2023 RLLR 157
Citation: 2023 RLLR 157
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: December 15, 2023
Panel: Alex Chung
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Paul Vandervennen
Country: Ethiopia
RPD Number: TC3-21195
Associated RPD Number(s): N/A
ATIP Number: A-2024-00894
ATIP Pages: N/A
DECISION
MEMBER:
INTRODUCTION
[1] These are the reasons for the decision in the refugee claim of XXXX XXXX XXXX, the claimant, who alleges to be a citizen of Ethiopia and is seeking protection pursuant to sections 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Act.
ALLEGATIONS
[2] Your allegations are set out in detail in your Basis of Claim form narrative at Exhibit 2, as well as in your testimony given today. In summary, you fear that if you return to Ethiopia, you will face persecution and other risks of harm at the hands of the State and Qeerroos on account of your support for True Democracy Party or Balderas party, for short, which intersects with your Amhara ethnicity.
DECISION
[3] I find that pursuant to section 96 of the Act, you are a Convention refugee as you have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of your imputed political opinion due to your father’s membership in the Balderas party and actual political opinion due to your support for the same party. This intersects with your Amhara ethnicity.
ANALYSIS
Identity
[4] It is essential to establish one’s identity in determination of a refugee claim. The burden of establishing identity rests upon the claimant. I find that your identity as a national of Ethiopia is established on a balance of probabilities by the copies of your Ethiopian passport, birth certificate, and Kebele card at Exhibits 1 and 4.1.
Nexus
[5] I find that there is a link between your fear of persecution on a Convention ground of imputed and actual political opinion as you and your family members are supporters of the Balderas party. I have therefore assessed this claim under section 96 of the Act.
Credibility
[6] Based on the documents in the file including the Basis of Claim form and testimonial evidence given today, I have noted no serious credibility issues that go into your core allegations. You testify in a natural and direct manner. There is no significant inconsistencies, contradictions, or omissions between your testimony and the other evidence on file. I therefore accept what you have alleged in support of your claim and find the following findings of fact some of which have been corroborated by documentary evidence to be true, profile as an ethnic Amhara and a Balderas party supporter established.
[7] You allege and accept that your father is an ethnic Amhara and your mother is an ethnic Oromos, which makes you an ethnic Amhara in the eyes of the Oromos in Ethiopia. Your father is part of the XXXX XXXX XXXX and a XXXX who XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. As a human rights situation, Ethiopia has been deteriorating since 2019 and particularly since 2020. You decided to support the Balderas party in XXXX 2020 to advocate for the rights of ethnic Amharas and the people in Addis Ababa for self-determination. You did so by making financial donations, helping to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX the pre-election campaign in XXXX 2021. In XXXX 2021, as the situation worsened with respect to the targeting of ethnic Amharas by the Qeerroos, your parents decided to send you to Turkey for education and for your safety. This had disrupted your XXXXeducation in Addis Ababa. While in Turkey, you fell into XXXX due to the language barrier. For this reason, you returned to Ethiopia once during 2022 to seek spiritual support.
[8] Once you felt better, you returned to Turkey to continue your education. However, you did not consider claiming the asylum there as you were not confident that you would be able to successfully acquire the protection that you needed. At that point, your parents decided to send you to Canada to seek protection. They applied for a visa for you, which was issued in XXXX 2022. On your last return to Ethiopia from Turkey in XXXX 2022 in order to collect your things before traveling to Canada and to see your grandmother who was ill, you were detained by Ethiopian border agents and taken to a police station for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX.
[9] During detention, they verbally accused you of smuggling people between Turkey and Ethiopia to organize rebellion against the state. Your father posted your bail to secure a conditional release. After your release, you left Ethiopia and arrived in Canada in XXXX XXXX XXXX 2023. You filed your asylum claim later that month prior to your visa expiry date of XXXX 2023. In addition to your explanations for revealing to Ethiopia from Turkey, you also testified that you most recently returned to Ethiopia from the United Arab Emirates in XXXX 2021 because you had no fear at that time as you had not been targeted by queers until XXXX 2021.
[10] I find your explanations reasonable in their circumstances for returning from both Turkey and the UAE to Ethiopia, and I therefore do not draw a negative inference from this finding. Accordingly, I find that your re-availment to Ethiopia does not detract from your subjective fear. To corroborate your core allegations, you submitted the following documents at Exhibit 4.1. Your one (1) year Turkish study permit in your passport dated XXXX 2021 to 2022, certificate of appreciation issued by the Balderas party dated XXXX and XXXX 2021, confirming that you have supported the party during the XXXX 2020 elections.
[11] A medical report and prescription issued by hospital belonging to the Addis Ababa Ministry of Health dated XXXX 2022, confirming that you had received treatment for physical injuries due to blunt force, XXXX, and had been diagnosed with XXXX and XXXX. Letters of support issued to your father by the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, confirming that he had actively supported the committee as a XXXX XXXX, payment receipts for the annual membership fees issued to your father by the Balderas Party for the years 2021 and 2022. Letters of support from your father, mother, and neighbour corroborating your allegation that you are a supporter of the Balderas party and have been subjected to targeting, detention, and XXXX XXXX induced by the Ethiopian state for this reason. Photographs of your participation in anti-regime rally in Toronto opposing persecution of Amhara’s in Ethiopia, a letter of support issued by the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX dated XXXX 2023, confirming that you had actively participated in their pro-Amhara anti-regime protest in XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX 2023, held in Toronto.
[12] After reviewing the documents, I have no reason to doubt their authenticity. I find that they are probative to your core allegations that I have given full weight. I therefore find on the balance of probabilities that as a supporter of the Balderas Party, you did participate in your party’s election campaign and that you have been identified and targeted by the authorities for this reason. The Ethiopian state’s persecution of political opponents, including those that support the Balderas party, is supported by the objective evidence to be discussed later.
[13] In addition, as you continue to support the party in Canada, you face a forward looking risk of harm by the state should you return to Ethiopia. In view of the proceeding, I find that you have established a subjective fear of persecution in Ethiopia on account of your political views opposing the Ethiopian government as a supporter of the Balderas Party. This intersects with your Amhara ethnicity.
Well-founded Fear of Persecution
[14] Given that there are no serious credibility issues with respect to your core allegations, coupled with following documentary evidence, I find that you have established a prospective risk of being subjected to persecution in Ethiopia on account of your political views opposing the Ethiopian Government as a Balderas Party supporter. The risk that you face in respect of your allegation is supported by the objective country condition evidence in the National Documentation Package or NDP for Ethiopia, 31st of October 2023, at Exhibit 3.
[15] Item 1.5 of the NDP reports that ethnic violence is present and has been ramping up in Ethiopia since 2018, where interethnic clashes have increased significantly. This has resulted in death, destruction of property and large scale internal displacement, widespread conflict related internal displacement, and a proliferation of ethnic militias and weapons.
[16] Item 4.7 reports that the situation for opposition party members and supporters, including the Balderas party was done to deteriorate again after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came into power in 2018. The authorities have reportedly reverted to repressive methods to maintain law and order in attempt to curb political opposition. Supporters of opposition parties such as the Balderas party were subjected to arbitrary arrests and detentions. Political opposition groups face pressure from a multitude of factors that go beyond the central government, such as local troublemakers or gangs impeding on the opposition group’s ability to operate or set up offices among other security challenges at the local level.
[17] Item 13.9 reports that as the second largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, the Amhara’s have suffered political persecution much of the political conflict have arisen from land disputes. Item 2.1 reports that ethnic killings including target killings of Amhara’s occur in Ethiopia, and the Amhara regional government issued a statement claiming the number of internally displaced persons was beyond its capacity to manage and security forces have used deadly force against civilians.
[18] Item 13.9 reports that in 2021, there were ethnic flare-ups between Amhara’s and Oromos around Oromia and a surge of deadly ethnic violence targeting Amara’s in Oromia and other parts of the country. This situation in towns with large Amhara populations have been especially volatile, with groups of young Oromos burning down schools, businesses, and homes of Amhara’s incited by hate filled messages from Oromo news outlets. The foregoing objective evidence shows that various ethnic groups in Ethiopia, including Amhara’s are currently experiencing ethnic targeting violence by state authorities as well as vigilante groups. It also shows that anyone acting in support of an opposition political party in Ethiopia, including the Balderas party face harms such as arrest and other repressive measures. In view of the proceeding, I find that your subjective fear of persecution in Ethiopia is objectively well founded. You face serious risk of being pursued and harmed at the hands of the Ethiopian government because of your political views in support of the Balderas party should you return to Ethiopia.
State Protection
[19] In refugee determination, the state is presumed to be capable of protecting its citizens. To rebut this presumption, the claimant must establish on a balance of probabilities that their state’s protection is inadequate based on clear and convincing evidence.
[20] In this case, I find it would be objectively unreasonable for you to seek the protection of the state in light of your circumstances as the agent of persecution is the state. Item 1.5 of the NDP for Ethiopia notes that the country has an extensive security and intelligence apparatus which has largely been effective in exercising control over most of the country. As noted previously, authorities reportedly do persecute those with your profile, namely imputed in real political opponents of Amhara descent through arbitrary arrest and detention. I therefore find that you have rebutted the presumption of state protection that adequate state protection will not be available to you.
Internal Flight Alternative
[21] For refugee claim to succeed, a claimant must establish that there is no other place in the country in which he or she can live without facing a serious possibility of persecution or likely risk of section 97 harm. Alternatively, a claimant must demonstrate that relocation to another place in the country is unreasonable in their circumstances.
[22] In this case, I find that you face a serious possibility of persecution throughout Ethiopia as the agent of persecution is a state and the Ethiopian Security Intelligence Services maintain, control, and operate similarly throughout the country, individual who is of interest to the authorities including real and imputed political opponents, such as yourself, would be unable to hide from the state through internal relocation. This is again documented in the NDP for Ethiopia. Based on the objective evidence, I find that you would face a serious possibility of persecution throughout Ethiopia. There is accordingly no viable Internal Flight Alternative for you in Ethiopia.
CONCLUSION
[23] In light of the proceeding, I find that there is serious possibility of persecution if you return to Ethiopia. I therefore conclude that you are a Convention refugee pursuant to section 96 of the Act. Accordingly, your claim is accepted.
——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———