This paper problematises the framing and implementation of protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) refugees in Kenya by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Despite increased international attention being paid to them, the extant literature focuses on asylum-seeking at Western borders; there is a dearth of scholarship on LGBTI refugees’ experiences in first countries of asylum in the Global South. Building on essential humanitarian governance literature, the paper suggests that how protection is framed by UNHCR, and practical restrictions on the implementation of protection in Kenya, leave LGBTI refugees unsafe. Yet, their own attempts to secure protection, often drawing on the same human rights discourse that UNHCR utilises in its guidance, renders them even less ‘protectable’ by UNHCR and Kenyan activists. This paper argues for a more critical and contextualised approach to ‘protection’ as a form of humanitarian assistance, given its place within the broader dynamics of global refugee governance.

中文翻译：

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难民署和肯尼亚的 LGBTI 难民：“保护”的局限

本文对联合国难民署 (UNHCR) 在肯尼亚保护女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别和双性人 (LGBTI) 难民的框架和实施提出了问题。尽管国际上对他们的关注越来越多，但现存的文献集中在西方边境寻求庇护；缺乏关于 LGBTI 难民在全球南方第一批庇护国的经历的奖学金。该论文以基本的人道主义治理文献为基础，提出难民署如何制定保护框架，以及在肯尼亚实施保护的实际限制，使 LGBTI 难民不安全。然而，他们自己争取保护的尝试，往往借鉴了难民署在其指导中所使用的同样的人权论述，使他们更难受到难民署和肯尼亚活动家的“保护”。