Citation: 2022 RLLR 41
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: November 18, 2022
Panel: Eron Igbinoba
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Adewale A. Martins
Country: Jamaica
RPD Number: TC2-20798
Associated RPD Number(s): N/A
ATIP Number: A-2022-01960
ATIP Pages: N/A
On November 18, 2022 the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) heard the claim of XXXX XXXX XXXX, who claims refugee protection under sections 96 and 97 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). On that same day, the panel rendered its oral positive decision and reasons for decision. This is the written version of the oral decision and reasons that have been edited for clarity, spelling, grammar, and syntax with added references to the documentary evidence and relevant case law where appropriate.
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: This is the decision for the following claim, TC2-20798, by XXXX XXXX XXXX. You claimed to be a citizen of Jamaica and you are claiming refugee protection pursuant to section 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. I have considered your testimony and all the evidence in this claim, and I am ready to render an oral decision. In hearing and assessing this claim I have considered and applied Chairperson’s Guideline 4, women refugee claimants fearing gender-related persecution, which offer guidance in recognizing women as members in a particular social group, and also with respect to the other gender issues specifically present in this claim.
[2] The allegations are set out in your Basis of Claim form and narrative found in Exhibit 2. In summary, you allege that you have been physically and emotionally abused by your ex-partner whom you have six (6) children (typographical error as amended) with, and that this abuse started in 1998, for which you moved out of your home in 2007 and later return back in 2016 after the death of your mother, with the intention that your ex-partner have changed. You testified that you fear that should you return to Jamaica, you will be killed by your ex partner. In the examination, I found you are a Convention refugee on the grounds of membership in a particular social group as a female victim of domestic violence for the following reasons.
[3] With regards to your identity, your personal and national identity has been established on a balance of probabilities by a copy of your passport found at Exhibit 1. There is a link between your claim and the Convention ground of particular social group, namely victims of domestic and/or gender-based violence. Therefore, your claim has been assessed under section 96 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. With regards to credibility, I found you to be a credible witness. Your testimony was clear and consistent with your written narrative and evidence on file. However brief your testimony was today, in your brief testimony you established your relationship with your ex-partner, how and when he became abusive to you. You noted the serious impacts that this abuse had on you and your attempts to rid yourself of your ex-partner. You testified about that your ex-partner started abusing you in 1998 when he started coming home drunk. You also narrated how you went to look for him in his cousin’s house and saw him in a truck with another woman, for which you confronted him for not giving you money for your children and he beat you up in front of his girlfriend. You testified that you went home to pack your bag, but he came back in, and he did not want to leave without his children, and you stayed back. You testified that in 2001 your ex-partner came home and saw you with your friend, XXXX (ph), who is a lesbian, and that he put (inaudible) down and threatened to cut you into pieces if you did not end your friendship with XXXX, as he hated lesbians.
[4] You testified as to the continuous cycle of abuse and how the second which you moved to stay with your mother and then your uncle and later returned back to your ex-partner’s house after every abuse. You testified that it was very difficult for you to leave your ex-partner’s house. You testified that you eventually moved to XXXX XXXX in 2007 with three (3) of your children, and you left the other children in different locations, one (1) with your mother, one (1) with your cousin, and another with your ex-partner. You testified that you lived in XXXX XXXX from 2007 to 2016 and returned after your mother passed on in 2016, and that your ex-partner was very supportive during the period your mother passed. You testified your ex-partner showed you that he had changed, and he did not want to be separated from his children. You testified that you thought he had changed, and you moved back with him, for which things were normal for a while until the abuse started again. You testified that your ex-partner wants to kill you because he accused you of being a lesbian and that you had brought shame to his name. You also testified that he wants to kill you because he accused you of turning your children’s mind away from him.
[5] You testified that you reported all the abuse to the police, who did nothing about it, but advised you to settle with your partner for the sake of your children. I find on the balance on probabilities that you are genuine, as your testimony was detailed and persuasive and consistent with someone recounting a personal event. You supported your testimony with some letters from your children, noting their knowledge of what was happening to you. You also provided letters from your friend in XXXX XXXX whom you lived with from 2007 to 2016, as well as your cousin who took in your child when you left your partner in 2007. This is marked as Exhibit 5. I accord significant weight to this evidence as they are reliable and consistent with the overall testimony. I find on the balance of probabilities that you are are credible. You established you are a victim of domestic violence and gender-based violence. You established that you made multiple efforts to secure state protection, but that protection was not for forthcoming. As a result, your subjective fear has been established.
[6] With regards to objective basis, I also find that an objective basis for which you fear in Jamaica and country condition documents in the National Documentation Package corroborates the testimony provided by you and indicate that violence against women in Jamaica is widespread. Item 5.2 of the NDP indicates that while the government of Jamaica has passed legislation which allows women who have been victims of domestic violence to apply for protection of courts, this legislation is poorly enforced. The United Nations Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Committee has expressed its profound concerns for the high rates of domestic and sexual violence in Jamaica. The government of Jamaica has stated that there is an unacceptably high level of violence against women and children in the country. This prevalence of domestic violence is indicated in a more recent 2019 OECD report found at Item 5.1 and in a 2019 UK Home Office report found at Item 1.5. The UK Home Office report also indicates that gender-based violence is a widespread phenomenon in Jamaica, and that women face challenges in protection due to lack of resources, backlogs in judicial system, and a lack of shelter. The objective evidence indicates that your threats are real, as gender-based violence is widespread. The fear you face from your ex-partner is reflected in the objective basis. Therefore, based on this documentary evidence I find that you have an objectively well-founded fear of persecution in Jamaica.
[7] With respect to state protection, the objective evidence noted above supports your fear that there is no operationally effective state protection available to you in your particular circumstances. While Jamaica may have made some steps to address domestic violence, country condition documents indicate that at an operational level, effective state protection is not available in the country. You asked about whether you had attempted to speak to the police to receive protection. You testified that you reported to the police on several occasions, and they advised you to settle within yourselves and try to live with it for the sake of your children. The evidence demonstrates that when you sought protection from the police, it was not taken seriously and was seen as a private matter. The evidence demonstrated that if you seek help in the future, you would not get help. I therefore find that state protection will not be forthcoming, given your personal circumstance.
[8] With respect to internal flight alternative, I find that there is no viable internal flight alternative for you in Jamaica. You face a serious possibility of persecution in all of Jamaica. Therefore, I find on a balance of probabilities that there is no safe IFA in Jamaica.
[9] In conclusion, based on the totality of the evidence, I find that you have established a serious possibility of persecution due to your membership in a particular social group, as a female victim of domestic violence. I find you to be a Convention refugee and I accept your claim. These are my reasons. Thank you.
——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———