2024 RLLR 142
Citation: 2024 RLLR 142
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: September 4, 2024
Panel: Roderick Flynn
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Joseph W. Allen
Country: Bangladesh
RPD Number: TC4-31703
Associated RPD Number(s): TC4-31704
ATIP Number: A-2025-00724
ATIP Pages: N/A
DECISION
Summary of your Claim
[1] MEMBER: This is a decision in the claim for refugee protection made by XXXX XXXX and her five (5) year old son, XXXX XXXX XXXX. The principal file number is TC4 31703. You are claiming to be citizens of Bangladesh, and you are seeking refugee protection pursuant to section 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, hereinafter known as IRPA.
DETERMINATION
[2] Based on all of the evidence, I find you to be Convention refugees under section 96 of the IRPA. For you, XXXX, the principal claimant, this is based upon your cumulative gender, religious, and political profile, as a Muslim woman who does not conform to strict religious and gender norms in Bangladesh and has attracted a campaign of aggression and violence against you and your family as a result. For the minor child, I make this finding based upon his membership in the particular social group of your family, given that your narrative describes eloquently that your agents of persecution have in the past assaulted and killed members of your family in their pursuit of you, and in my view, would not hesitate to contact or to target your family again in Bangladesh.
ALLEGATIONS
[3] You have described that you fear persecution and harm in Bangladesh on behalf of you and your son. Your fear is connected to your long history of failing to comply with restrictive and fundamentalist Islamic ideas about how women should think, dress, and behave. These old and conservative ideas and practices provoked or led to a campaign of violence against you by Islamic fundamentalists who disagree with your social media postings and your ideas, leading to a series of assaults on you and your family, your home, and eventually to the murder of your husband in XXXX 2022. You reported multiple incidents to police who did absolutely nothing. You have noted that now you are widowed. There is no safe place for you within Bangladesh or for your son.
Identity
[4] Your personal identities as citizens of Bangladesh have been established by your credible testimony, and copies of your passports, and other identity documents submitted into evidence. I find, on a balance of probabilities, that identity and country of reference, in this case Bangladesh, have been established.
Nexus
[5] I find on the evidence, there is a link between your gender, religion, and political opinions and the persecution and harm you face in Bangladesh, XXXX. For your five (5) year old son, there is a connection between the persecution he faces in Bangladesh and the membership in the particular social group of this family unit. Therefore, your claims are being assessed under section 96 of the IRPA.
Credibility
[6] Finds you to be a very credible witness. You have stated plainly that you believe as a human being you should have the right to wear what you want, act as you want, and believe what you want, and express that without fearing violence. You have also shared the very painful truth of what happened when your agents of persecution reacted in their own ways to your exercise of basic human rights, including your freedom of conscience and religion, and your right of free speech. I accept as credible, on a balance of probabilities, that if you return to Bangladesh, you would face more than a mere possibility of persecution as a woman who believes and stands up for women’s rights and refuses to conform even in the face of violence and threats.
[7] You have supported your credible oral evidence with multiple documents, including identity documents such as your marriage certificate, treatment documents for both you and your son, proof of your late husband’s homicide, letters of support from your mother, indicating the continuing interest in you from your agents of persecution into the summer of 2024, and a letter of support from your aunt, with whom you had stayed, in an effort to escape harm within the country. I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of any of these documents and find them to be greatly supportive of your claim.
[8] Based on all this evidence, I conclude, on a balance of probabilities, that you have established a credible, subjective fear of persecution based upon your cumulative religious, political, and gender, and family profiles upon a return to Bangladesh.
Objective Evidence
[9] The objective evidence from the National Documentation Package, or NDP, for Bangladesh supports your oral evidence. Five (5) — Item 5.15 states bluntly that “patriarchal values, societal norms, and gender-based discrimination permeate all levels of society in Bangladesh, acting as invisible barriers to long term progress in gender equality”. The practical result, according to 5.1 of the NDP, is that the country is an environment where women are constantly at risk for sexual and gender-based violence because cultural norms normalize misogyny.
[10] Item 1.5 from EASO documents that since 2015, there has been a substantial increase in violent extremist activity in Bangladesh targeted at both organizations and individuals, such as yourself, whom these religious extremists perceived to be secularist or, in their view, on Islamic, such as promoters of women’s rights and freedoms. The action resulting from such activities is documented to include murders.
[11] The NDP indicates at 4.10 that Islamic extremist groups in Bangladesh “encourage, condone, justify, and support the commission of violent acts to achieve their political, ideological, religious, and societal goals of making Bangladesh an Islamic state governed by Sharia law“. Item 1.5 documents that one means of intimidation used by these groups include issuing fatwas particularly targeting women for perceived moral transgressions. Item 2.1 repeats that in 2023, in Bangladesh, the US Department of State recorded five (5) fatwas in the country targeting women between January and August 2023.
[12] Item 11.4 of the NDP further confirms that the online world in Bangladesh is also a common forum for threats of violence. According to Freedom House, 63.5 percent of female internet users in the country face cyber mistreatment as part of a general trend in the country where online harassment and death threats are routine. Accordingly, I find, on a balance of probabilities, that you have established a well-founded fear of persecution based upon your gender, religion, and political profiles.
State Protection
[13] The objective evidence from the NDP for Bangladesh indicates, bluntly, in Item 5.15 that while the state is able to protect women from harm, it is generally unwilling to do so. Item 1.17 repeats that police and state authorities in Bangladesh are generally inadequate in protecting women from any gender-based violence. These specific obstacles to protection for women are compounding or compounded by the significant general problems with police in the country, with police and government in Bangladesh being wholly corrupted in a way which fundamentally impairs their effective functioning.
[14] You have credibly testified that police did nothing to help you, despite multiple requests from you to help based on the strong evidence, which is objective, I am satisfied that the presumption of state protection is rebutted on a balance of probabilities.
Internal Flight Alternative
[15] I have also had to consider whether there is somewhere you can go within Bangladesh and be — live safely and reasonably. You have already tried to locate — relocate within Bangladesh to escape harm, but as you described, you were unsuccessful in doing so. The objective evidence shows clearly that the patriarchal culture and values of the country make it dangerous for you as a single woman and that these values prevail throughout the country.
[16] Accordingly, the NDP makes clear in Item 5.15 that living anywhere in Bangladesh without male support for women is virtually impossible. Aside from serious problems of the risk of gender-based violence, women such as yourself face social and economic difficulties connected to patriarchal structures, including denial of employment opportunities and challenges in basically accessing housing. As such, I am satisfied on a balance of probabilities, it is not reasonable for you to relocate within Bangladesh to try to escape persecute, and therefore you have no internal flight alternative.
CONCLUSION
[17] Based on all this evidence, I find in a balance of probabilities, you face a serious possibility of persecution anywhere in Bangladesh without adequate state protection or a viable internal flight alternative. I — therefore, I conclude you are Convention refugees under section 96 of the IRPA. For you, XXXX, based upon your gender, religion, and political opinion, and for your son, based upon his membership in this family. In short, I accept your claims.
——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———