(21-22 May 2026) Dr S Chelvan, Head of Immigration, Public Law & Civil Liberties has returned from a two-day Nordic conference at Uppsala University, Sweden, where he gave a Keynote speech on his Difference, Stigma, Shame, and Harm model (‘the DSSH model’) which he created in 2011 as a positive tool for credibility assessment in Refugee Status Determination based on sexual or gender identity (‘Behind the Mask: Is the DSSH model a positive tool for RSD Status Determination?’).
“LGBTQ+ Refugees in the Welfare State: Research, policy and practitioners in dialogue”, organised by Dr Thomas Winmark, a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in the Human Geography Department at Uppsala University brought approximately sixty delegates from Sweden, Finland, Norway Iceland, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom as well as representatives from both the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the European Union Asylum Agency.
Having created the Difference, Stigma, Shame and Harm (‘DSSH’) model in 2011 (UNHCR Experts meeting, Bled, Slovenia, September 2011 paper, 2015 Credo, Vol 2, 2020 “The Queer Outside In Law: Chapter Three; Aderonke Apata, Voice for the Silenced”), as “a”positive tool for RSD credibility assessment of Queer Refugee applicants (endorsed/used by UNHCR (para 62 of 2012 guidelines), the UN Refugee Agency, IOM - UN Migration, European Union Agency for Asylum (since 2013)– EUAA (2023 update), Senthorun Raj, International Association of Refugee Law Judges, African Rainbow Family, the HomeOffice, the ICIBI…). The creation and early application of the model was the central original thought for Dr Chelvan’s PhD thesis in Refugee Law from King’s College London (2019) undertaken whilst practising full-time at the Bar, and has been highlighted in subsequent awards he has received ranging from the Attitude Magazine Pride award (2018), and his Honorary Doctorate (DUniv) from the Open University he received in November 2024 awarded "for education of the underprivileged and his commitment to social justice and the rule of law”. This 2026 conference in Sweden gave Dr Chelvan an opportunity publicly addressed some the criticisms of the model, primarily arising from the misinterpretation, or misapplication of the model ([including] a lack of detailed background research methodology, or false ‘Western-model’ labelling).
Dr Chelvan provided the following context and background to his Keynote, delivered at the start of the second day of the conference on 22 May:
“The model was always designed to be used by Refugees as one positive pathway to “prove” sexual/gender identity, via the drafting of their own statement, by creating a “safe space “ to tell their own narratives of what brought them to the UK to seek asylum. The DSSH statements are prepared prior to the asylum interview so the applicant can, in their own words, have the time and safe space to prepare themselves to describe their own emotional journeys. There are common core triggers in the refugee/queer/minority-group experience that forms what constitutes common (not arguing universal) building-blocks leading to fleeing persecution.” Bar some sur place claims the narratives are always primarily based in the country they have fled persecution.
Creating the Difference, Stigma, Shame and Harm (‘the DSSH model’) in 2011 was an instinctive reaction… to address what Millbank (2009) had previously predicted would be a trend to move away from ‘discretion to disbelief’. First endorsed by UNHCR in 2012, the model was described by Newsweek Europe in 2014 as ‘a simple starting point that cuts across borders’. Fifteen years on, with the BBC outcry over false UK gay asylum claims in April 2026, Peter Tatchell recommends the use of [the] model as a ‘rigorous process he devised which does establish a person’s genuineness’ as a method to address alleged false claims eg: where individuals were asked to rely on photographic evidence of attendance at Gay nightclubs or Pride events, or rely on the witness evidence of a false partner. Following the 2014 John Vine ICIBI report recommendation has been used by the UK Home Office since 2015 (embarrassingly referred in the last year as the “Chelvan model” by some Home Office decision-makers/Presenting Officers).
This keynote speech addressed the current procedural gap which fails the Queer migrant at RSD interview- due to the failure in preparing the Queer refugee for the interview in-line with the model. One would never allow a criminal defendant to attend trial without being prepared to recount their evidence, so why would those who support and/or represent Queer migrants allow them to attend an administrative authority interview without preparing them- by cultivating a safe space to draft, in their own words, their emotional journey? Noting and recounting the academic and administrative misinterpretation of the model, I looked to dispel the DSSH model myths and empower the Queer refugee. In the words of a successful Pakistani gay student client …, granted refugee status in March 2026 following interview, the DSSH model reflects “an important shift towards a more humane, fair, and consistent approach in (the) asylum process”
Dr Winmark kindly commented “Chelvan delivered a keynote tracing the origins of the DSSH model, drawing on decades of legal practice in which he has applied it firsthand. He also offered a pointed critique of how migration authorities, including in Sweden, have misapplied the model, which sparked a broader discussion about its appropriateness and limitations.”
During the conference, Dr Chelvan accepted an invitation to contribute to the post-conference policy paper and has accepted a kind invitation from a Norwegian NGO to speak and provide training on the DSSH model at an event at the beginning of November 2026 with separate events for governmental (tbc) and non-governmental agencies and individuals.
Group photo credit: published with permission from Uppsala University