The Impact Behind the Work

Avesta Advisory is informed by work that extends beyond consulting and training.

Behind the consultancy is a broader commitment to advancing the safety, dignity, and rights of LGBTIQA+ people from refugee and multicultural backgrounds. This includes community-led initiatives, advocacy, national and international engagement, research and resource development, public speaking, and contributions to conversations that influence services, policy, and systems.

This page captures some of that wider work and the initiatives, collaborations, resources, and advocacy that continue to shape both the work of Avesta Advisory and the practice of its founder, Saina Avesta.

Refugee Leadership at the Global Level

Saina Avesta is a member of the UNHCR Refugee Advisory Group (RAG) 2026-2028 to the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP), contributing refugee perspectives to international discussions on resettlement and complementary pathways.

Through this role, Saina contributes her lived and professional experience across forced displacement, refugee protection, resettlement, and community leadership, while advocating for meaningful refugee participation in the systems and decisions that affect their lives.

Learn more about RAG

Saina's RAG bio

The Persian Queer Network (PQN)

Founded and led by Saina Avesta, the Persian Queer Network (PQN) is an independent, refugee-led and peer-based initiative supporting Persian-speaking LGBTIQA+ refugees and asylum seekers across countries of displacement, transit, and settlement.

PQN was established in response to gaps in protection and support for queer people from Persian-speaking backgrounds. The network provides peer support, information, advocacy, referrals, online information sessions, limited one-to-one guidance and support, and community connection for people navigating displacement, asylum, resettlement, and settlement.

Much of PQN's work focuses on people who remain displaced for prolonged periods, particularly in Türkiye, where community members may face insecurity, poverty, barriers to healthcare and medication, homelessness, discrimination, and prolonged uncertainty around protection and resettlement. PQN provides practical, community-led support while people navigate these circumstances.

To date, PQN has engaged with more than 150 community members across multiple countries. Its work has included urgent assistance relating to healthcare, medication, accommodation, and food, alongside advocacy, support letters, information sharing, and community-led research.

PQN is entirely volunteer-led and independent. Its capacity to provide direct financial assistance is limited and dependent on available community donations.

Support PQN

Contact PQN

Follow PQN

A Testimony-Informed Overview of Lived Experiences and Urgent Priorities of Queer Refugees in Türkiye (2025)

Within Türkiye, it is common for LGBTIQ+ refugees who fled from neighbouring countries to wait years before being resettled elsewhere. Their stories rarely appear in mainstream refugee work. The Community Voice and Testimony Report aims to address this. Drawing upon 45 testimonies from Farsi-speaking LGBTIQ+ refugees in Türkiye, the report highlights the challenges that are commonly faced by these refugees, before identifying the causes and solutions to these challenges.

View the full report

View the advocacy piece

Manual for Liberatory Conscious Practice for Queer Migrants (LGBTI Legal Service)

Co-created with the LGBTI Legal Service, the Manual for Liberatory Conscious Practice for Queer Migrants (‘the Queer Migrant Project Manual’) is a best-practice resource addressing domestic and family violence (‘DFV’) in the context of LGBTQ+ migrants, refugees, and people seeking asylum in Queensland. Developed with a Peer Advisory Group, the manual centres lived experience and provides practical guidance for more inclusive, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive responses to DFV.

View the full report

Learn more about the report

Third Queer Culture

As part of Saina’s broader work with Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma (QPASTT), Saina coordinated Third Queer Culture: a peer support and advocacy group for LGBTIQ+ people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The group aims to address a common issue faced by LGBTIQ+ refugees and asylum seekers: a perceived tension between one’s ethnic or cultural identity on the one hand, and one’s sexual orientation or gender identity on the other. This group aims to create a third option where people are not required to choose between these intersecting identities.

Amongst other things, Third Queer Culture has hosted various social events, participated in Brisbane’s yearly Brisbane Pride Rally and March, as well as provided practical workshops.

View the TQC website

Saina's story

Global Refugee Forum Progress Review 2025, Geneva

Saina delivered a plenary statement as part of the Forcibly Displaced People Network (FDPN) delegation to the Global Refugee Forum’s Progress Review in 2025. Drawing on lived experience and the realities faced by LGBTIQA+ refugees, the statement called for concrete action to remove structural barriers, reject unsafe return policies, and support refugee-led organisations as equal partners in protection and resettlement.

See the full session