2023 RLLR 240
Citation: 2023 RLLR 240
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: December 19, 2023
Panel: Rebecca Benest
Counsel for the Claimant(s): N/A
Country: Cameroon
RPD Number: VC3-10186
Associated RPD Number(s): N/A
ATIP Number: A-2024-01133
ATIP Pages: N/A
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: Okay, we are back on the record. I’m happy to tell you that I am going to accept your claim today, so I’m going positive on your claim.
[2] CLAIMANT: Thank you very much.
[3] MEMBER: Okay. So the next steps are that I need to read the decision into the record, so it’s going to take me a few minutes, I’m going to read the whole thing. And then after I finish reading it and we end off today, a transcript of that decision will also arrive to you in the mail, okay?
[4] CLAIMANT: Okay.
[5] MEMBER: Okay, so unless you have any questions, I’m going to go ahead and start reading.
[6] CLAIMANT: Okay, go ahead.
[7] MEMBER: Okay. This is the decision of the Refugee Protection Division for XXXX XXXX. You are claiming to be a citizen of Cameroon and are claiming refugee protection to sections 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or IRPA.
[8] In assessing this claim I have considered and applied Guideline 4 Gender Considerations in Proceedings Before the Immigration and Refugee Board. I have used the Guideline to ensure I substantively assessed the claim and used trauma-informed questioning.
[9] I have considered your testimony and the other evidence in the case, and I am ready to render my decision orally. The written decision will come to you shortly and may be amended to include specific citations to exhibits and case law as needed.
DETERMINATION
[10] I find that you are a Convention refugee on the grounds of nationality and political opinion for the following reasons.
ALLEGATIONS
[11] Your allegations are contained in your BOC narratives and testimony but are summarized here. You are a citizen of Cameroon. You started advocating for women’s rights and equity in XXXX XXXX when you started an advocacy club. You later started hosting the TV show, XXXX XXXX XXXX, where you would speak about discriminatory policies against women and Anglophones in Cameroon.
[12] In XXXX 2019, you were arrest on-air for your comments about government policies and forced to change the content of your show. You stopped airing the show in XXXX 2020.
[13] In XXXX 2022, you were randomly searched by police for being Anglophone and arrested when they found documents you had written criticizing policies that were discriminatory to Anglophones. You were detained and tortured for six (6) days, only released after the intervention of an Anglophone state council. You were selected to participate in a conference in Canada in XXXX 2022, due to your work advocating for women. You didn’t make a refugee claim during this trip because at the time you believed things had calmed down and that your life was not in danger. You were arrested, detained and tortured again in XXXX 2022, after police were doing random searches of Anglophones and you didn’t have your ID. You were detained and tortured for four (4) days and released on bail.
[14] You were arrested again in XXXX 2023, after a random search of Anglophones found your advocacy work in your bag. An Anglophone police officer warned you that you needed to get out for your safety and arranged for you and your aunt to bribe the police commissioner for your release. The commissioner showed you that your name would now be flagged on the government database and told you to leave the country quickly. You got a police escort to Yaoundé and stayed there in hiding until you were able to leave Cameroon with the help of this same police at the airport in XXXX 2023.
[15] Your aunt received a police summons for you in XXXX 2023, and later a warrant for your arrest. Since you left, the police have been asking around your aunts neighbourhood for you with your photo. Your aunt’s neighbour was told that you’re wanted to crimes against the state and took a photo of the arrest warrant they showed her. You allege that if you return you will face persecution from the Cameroonian police and state based on your nationality as a Cameroonian Anglophone and your political opinion as an advocate for women’s and Anglophone rights and equity. You allege that there is no state protection for you or an Internal Flight Alternative.
Identity
[16] Your personal identity and national identity as a citizen of Cameroon has been established by your testimony and the supporting documents before me, including your genuine Cameroonian passport.
Nexus
[17] I find that there is a link between what you fear and one (1) of the five (5) Convention grounds, namely, your nationality as a Anglophone Cameroonian and your political opinion as an advocate for women’s and Anglophone rights and equity in Cameroon. I have, therefore, assessed the claim under section 96 of IRPA.
Credibility
[18] Claimants benefits from the presumption that their allegations are true. In this case, there were no omissions, inconsistencies or other irregularities in the evidence that were not reasonably explained. Your testimony was spontaneous, detailed, responsive to questioning and knowledgeable. You spoke with detail and convincing clarity about your lived experiences that led to your advocacy for women and Anglophones, including your witnessing of extreme domestic violence from your mother to your neighbours, and your experiences in what was supposed to be a bilingual school where teachers would encourage students to join in their own mocking and bullying of Anglophone students.
[19] You spoke in detail about your TV show, XXXX XXXX XXXX, how you used it as a space to talk about the discrimination you’ve seen and advocate for equity and that how it was so well viewed because it came right after the news, and you felt so many Anglophones could relate to the topics you were presenting.
[20] You testified to how you were arrested on air for anti-government sentiments, the changes you had to make to the show and how they made you feel as if it was taken away from you leading to your eventual stopping of the airing of the show.
[21] I note that your claim is supported by the following documents. ID documents such as your birth-certificate and baptism card; education certificates for your XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX; the certificate of your completion in the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX 2022; confirmation of your internship with XXXX XXXX; a letter from the TV station confirming you hosted the show, XXXX XXXX XXXX; medical documents for your hospital treatment following your XXXX 2022 arrest; police summons and arrest warrant for XXXX 2023; the affidavits from your aunt, your aunt’s neighbour and the friend who was arrested with you; photos of your presentation of your TV show, XXXX XXXX XXXX. I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of any of these documents, and they corroborate core elements of your claim. I, therefore, assign them full weight.
[22] Accordingly, on the whole in terms of general credibility, I have found you to be a credible witness and I, therefore, accept what you have alleged in your oral testimony and Basis of Claim form. Namely, you have been a vocal advocate for equity in Cameroon for both women and Anglophones for most of your life. You were arrested, detained and tortured by Cameroonian police on four (4) occasions between 2019 and 2023, on the basis of your nationality as an Anglophone Cameroonian and for your political opinions against current discriminatory government policies. On the last occasion you were told by the police commissioner that you were flagged in the government database, and you needed to leave the country, which you did with a policeman escorting you through the airport so you would be able to leave. There’s now a warrant for your arrest charging you with, “succession revolution and insurrection.” Your subjective fear is established by your credible and corroborated testimony. I also find that your claim is objectively well-founded.
[23] Item 13.2 of the National Documentation Package, or NDP, for Cameroon reveals that a serious armed conflict emerged in 2016 between the government and Anglophone separatist militants. According to a Response to Information Request,
A crisis began in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions in late 2016. Sources report that protests against the perceived marginalization of and discrimination against the Anglophone community were organized by lawyers, teachers students and members of civil society. According to Sahara Reporters, the protests evolved into a broader social movement pushing for greater autonomy for the Anglophone regions.
[24] According to item 2.1, the socio political crisis that began in late 2016 in the Anglophone northwest and southwest regions, has led to ongoing casualties. The same report said that significant human rights issues, including unlawful or arbitrary killings, extrajudicial killings by security forces and armed Anglophone separatists, forced disappearances by security forces, torture by security forces and non-state armed groups, and arbitrary detention by security forces and non-state armed groups.
[25] In item 2.7 Human Rights Watch has reported that government forces are carrying out abusive security operations against communities suspected of supporting successionist groups engaging in extrajudicial executions, the use of excessive force against civilians and torture.
[26] Since November 2016, security forces have arrested hundreds of demonstrators, bystanders and other civilians suspected of supporting the successionist cause.
[27] Item 2.5 of the NDP notes that,
Armed groups and government forces committed human rights abuses, including mass killings, across Cameroon’s Anglophone region.
As the crisis in the Anglophone regions continued into the sixth year over 598,000 people were internally displaced as of August 2022, and at least 2 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in the North-West and South-West Regions.
Security forces responded to separatist attacks with a heavy hand, often specifically targeting civilians across the Anglophone regions.
[28] As relates to the risk of persecution for failed asylum seekers, item 13.2 states that,
Those in the diaspora are the ones spearheading the war, most notably in Canada, Belgium, South Africa and the United States.
State officials believe that the protests in the Anglophone areas were fomented from abroad.
A source concludes that there is danger across the country for all Anglophones.
Anglophone deportees, including failed asylum seekers, can be imprisoned harmed and fined, according to the RIR.
[29] The evidence reveals that a serious armed conflict has emerged between the government and Anglophone separatist militants. In the government’s efforts to supress and locate militants, even a political Anglophones have faced human rights abuses. The government has stated its belief that members from the Anglophone diaspora, including those in Canada, are behind the separatist movement.
[30] Item 4.4 confirms that the government considers the Anglophone diaspora to have orchestrated aspects of the crises.
[31] Based on your experiences in Cameroon with both the Cameroonian police and state, and the government’s views and treatments of Anglophones, particularly from the diaspora, I find that there’s a serious possibility of persecution if you return to Cameroon.
[32] In sum, I find that you have established a well-founded fear of persecution from the community at large as well as from the state.
State Protection
[33] In this case, the agent of persecution is the state so if you returned, I found you face a risk from state authorities. Accordingly, I find there is no state protection available to you.
Internal Flight Alternative
[34] Likewise, since the state is in control of its territory, I find that there is no Internal Flight Alternative available to you.
CONCLUSION
[35] Based on the totality of the evidence in my analysis above, I find you to be a Convention refugee and I accept your claim.
[36] CLAIMANT: Thank you very much.
[37] MEMBER: Thank you so much for being here today, and for sharing your story with me.
——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———