2023 RLLR 217
Citation: 2023 RLLR 217
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: December 11, 2023
Panel: Alex Chung
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Linda Kassim
Country: Ethiopia
RPD Number: TC3-36896
Associated RPD Number(s): N/A
ATIP Number: A-2024-01133
ATIP Pages: N/A
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: I have considered your testimony and evidence in this case, and I am ready to render my decision orally. I find that you are a Convention refugee and accept your refugee claim. Okay. Now, I will — now I will read the reasons for decision to you. And once the hearing is completed, we will send a written copy to you by post. And so, for this part we do not require interpretation, please. For now, would you turn off your microphones? Thank you.
INTRODUCTION
[2] These are the reasons for the decision in the refugee claim of XXXX XXXX XXXX, the principal, claimant, who alleges to be the to be a citizen of Ethiopia and seeking protection pursuant to sections 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Act.
ALLEGATIONS
[3] Your allegations are set out in your — in detail your Basis of Claim form and narrative at Exhibit 2, as well as your oral testimony given today. In summary, you fear that if you return to Ethiopia, you will face persecution attempts upon — at the hands of the state on account of your imputed political views opposing the ruling regime in perceived support for Amhara extremists, including Fano (ph). This intersects with your Amhara ethnicity.
DECISION
[4] 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 and Amhara ethnicity as you are perceived by the Ethiopian state as an Amhara extremist opposition/Fano due to your Amhara descent.
ANALYSIS
Identity
[5] It is essential to establish one’s identity in the 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 present identification card at Exhibits 1, 4, and 5.1.
Nexus
[6] I find that there is a link between your fear of persecution and the Convention grounds of imputed political opinion and ethnicity, as you are perceived by the state to be an Amhara extremist opposition, due to your Amhara ethnicity. I have therefore assessed your claim under section 96 of the Act.
Credibility
[7] I find you to be a credible witness generally, as I note that no serious credibility issues have — go to your core allegations. Your testimony was given in a natural and direct manner. There were no significant inconsistencies in your testimony or contradictions 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.
[8] Profile as an ethnic Amhara and perceived extremists/Fano, established. You allege that except that you are of Amhara descent and originate from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Your father is an ethnic Amhara and your mother is an ethnic Tigrayan. This is corroborated by the aforementioned identity documents for you and your father, which you submitted at Exhibit 5.1, which displays your honesty as Amhara.
[9] In XXXX of 2022, when the (inaudible) administration started demolishing houses in your city, those belonging to ethnic — those belonging to Amharas — especially those belonging to the ethnic Amharas, soldiers came to your property in and around mid-XXXX. When they tried to demolish your house, you and your family tried to protest and tell them that you were legal occupiers by showing them you were planning permission.
[10] At that point, they forcibly took you, your brother, and your cousin into detention for two (2) weeks. During detention, they physically abused you. Upon release, they coerced you into signing a consent form — agree not to rebel against the government.
[11] When you returned home, you found your home demolished. You went to stay with your aunt in XXXX and your cousin went back to Poland. As a youth in the area for the process of similar mistreatment by the state as what you have experienced, the state tried to crack down on them. As you feared that you would not — you would be at risk, and this — the escalating crackdowns, you and your brother decided in XXXX 2023 to leave Ethiopia to seek protection in Canada and Poland, respectively.
[12] With the help of an agency, you applied for a visa for Canada in XXXX 2023. You entered Canada in early XXXX 2023 and filed your asylum claim within the following months prior to your visa expiry year of 2024. Your journey to Canada and travel documents are found at Exhibits 1, 4, and 5.1.
[13] While you were in Canada, Ethiopian police has issued two (2) summonses for questioning in XXXX and — in XXXX and XXXX 2023 on the charges of collaborating with Fano. They have also visited your parents at your grandparents’ home to look for you, giving warnings that they will continue to pursue you.
[14] To corroborate your core allegations, you submitted the following documents at Exhibits 5.1 and 5.3. Copies of two (2) summonses for questioning issued by Addis Ababa Police Department to you, dated late XXXX and XXXX 2023, confirming that you are wanted by the police for alleged link to Fano; letters of support from your father and aunt, dated XXXX and XXXX 2023, corroborating your narrative with regard to the discrimination, abuse, detention, and targeting you have faced from the Ethiopian state by reason of your — by reason of your Amhara ethnicity.
[15] After reviewing the documents, I have no reason to doubt their authenticity. I find that they are probative to your core allegations. And I can quote — when questioned on why the police would link you to Fano, you explained that you have never been politically active or been part of Fano, and you could not think of any reason why they stated that in the summonses. But you did explain that you and your brother both received similar sentences alleging links to Fano, which was why he also initiated the process to leave Ethiopia to go to Poland. You did also state that the police tend to make unfounded allegations against ethnic Amharas in order to justify arbitrarily targeting them.
[16] I find your explanations reasonable in your circumstances, and I do not draw a negative inference from these findings. Based on the presumptions — presumption of truthfulness and the corroborative evidence, I find on a balance of probabilities that you have been subjected to targeted detention by the state as an Amhara — perceived Amhara extremist with a link to Fano. As the Ethiopian state continues to pursue you with outstanding summonses, you face a forward-looking risk of detention and other harms, should you return to Ethiopia.
[17] That the Ethiopian state persecuted real and perceived political opponents based on various issues is substantiated by the following objective country conditions evidence. In view of the preceding, I find that you have established a subjective fear of persecution in Ethiopia on account of your imputed political opinion, and as well as your Amhara descent.
Well-Founded Fear of Persecution
[18] Given that there are no serious credibility issues with respect to your core allegations, coupled with the following documentary evidence, I find that you have established a prospective risk of being subjected to persecution in Ethiopia. The risks that you face in Ethiopia is supported by the National Documentation Package, or NDP, for Ethiopia, version 31st October 2023, at Exhibit 3.
[19] 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, as well as widespread conflict-related internal displacement and a proliferation of ethnic militias and weapons.
[20] Item 2.3 reports that the security and human rights situation in Ethiopia has deteriorated as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed struggled to maintain order amid growing unrest and political tensions. The rights landscape was defined by ongoing abuses by government security forces, attacks on civilians by armed groups, deadly violence along (inaudible) and ethnic lines, and a political crisis.
[21] Item 13.9 reports that Amharas are the second largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and have suffered political persecution in much of the political conflict as arisen from land disputes.
[22] Item 2.1 reports that ethnic killings, including targeted killings of Amharas, occur in Ethiopia and the Amhara regional government issued a statement claiming that the number of internally displaced persons was beyond its capacity to manage. Also, that security forces have used deadly force against civilians.
[23] Item 4.7 reports that opposition members were subjected to arbitrary arrests and detentions, and authorities continue to break up political meetings and arrest political activists in 2020, mostly in Addis Ababa in the Oromia region.
[24] Item 2.3 of the NDP reports that thousands of people, including anti-government critics, have been arrested, which highlights the ongoing targeting of Amharas in the country. Between December 2019 and November 2020, there have also been reports of violence and vandalism against ethnic Amharas, including enforced disappearances of Amhara university students by armed groups.
[25] The foregoing objective evidence shows that various ethnic groups in Ethiopia, including Amhara, are currently experiencing ethnic targeting and violence by the state authorities as well as vigilante groups. It also shows that anyone perceived by the state to be supporting an opposition to the ruling regime faces harms, such as detention and other repressive measures.
[26] In view of the preceding, I find that your subjective view of persecution is objectively well-founded. You face a risk of being pursued and harmed at the hands of the Ethiopian state, should you return to Ethiopia by reason of your perceived opposition to the state, which intersects with your Amhara ethnicity.
State Protection
[27] In refugee determination, the state is presumed to be capable of protecting its citizens. To rebut that presumption, the state must — a claimant must establish on a balance of probabilities that their state protection is inadequate based on clear and convincing evidence. 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.
[28] 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 discussed previously, authorities reportedly do persecute those with your profile, namely imputed political opponents of Amhara descent, through arbitrary arrest and detention.
[29] I therefore find that you have rebutted the presumption of state protection, and that adequate state protection will not be available to you.
Internal Flight Alternative
[30] For a refugee claim to succeed, a claimant must establish that there is no other place in the country 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.
[31] In this case, I find that you face a serious possibility of persecution throughout Ethiopia, as the agent of persecution is the state, and the Ethiopian security intelligence services maintain control and operate similarly throughout the country. Individuals who — of interest to the authorities, including perceived political opponents such as yourself, would be unable to hide from the state through internal relocation. This is, again, documented in the aforementioned NDP evidence.
[32] 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
[33] In light of the preceding, I find that there is a serious possibility of persecution if you return to Ethiopia. Accordingly, I find your claim is accepted pursuant to section 96 of the Act, as I find that you are a Convention refugee.
——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———