130 Towards the Effective Protection of LGBTI Persons Deprived of Liberty Case law European Court of Human Rights, O.M. v. Hungary, 2016 In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights found that the detention of an Iranian national, while his asylum request was being processed, violated his right to liberty and security (article 5.1). The applicant, who had been forced to flee his country of origin because of his sexual orientation, requested asylum upon arrival in Hungary. Asylum authorities decided to place him in detention because of an alleged risk of absconding, despite the fact that he had expressed fear of harassment in asylum detention, with explicit reference to his sexual orientation. In its decision, the Court found that the applicant’s detention “verged on arbitrariness” and considered that the authorities had not given due consideration to his claims of belonging to a vulnerable group in his country of origin, when they ought to have exercised “particular care in order to avoid situations which may reproduce the plight that forced these persons to flee in the first place.” Importantly, the Court also found that the authorities had failed to take into account the extent to which vulnerable persons, including “LGBT people like the applicant”, are “safe or unsafe in custody among other detained persons, many of whom had come from countries with widespread cultural or religious prejudice against such persons”. Monitoring bodies should also be aware that LGBT migrants are particularly vulnerable to sexual assaults by fellow detainees or staff members, but are often afraid to report such abuse for fear of reprisals by perpetrators or due to mistrust in the system. Additional barriers for reporting include language limitations and fear of retaliation by immigration authorities, and in particular of deportation. Trans women, especially if placed in gender-inappropriate facilities, are highly vulnerable to sexual abuses, including in showers and other communal areas. Trans women also run the risk of being accused of soliciting sex from other residents/detainees when they attempt to report sexual violence to the authorities. They are reportedly threatened with disciplinary action more frequently than other detainees. In some contexts, LGBT migrants may be held in refugees camps, where they are particularly vulnerable to abuse. They may be confined in special shelters within the camp perimeter for protective