A protocol for exceptions
Elias is a case manager at Secret Garden, a foundation for and by LGBT migrants. From his work and his own experience, he knows how hard it is to live undocumented in the Netherlands and wait endlessly for an asylum decision.
He himself fled Lebanon for political reasons and helps newcomers where he can. This is how he met Ihab, who lived in uncertainty about his stay for a year and a half. Not being allowed to work and being forced to sit still eventually became too much for him-he ended his life.
Elias did everything he could to be able to bury Ihab in his homeland but noticed how rigidly agencies like the COA and hospitals stick to protocols. He pleads for more humanity and jokes that there should be a protocol for exceptions.