Kay Everett Memorial Lecture

Kay Everett Memorial Lecture: "Simply being gay" and "Gaming the system": a look at some myths about legal protection for LGBTQI+ refugees

Come join us for the Kay Everett Memorial Lecture at SOAS University of London, in partnership with Wilsons LLP! This event honours the legacy of SOAS Alumna and lawyer, Kay Everett. This year, we are proud to that our speaker is Dr David Chirico KC, and his lecture will be followed by a panel discussion by experts from leading civil society organisations. There will also be a presentation of the Kay Everett Memorial Prize for the best SOAS Masters dissertation written on a human rights theme. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

About the speaker

Dr David Chirico KC

David is a leading barrister in the field of immigration and human rights. Before studying law, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL. He works particularly with vulnerable clients, including clients whose asylum claims raise issues relating to sexual orientation / gender identity, and was a trustee of Rainbow Migration for 10 years. David ‘has an incredible legal brain but also is incredibly modest and generous with his knowledge’ and we are delighted that he will be sharing his expertise with us our keynote lecturer.

Panelists

Ayesha Aziz

Ayesha Aziz joined Rainbow Migration in March 2022. She is the Legal Service Manager. Rainbow Migration is charity that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) people through the asylum and immigration system and provide practical and emotional support. Rainbow Migration also give specialist legal information and advice to LGBTQI+ people who are seeking asylum, carryout campaign and policy work to improve the asylum and immigration system. Ayesha is a practicing solicitor with over 9 years of Post Qualification Experience in immigration law. Ayesha is qualified as a Level 2 Senior Caseworker and Supervisor under the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme. She has also worked as Resettlement Expert with UNHCR in Egypt and Iran. She worked with European Lawyers In Levos (ELIL) as a volunteer lawyer. Ayesha’s pronouns are she/her.

Moud Goba

Moud currently works as a National Director for Micro Rainbow, the leading organisation in the UK supporting LGBTQI migrants. She leads the organisation programmes at national level: their safe housing work which provides 30,000 bed-nights a year to homeless LGBTQI asylum seekers and their social inclusion and employability schemes. More recently Moud has managed the integration process of LGBTQI people who arrived to the UK from Afghanistan. Moud is one of the founding members of UK Black Pride and she is the current Chair of their Board of Trustees. Moud was recently named as one of the BBC 100 women for 2022 and was the recipient of a Kaleidoscope lifetime achievement award, a BET international global good award. Her pronouns are she/her.

Moderator

Professor Eddie Bruce-Jones

Eddie Bruce-Jones is Professor of Law and Head of the School of Law, Gender and Media at SOAS. He researches in the areas of racial justice, migration law, colonalism and law and the humanities. He served for a decade on the trustee board of Rainbow Migration.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

SOAS University of London, Thornhaugh Street, London, UK, United Kingdom