How would you describe yourself and your organisation?

I’m a queer Afghan refugee and the Executive Director of the Afghanistan LGBTIQ+ Organisation (ALO), an LGBTIQ+ refugee-led organisation committed to supporting LGBTIQ+ refugees and people seeking asylum. ALO is based in Czechia and supports people both in this country and also in Pakistan and Türkiye, where many in our communities are still stuck in dangerous legal limbo. Our work is grounded in lived experience and deep solidarity.

In Türkiye and Pakistan, we provide crisis support like cash assistance and emergency guidance for LGBTIQ+ people seeking asylum in transit. In Europe, particularly in Czechia, we focus on building safer, more inclusive systems. We’ve developed practical toolkits for service providers, organised healing-based community events like ‘Queer Dance Therapy’ and led seminars for local authorities on how to support LGBTIQ+ refugees with dignity and care.

ALO also works to ensure that LGBTIQ+ refugee voices are heard in international spaces where they’re often invisible. We engage in sustained advocacy at both the UN and EU levels, including submissions to UN special procedures, interventions at the Human Rights Council, and briefings with MEPs.

Our aim is not just to respond to a crisis, but to push for long-term accountability and inclusion, so that no queer refugee is left behind or erased.

How do you see the situation of people on the move and/or the communities you advocate for in Czechia? And how do you see things across Europe more broadly?

In Czechia and much of Europe, the asylum system is not prepared for LGBTIQ+ realities. Many queer refugees have to hide who they are, again, because camps and services aren’t safe or equipped to support them. There’s little to no specialised or LGBTIQ+ sensitive care, limited legal protection and almost no visibility. And in places like Türkiye, LGBTIQ+ refugees live in fear of violence, deportation, and complete social isolation.

Across the EU, we’re seeing increasing hostility at borders, particularly towards transgender people and people with diverse gender identities and gender expression. This includes delegation of responsibility to unsafe countries outside of the EU, and a politics of dehumanisation.

For LGBTIQ+ people, this means being forced into prolonged uncertainty, statelessness or back into the closet.

In such a difficult context when it is easy to lose hope, what motivates you to keep doing this work?

The people we support. I’ve met LGBTIQ+ refugees in Istanbul, Athens, Prague and Berlin who have lost everything because of their identities and still find ways to show up for one another. That courage and care give me hope and motivation.

I also believe that the spaces we create, like community events, healing workshops and advocacy platforms, are small acts of freedom. Every time someone is able to speak their truth, dance or find safety in our network, I’m reminded that our work matters.

What would you say to people living in Europe with passport privilege, watching all this unfold?

LGBTIQ+ refugees have lost everything in their lives just because of who they are, so please understand them, learn from them and stand with them now.

If you have a voice: raise it. If you have resources|: share them. Refugee rights and LGBTIQ+ rights are human rights.

What sort of Europe (and possibly world) would you like to see in the future, and what do you think it takes to make it a reality?

A Europe and a world that is open, safe and inclusive for everyone, including LGBTIQ+ refugees and people seeking asylum.

A world where violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, nationality, etc. do not exist.

For more information about ECRE member organisation ALO, please check out their Instagram page.