Citation: 2019 RLLR 70
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: October 24, 2019
Panel: Kristina Genjaga
Counsel for the claimant(s): Aleksandar Jeremic
Country: Bangladesh
RPD Number: TB8-26458
ATIP Number: A-2020-01274
ATIP Pages: 000204-000206
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: I have considered your testimony and the other evidences in this case and I’m ready to render my decision orally. I would like to add than in the event that written reasons. You could do it at the same time. Okay? I would like to add that (inaudible) in the written reasons are issues. A written of these reasons may be edited for spelling, syntax and grammar and references to the applicable case law and documentary evidence may also be included.
[2] The claimant, [XXX], claims to be a citizen of Bangladesh. He is claiming refugee protection pursuant to Section 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration Refugee Protection Act. In deciding their claim and have considered your testimony and the documentary evidence filed. In addition, I have considered Guideline number 9, the SOGIE Guidelines, in this particular case.
[3] Your allegations are set out in your Basis of Claim Form in (inaudible )tive. The following is a brief summary of your allegations. You alleged that you ‘re a bisexual man and that you work for an [XXX] that supported the LGBTQ community. You fear the authorities. A same-sex relationships are considered illegal in Bangladesh and you also fear the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, the JMB, that you be killed by them due to your activities in support of the LGBTQ community.
[4] You alleged that you started working with this [XXX] in 2011 called [XXX], that you’re a [XXX] for this [XXX], that you helped secret meetings for members of the LGBTQ community in houses and as a result you started to receive threatening phone calls that you believe came from the JMB. You also wrote an article in the newspaper, I believe, [XXX], as regarding [XXX], dated [XXX] of 2015. You also started subsequently to receive threatening phone calls and letters in your mail box that came from the JMB. You reported this to the police but they did not assist you. You continue to have problems with the JMB. You had to go into hide or leave actually [XXX] and go into hiding in several places before you eventually went back to Dhaka in [XXX] 2016. In subsequently, five (5) men with machetes came to your home and you were able to escape. You stayed at a friend’s house and subsequently left for the United States in [XXX] 2016, and you made your way to Canada in October 17, 2018, and made a claim for refugee protection.
[5] I find that you’re a Convention refugee based on two (2) grounds. First, base on the ground of your sexual orientation as a bisexual individual and also, base on the ground of membership in a particular social group that being a former [XXX] worker for the LGBT community.
[6] For the following reasons, your identity is established by your testimony and the supporting documentation filed found in Exhibit 1. I believe a certify copy of your passport is in Exhibit 1. I find you to be a very credible witness and therefore believe what you have alleged in support of your claim. You have testified in a straightforward manner and there were no inconsistency and your testimony and the materials before me. You did not exaggerate or embellish your claim and you have provided an extensive collaborative personal documents in Exhibit 6, 7 and 8 that support your claim, and they include quite a few letters of support from you, the police report, general diary entries. Heavy remaiance was placed on the-, all your documents showing that you work for [XXX] and also the threatening letters from the JMB and also the newspaper article that you wrote in title [XXX]. All these documents support your allegations.
[7] The Panel did have a concern regarding the revelment and also why your failure to claim for the United States. However, the Panel has accepted your explanation in terms of the first time returning back to Bangladesh because your wife was ill and also your explanation for why you didn’t claim because you couldn’t afford the fees and also the fact that, entered Canada due to the changes in the United States under the Trump administration. Therefore, the Panel did not go on negativity inferences to the credibility of the claimant and accepted his explanation in that regard.
[8] Now, as for the objective documentary evidences that appear in Exhibit 3, 5 and 6, it indicates there’s a problem for the LGBTQ and the homosexual community in Bangladesh and it indicates, it is well supported that concentral say in same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Section 7377 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and that the police uses the law as a pretext to bully individu-, LGBTQ individuals as well as to limit registrations of LGBTQ organizations.
[9] Some group social report harassment under suspicious behaviour provision of the police code and this is all in Exhibit 12.1, the DOC report, sorry, 2.1 of Exhibit 3. In Exhibit, sorry, 2.2 of Exhibit 3, the World report 2000-, it stated that, January 2018, it indicates that they’re continued problems for gay rights activists and the-, it indicated that in May, the Rapid Action Battalion raided a gathering in Dhaka, arresting 28 men for homosexuality and drug possession.
[10] In Exhibit 1 believe, that there are several documents in Exhibit 3 also indicate that various groups target the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender and intersex people, in the name of Islam, killing dozens of them in targeted attacks and that the police did not offer enough protection to people and also the LGBT community was reluctant to apperse the police fearing they would be charged to harass.
[11] In a Exhibit 6.1 of Exhibit 3 is an excellent summary of the situation of the LGBTQ community. It says over the last three (3) years Bangladesh has becoming increasingly torned by violence, extremists and there are evidences pointing growing threats of extremist serment in mosques throughout Bangladesh and that routinely condemn homosexuals as heretics and they are to be punished or kill and this is echo the local social media posts condemning homosexuality and justifying these attacks. And the fear of the LGBT community was realized last year when two (2) activists were brutally murdered by attackers associate with Al-Qaeda and the revilement was slow to condemn their motives and the prime minister suggested those of challenging suicidal norms and religions, and sexuality should be considering leaving the country.
[12] This lack of-, and they are more documents in our package supporting the problems of the LGBT community faces. So it is clear from the documentary evidence that you may face a severe problem if you return back to Bangladesh not only because of your sexual orientation but also because of your activism in to help the LGBT community.
[13] I find that, on the balance of probabilities, there is more than a reasonable possibility of persecution if you go back to Bangladesh. I also find you rebuted the presumption of state protection as of the police are also sometimes the perpetrators and are unable to protect you. I also find that unreasonable for you to seek state protection in this case. I also find that there is no internal flight alternative for you because the situation would be the same wherever you are in Bangladesh.
[14] Therefore, I concluded that you’re a Convention refugee and I accepted your claim.
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