Citation: 2019 RLLR 26
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: December 2, 2019
Panel: Daniel Mckeown
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Mohammed Tohti
Country: China
RPD Number: TB8-31053
Associated RPD Number(s): TB8-31087, TB8-31110
ATIP Number: A-2021-01124
ATIP Pages: 000159-000161
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: I’ve considered the testimony and evidence in this claim and I am now prepared to render a decision in IRB file number TB8-31053. The claimants seek refugee protection against China pursuant to Sections 96 and 97 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. For the following reasons, the Panel finds that the claimants are Convention refugees and this claim is accepted.
[2] This claim was based on the following allegations. The claimants are ethnic Uyghurs. They left China in 2014 so that the adult male claimant could work in Malaysia fearing current pol-, Chinese policies towards Uyghurs. The claimants fear for their lives if they were to return to China. The claimants left Malaysia and came to Canada on November 20th, 2018. They signed their Basis of Claims on December 8th, 2018.
[3] The identity of the claimants were established on the basis of their Chinese passports. The originals of which were seized by the Minister.
[4] The Panel had no significant concerns about this claim. There was one potential exclusion issue, given that the claimants had Malaysian residence permits in their passports. However, those residence permits are also-, also clearly state that their residence was dependent upon the validity of their passports. Which means that in order for the claimants to continue legally residing in Malaysia, they would have to renew their passports with the Chinese government at some point in the foreseeable future. Given the claimants ethnicity and the government of China is the agent of persecution, it would not be reasonable to expect the claimants to have their Chinese passports renewed. They could not reasonably exercise any right to residency in Malaysia, therefore even if it was available to them and of akin to Malaysian citizenship.
[5] The sole determinative issue in Uyghurs-, in Uyghur claims in this Panel’s view is the identity of the claimants as Uyghur. That is because of the brutally persecutory nature of the Chinese government towards the Uyghur people. This Panel has access to reliable and credible resources such as the U.K. Home Office report and the US DOS report. Each of which make clear that the Chinese government has oppressed the Uyghur people in virtually every aspect of their lives. Some reports even suggest that as many as two million Uyghur people are now detained in concentration camps.
[6] The country conditions evidence is suggestive that the Chinese policy of assimilation has now arguably moved into the realm of genocide. For this reason, in this Panel’s view, identity as an ethnic Uyghur is sufficient to establish persecution.
[7] In this claim, the claimant presented their passports which noted their places of birth in [XXX] province. The claimants spoke Uyghur. And the Panel had no reason to disbelieve any of the evidence or testimony. The Panel finds that the claimants are indeed likely ethnic Uyghurs. Whereas the State is the agent of persecution, the claimants have rebutted the presumption that state protection would be adequate and forthcoming to them. Likewise, there is no location in China where they can go where they would not face a serious possibility of persecution.
[8] For all these reasons, the Panel finds that this claim is credible. The claimants’ fear is well-founded. The claimants face a serious possibility of persecution on account of their ethnicity.
[9] The claimants are Convention refugees and this claim is accepted.
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