: IRQR’s Fiscal Year runs from April 1st to March 31st of the following year.

Statement of Activities

For the year ended March 31st, 2013

REVENUES MARCH 31, 2013 DONATION 19,355.14 CAD FUNDRAISING 771.42 CAD ONLINE APPEAL 513.05 CAD GRANT- HIRSCHFELD-EDDY FOUNDATION 12,075.51 CAD GRANT- PLANET ROMEO FUNDATION 5,633.39 CAD TOTAL REVENEUS 38,328.51 CAD

EXPENSES MARCH 31, 2013 DIRECT FINANCIAL AID 1,196.00 CAD TRAVEL EXPENSES 7,046.50 CAD OFFICE EXPENSES 152.60 CAD STATIONARY-PTINT 192.28 CAD POSTAGE-COPY 192.95 CAD COMMUTE 771.56 CAD OFFICE RENT 4,009.30 CAD COMMUNICATIONS 3,571.02 CAD ED SALARY 18,000 CAD CPP-EI CONTRIBUTION 1166.28 CAD MEETING EXPENSES 445.47 CAD PROGRAM EXPENSES 1,077.27 CAD FUNDRAISING EXPENSES 0.00 CAD EVENT EXPENSES 790.88 CAD BANKING FEE 64.40 CAD INSURANCE/LEGAL FEES 1299.00 CAD TOTAL EXPENSES 39,975.51 CAD

BALANCE SHEET MARCH 31, 2013 FUND BALANCE – SURPLUS (DEFICIT) -1,647.00 CAD FUND BALANCE – BEGINNING OF YEAR 5,007.39 CAD FUND BALANCE – END OF YEAR 3,360.39 CAD

| 11

IRQR Donors

We would like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to all our contributors for their donations. The succession of our organization would not be possible without your support. We are honoured to provide your donations to Iranian queer asylum seekers/refugees who are in need of basic support. We would like to especially thank Mr. Geert Oetken (Bonn, Germany), and Helge Tiller (Oslo, ) for being our significant contributions. Additional thanks must go to The Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation based in Berlin, Germany for their continued support.