About
Forcibly Displaced People Network Ltd (FDPN) is the national voice of LGBTIQ+ people in forced displacement in Australia. FDPN originated from the work of early career academics and activists Renee Dixson and Tina Dixson. In November 2019 they convened a Queer Displacements conference [1], [2]the first conference in Australia to address issues of LGBTIQ+ forced displasment. After the conference FDPN was co-founded by Dixsons promotes human rights and inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people who’ve been forcibly displaced through peer support, strengthening services and policy responses.PROJECT AIMS
Online training module on inclusive practice for Australian services seeing LGBTIQA+ refugees and people seeking asylum is a one year project funded by Pride Foundation. The project is delivered by a consortium of Forcibly Displaced People Network, Meridian (ACT), BridgeMeals (VIC) and the Centre for Digital Humanities Research (CDHR) at the Australian National University.
The gap in inclusive service provision for LGBTIQ+ people who have experienced forced displacement has been long identified by the work of Tina and Renee Dixson [3][4] and reaffirmed at the 2019 Queer Displacements conference. This project aims to create an online learning platform for organisations that a) working with asylum-seeking, migrant, refugee and international student populations as well as b) LGBTIQ+ organisations and services working with people living with HIV.PROJECT PRINCIPLES SUMMARY
- Use a human rights framework: the project engages a human rights framework to describe the need for the inclusive practice
- Be co-designed with people with lived experience: the project is led by an LGBTIQ+ refugee-led organisation, it partners with an LGBTIQ+ refugee-led project (BridgeMeals) and engages the LGBTIQ+ refugee advisory group to advise and contribute to the project design.
- Include intersectionality to ensure understanding of multiple marginalisation: in addition to sexuality, gender identity and refugee experience, the project addresses age, disability, intersex status to match the commitments of the Global Compact on Refugees.
- Have a capacity building focus: part 2 of the training module focuses on capacity building through activities, resources and tools.
- Be freely accessible nationally via an online platform: the module is open access.
Project Team
Renee Dixson, Deputy Chair of FDPN, PhD student at ANU
Dr Katrina Grant, Australian National University
Tina Dixson, Chair of FDPN, PhD student at ANU
Joshua Anlezark, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Meridian
Bridge Meals coordinator and LGBTIQ+refugee advisory group
To ensure the co-design [5] an LGBTIQ+ refugee advisory group will be engaged. This is a co-funded activity by the FDPN. FDPN will provide additional funding to reimburse their time as well as oversee the work of the group. The group will be engaged at all stages of the project implementation.
- Queer Displasment Report tina.dixson.com.au (accessed on the 28th, 2020)
- This is what it’s like to be an LGBTIQ+ asylum seeker in Australia www.sbs.com.au (accessed on the 28th, 2020)
- Activism and advocacy for LGBTIQA+ refugee and asylum seekers www.3cr.org.au (accessed on the 28th, 2020)
- Egyptian activist’s death puts spotlight on plight of queer refugees www.starobserver.com.au (accessed on the 28th, 2020)
- Canberra Statement tina.dixson.com.au (accessed on the 28th, 2020)