Citation: 2021 RLLR 25
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: July 8, 2021
Panel: Deborah Coyne
Counsel for the Claimant(s): (no information)
Country: Saudi Arabia
RPD Number: TC0-12715
Associated RPD Number(s):
ATIP Number: A-2022-00665
ATIP Pages: 000123-000126
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: These are the reasons for decision in the claim of XXXX XXXX XXXX who claims to be a citizen of Saudi Arabia and is claiming refugee protection pursuant to Sections 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. In deciding this claim, the Panel applied the Chairpersons’ Guideline 9, the proceedings before the IRB involving sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.
Allegations
[2] The allegations are set out in the Basis of Claim form. The claimant alleges a serious possibility of persecution in Saudi Arabia because of her sexual orientation and gender identity. The claimant was born as a male but self-identifies as a female and completed the gender transition in Malaysia. She alleges that she faces serious persecution and life-threatening harm if she has to return to Saudi Arabia.
Decision
[3] The Panel finds that the claimant faces a serious possibility of persecution should she return to Saudi Arabia because of her membership in a particular social group, specifically based on her sexual orientation and gender identity as a transgender woman. She is, therefore, a refugee pursuant to Section 96 of the IRPA.
ANALYSIS
Identity
[4] The Panel finds that the identity of the claimant as a national of Saudi Arabia is established by the claimant’s Saudi Arabian passport in Exhibit 1.
Credibility
[5] Based on the testimony and the documents in the file, including the detailed Basis of Claim, the Panel has noted no serious credibility issues. On a balance of probabilities, the Panel finds the following to be true: that the claimant was born as a male in Saudi Arabia in 1996. Since a very young age, the claimant was aware that she was not like other boys and that she preferred the female identity. She was abused and threatened mentally and physically by her father throughout her childhood, especially when her father took custody of him and his sister, away from their mother after their parents’ divorce. She suffered physical and mental bullying at school.
[6] In 2019, the claimant was able to travel to Malaysia for studies and the claimant started the HRT process to transition his gender to female. Exhibit 5 includes documents from the claimant’ s XXXX in Malaysia that explains the claimant’ s treatment and progress.
[7] The claimant’ s family found out when the claimant returned to Saudi Arabia to attend his sister’ s wedding. The claimant’s father and other relatives threatened his life and the claimant’s mother insisted that the claimant leave Saudi Arabia immediately as the pandemic was starting to shut down flights out of Saudi Arabia. The claimant was able to get a TRV to come to Canada and arrived in XXXX 2020.
[8] The claimant submitted her claim for refugee protection and cannot return to Saudi Arabia where she fears persecution and death because of her gender identity and sexual orientation as a transgender woman.
[9] The Panel finds that the claimant’s narrative and evidence was internally consistent and plausible. There were no contradictions or omissions that go to the core of the claim. The allegations were supported by personal documents in Exhibit 5 that the Panel finds credible, and that establishes the claimant’s identity as a transgender woman. These include letters from the doctor in Malaysia who provided the HRT treatment and related medical documents, as well as some photos.
[10] The Panel accepts the evidence as establishing on a balance of probabilities the claimant’ s subjective fear of persecution because of her gender identity and sexual orientation if she returns to Saudi Arabia.
[11] The objective evidence in the National Documentation Package for Saudi Arabia in Exhibit 3 indicates that LGBTQ rights are not recognized and confirms that both male and female, same sex sexual activities are illegal. Saudi citizens must comply with uncodified criminal code based on Sharia Law and within this framework, sex outside of marriage is illegal, same sex marriage is not permitted and same sex intimacy is criminalized.
[12] In Saudi Arabia, homosexuality and being transgender is widely regarded as immoral and indecent. The law imposes severe punishments for acts of homosexuality and cross dressing such as torture, prison up to a lifetime and capital punishment. Members of the LGBTQ community are ostracised and, in some cases, exposed by their own family members.
[13] The situation faced by transgender persons in Saudi Arabia is corroborated by news reports and reports submitted by the claimant and also in Items 2.1, 2.4, 2.9, 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 of the NDP. The Panel finds that the claimant’s subjective fear of persecution and death as a transgender woman in Saudi Arabia is well founded.
State Protection
[14] Since being a transgender woman is criminalized in Saudi Arabia, the Panel finds that it is clearly unreasonable for the claimant to ask for the protection from the Saudi authorities. The Panel finds the claimant has rebutted the presumption of state protection with clear and convincing evidence.
Internal Flight Alternative
[15] The Panel has considered whether a viable Internal Flight Alternative exists for the claimant. The Panel finds that the claimant faces a serious possibility of persecution throughout Saudi Arabia because of her sexual orientation and gender identity, and, therefore, the Panel finds the claimant does not have a viable Internal Flight Alternative within Saudi Arabia.
CONCLUSION
[16] The Panel finds that the claimant faces a serious possibility of persecution should she return to Saudi Arabia because of her membership in a particular social group, specifically based on her sexual orientation and gender identity as a transgender woman. She is, therefore, a refugee pursuant to Section 96 of the IRPA and the claim is accepted.
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