Categories
All Countries Egypt

2019 RLLR 199

Citation: 2019 RLLR 199
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: May 31, 2019
Panel: Ethan McMonagle
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Jonathan Richard J Lage
Country: Egypt
RPD Number: MB9-00453
Associated RPD Number(s): MB9-00461
ATIP Number: A-2020-00518
ATIP Pages: 002183-002186

REASONS FOR DECISION

INTRODUCTION

[1]       These are the reasons for the decision in the claims of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXandXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX who claim to be citizens of Egypt, and are claiming refugee protection pursuant to sections 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

[2]       These claims have been decided without a hearing, according to the Immigration and Refugee Board’s Chairperson’s Instructions Governing the Streaming of Less Complex Claims at the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) and paragraph 170(f) of the Act.

[3]       In rendering my reasons, I have considered and applied the Chairperson’s Guidelines on Women Refugee Claimants Fearing Gender-Related Persecution.

ALLEGATIONS

[4]       You allege that you are sisters, who come from a devout Coptic Christian family of Egyptian nationality. You both spent most of your lives in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia), but your status their was contingent upon your father, whose status itself was temporary. In Egypt, you fear persecution at the hands of Muslim extremists as a result of your religious identity as Coptic Christians. Fearing return to Egypt, you each filed claims for refugee protection.

DETERMINATION

[5]       I find that you are “Convention refugees” as you have established a serious possibility of persecution should you return to Egypt based on the grounds in section 96.

ANALYSIS

Identity

[6]       I find that your respective identities as nationals of Egypt are established by the documents provided: your passports1 and your birth certificates.2

[7]       You have also established your identity as Coptic Christians by providing your birth certificates, baptism certificates and a supporting letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX of Egypt XXXX XXXX XXXX.3

Nexus

[8]       I find that you have each established a nexus to section 96 by reason of religion.

Credibility

[9]       Based on the documents in the file, I have noted no serious credibility issues. In particular, the evidence establishes the allegations as set out above, namely that you are each of the Coptic Christian faith. After reviewing the documents, I have no reasons to doubt their authenticity.

Objective basis of future risk

[10]     The fact that you face this risk is corroborated by the following documents contained in the National Documentation Package (NDP) for Egypt, March 29, 2019 version. Briefly, abuses of Coptic Christians were increasing even before the fall of the Mubarak regime. Christian properties, including homes, businesses, and churches, have been destroyed and Christians have been the primary targets of violent sectarian attacks. Christians have been arrested and detained; they have also faced harassment, rape, mental and physical abuse and pressure to convert to Islam; police officers have been involved in the persecution of Christians. The state has not adequately protected Christians, and has failed to prosecute perpetrators.4

State protection

[11]     I find that adequate state protection would not be reasonably forthcoming in this particular case. The objective evidence indicates that the Egyptian authorities not only fail to protect Coptic Christians, but they themselves engage in violence against them, and perpetrators of attacks against Christians commit abuses in a climate of impunity.5 I find that your evidence, when considered in conjunction with the objective evidence, is a clear and convincing rebuttal of the presumption of state protection.

Internal flight alternative

[11]     I have considered whether a viable internal flight alternative exists for you. On the evidence before me, I find that there is a serious possibility of persecution throughout Egypt. The evidence does not suggest that the religiously-motivated violence is restricted to a particular area of Egypt, or that individuals in your situation could find safety elsewhere.6 As such, I find that there is no viable internal flight alternative in Egypt for you.

CONCLUSION

[12]     Having considered the evidence, I find there is a serious possibility that you would each be persecuted upon return to Egypt because of your Coptic Christian identities. I conclude that you are “Convention refugees”. Accordingly, I accept your claims.

(signed)           ETHAN MCMONAGLE

May 31, 2019

1 Document 1 – Package of information from the referring Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) / Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

2 Document 4 – Personal Documents

3 Ibid.

4 Document 3 – National Documentation Package, Egypt, (CND – Egypt) 29 March 2019, tab 12.8: Response to information request EGY105805.E., Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 20 June 2017; Tab 12.1: Egypt. International Religious Freedom Report for 2017, United States, Department of State, 28 May 2018.

5 Supra note 4, tab 12.8.

6 Supra note 4, tab 12.5: Egypt’s Christians Flee ISIS Violence: Displaced Call Security Officials’ Response ‘Apathetic‘, Human Rights Watch, Joe Stork, 13 March 2017.