Citation: 2019 RLLR 48
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: December 2, 2019
Panel: Veda Rangan
Counsel for the claimant(s): Johnson Babalola
Country: Jamaica
RPD Number: TB7-21735
Associated RPD Number: TB7-21736
ATIP Number: A-2020-01274
ATIP Pages: 000055-000059
REASONS FOR DECISION
INTRODUCTION
[1] These are the reasons for the decision in the claims of [XXX] and [XXX], who claim to be citizens of Jamaica, and are claiming refugee protection pursuant to sections 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.1
ALLEGATIONS
[2] You allege the following. In your narrative to the Board, filed with your Basis of Claim (BOC) Form, you state that you grew up in the city of [XXX], Kingston, Jamaica.2 On [XXX], 2017, a resident of [XXX] named [XXX] was murdered. A family friend of yours was questioned by the police as a person of interest. This person, named [XXX], accused you of telling the police that [XXX] was likely a suspect. Angered by the allegations against him, [XXX] sent threatening notes to your family while you were visiting your family in Canada. In addition, [XXX] mother also sent similar message to the you and your family.
[3] You testified that at no time, did you tell the police that [XXX] could be a suspect. In your narrative, it is stated that “on [XXX], 2017 [XXX] came to my house and showed me a gun and told me that if he ever gets arrested for anything he didn’t do I would pay a price.” In addition, he made veiled threats against your daughter. Some of [XXX] friends told you that they were waiting for an order from [XXX] to “finish her.”
[4] Fearing for your and your daughter’s safety, you went to stay with a friend in [XXX], St. Catherine. While staying there, [XXX] and his friends visited you. Your friend asked you to leave his premises for the fear that [XXX] would harm him for harbouring you.
[5] Fearing for your safety, you went to another police jurisdiction to lodge a complaint; however, they asked you to go the [XXX] police. Your brother, a [XXX], told you to leave the country as no one could guarantee your safety. You left for Canada for a short stay, hoping that the matter would settle by the time you return. As a result of further threats from [XXX] and his friends, you remained in Canada and made a claim for refugee protection.
[6] You and your daughter testified about the incidents in Jamaica as stated above. In addition, you stated that you and [XXX] went to the same school, and that his brother was killed by the rival gang. You also stated that you didn’t want to go back to the same environment.
DETERMINATION
[7] I find on a balance of probabilities, that you would be subjected personally to a risk to your lives or to a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, should you return to Jamaica, for the following reasons.
ANALYSIS
Nexus
[8] I have examined your claims under section 97 as there is no nexus to a section 96 ground.
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. You had proffered a letter from [XXX], a Justice of Peace, in which he confirms you to be a resident of [XXX], and that the gangs in your vicinity would consistently invade your premises and use your home as a strategic location to attack other gangs. Your roof was often used as a shooting range. He also noted that you had to leave as your life was in danger.
[10] You had also submitted a letter from [XXX], the person you had stayed with. In his letter, he notes that you and your daughter had stayed with him as you feared harm from the gangs led by [XXX]. After reviewing the documents, I have no reasons to doubt their authenticity.
Nature of the harm
[11] You were threatened at gun point, and the veiled threats made to your daughter created a fear for her safety as a young female. You also feared harm from the gang as you were threatened at gun point and by his friends. You lived in an environment where gang violence was an everyday occurrence. You had accepted this as a way of life but when the threats became personal, you felt the need to move away from the danger. This harm clearly amounts to a risk to your life and that of your daughter.
State protection
[12] I find that adequate state protection would not be reasonably forthcoming in this particular case. You had approached the police when the situation turned serious. However, you received no real help from the [XXX] police. Even your brother, a [XXX], was unable to help you. You had no family in Jamaica who could help or support you.
[13] In the documents provided by you, it states that “residents in [XXX] are so fearful these days, many refused to speak about the mayhem around them. And those who did, ask for their identities to be kept a secret.”3 I have carefully reviewed the documentary evidence and I find that these articles clearly demonstrate that there could be a risk to your life, should you return to Jamaica as you are being perceived as an informer.4
[14] The Bertlesmann Stiftung’s 2016 report states that: ‘The state’s monopoly on the use of force is established nationwide in principle, but it is challenged by organized criminal gangs or networks in specific areas.’ The challenge does not, however, constitute a major threat at the national level. The specific areas are not whole parishes or regions but depressed inner-city communities, varying in population size from 3,000 to 20,000, where violence is directed not always against the state or the security forces but against rival gangs and those civilians labeled as “informers.”5
[15] In an article by Amnesty International reported on October 2014, it is stated:
Women and girls living in inner-city communities remain particularly exposed to gang violence. They are often victims of reprisal crimes, including sexual violence, for being perceived as having reported or actually reporting criminal activity to the police, or in relation to a personal or family vendetta.6
[16] I find that it would be objectively unreasonable for you to seek the protection of the state in light of your particular circumstances.
CONCLUSION
[17] Based on the analysis above, I conclude that you are persons in need of protection. Accordingly, I accept your claims.
(signed) Veda Rangun
December 2, 2019
1 Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27 as amended, sections 96 and 97(1).
2 Exhibit 2, Basis of Claim (BOC) Form, TB7-21735.
3 Exhibit 5, Claimant’s Documents, received October 17, 2019.
4 Ibid.
5 Exhibit 3, National Documentation Package (NDP) for Jamaica, (April 30, 2019), item 4.2.
6 Ibid., item 2.2.