2023 RLLR 30
Citation: 2023 RLLR 30
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: December 5, 2023
Panel: Leanna Krause
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Proshat Babaeian Koopai
Country: Mexico
RPD Number: VC3-11579
Associated RPD Numbers): N/A
ATIP Number: A-2023-01721
ATIP Pages: N/A
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: This is the decision of the Refugee Protection Division in the claim of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, a citizen of Mexico who is claiming refugee protection pursuant to section 96 and subsection 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. In hearing and assessing this claim, I considered the Chairperson’s Guidelines 4, gender considerations and proceedings before the Immigration and Refugee Board.
ALLEGATIONS
[2] You have experienced a long history of physical, psychological, financial, and sexual abuse in Mexico from various individuals, including a person named XXXX (ph). You met XXXX while you were working at a XXXX in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. He was a customer and would come into your place of work to XXXX XXXX. He began sharing with you that he knew details about your daily routine. He began to call you his girlfriend, and he was violent towards you and exerted control over your life.
[3] You became aware that he was affiliated with the Gulf Cartel, and he would use threats related to his connections. Sorry, I will just repeat that. You became aware that he was affiliated with the Gulf Cartel, and he would threaten to use his connections to kidnap, harm, or extort you to the point where you would be out of work if you do not do what he asked.
[4] In XXXX 2022, XXXX forced you to quit your job because he did not like the way customers were looking at you, and accused you of being too flirtatious with male customers. He said he would support you, but he did not follow through with that promise, and you struggled to find a new job. You eventually did find another job and you moved in with a friend, and things cooled off in XXXX 2022. And towards the end of XXXX 2022, XXXX vanished, and you felt that this was your chance to escape.
[5] You left Mexico for Canada on XXXX XXXX 2022, and after getting a lawyer, you made a refugee claim in May 2023. In XXXX 2023, XXXX reappeared and he began approaching your friends in Tamaulipas, looking for you. His persistence in trying to find you forced one (1) of your friends to move, and his inquiries about you continued up until recently.
DETERMINATION
[6] I find you to be a Convention refugee for the following reasons.
ANALYSIS
Identity
[7] Your identity as a citizen of Mexico is established on a balance of probabilities by the supporting documentation filed, namely a copy of your valid Mexican passport and voter’s card found at Exhibits 1 and 4.
Credibility
[8] When a claimant swears to the truth of certain allegations, this creates a presumption that those allegations are true unless there is reason to doubt their truthfulness. In this case, I found you testified in a consistent and straightforward manner, and the information you provided was consistent with your Basis of Claim form in your supporting documents. There were no relevant inconsistencies in your testimony, or contradictions between your testimony and the other evidence that caused me to doubt your truthfulness.
[9] You provided additional details at the hearing about XXXX’s connections, namely that he is affiliated with the Gulf Cartel. And you also provided details about how you found out, and know that he is affiliated with that group. You also provided additional details as to what you know about his ongoing inquiries about you since XXXX 2023, and the reason you think he would be able to find you in other areas in Mexico.
[10] I overall found you to be a credible witness. You have also provided documents in support of your claim, including letters from your mother, your aunt, and two (2) of your friends who provide details about what they know regarding XXXX’s obsession about you and his controlling nature. One (1) of your friends also describes the ongoing inquiries she has received from him, and about how he has been making threats against you and her, and for her specifically to obtain information about your location.
[11] I have no reason to doubt the information provided in these letters, as I do not see any relevant inconsistencies in them. Consequently, given your credible testimony and the supporting documents, I accept your allegations as alleged, and I find that they establish your subjective fear of persecution from XXXX.
Well-Founded Fear of Persecution and State Protection
[12] I also find that your fear of harm is well-founded, and has a connection to the Convention ground of membership in a particular social group as a woman fearing gender-based violence. XXXX has in the past been physically, sexually, financially, and psychologically abusive towards you, and he has been making recent threats towards one (1) of your friends in order to find you. The country condition evidence such as Items 5.10, 2.8, as well as the country condition evidence you provided at Exhibit 6, confirm that gender-based violence against women is common in Mexico, and that perpetrators are rarely punished.
[13] Implementation of a 2007 law designed to protect women from such crimes remains halting, particularly at the state level. And impunity is the norm for the killers of hundreds of women each year. State authorities can issue gender alerts that trigger greater scrutiny and an influx of resources to combat an epidemic of violence against women, but the mechanism has proven ineffective. According to official statistics, 968 femicides were recorded in 2022. Some non-governmental sources say the true number is likely much higher.
[14] Given XXXX’s past history of violence towards you, his recent search for you and the country condition evidence, I find that you face a serious possibility of persecution because of your status as a woman if you return to Mexico. I also note that the above country condition evidence confirm that while Mexico is a democracy, there are significant barriers to women seeking state protection for issues related to gender-based violence, because the mechanisms put in place by the state are ineffective, and this results in perpetrators going unpunished.
[15] And you have experienced this when you tried to approach the police in the past, regarding another incident of gender-based violence that you experienced. Furthermore, XXXX has told you that he has connections in many different areas, and you have seen him talking to individuals that look like the police in the past. The country condition evidence confirms particularly at Item 10.2, that Mexico’s police force is overworked, underpaid and understaffed, and vulnerable to corruption and infiltration from criminal groups. It notes that most local police forces have been infiltrated by organised criminal groups to a level described as control over the police forces, and police at all levels work with criminals and systematically abuse human rights.
[16] There are recent credible reports of police involvement in crimes such as kidnapping for ransom. And the country condition evidence confirms that efforts to fight corruption have been ineffective, and the result is an environment of impunity for criminals. Consequently for all of these reasons, I find on a balance of probabilities that state protection is unlikely to be forthcoming to you from XXXX. I find that the presumption of state protection has thus been rebutted.
Internal Flight Alternative
[17] At the hearing, I suggested Cabo San Lucas as a potential IFA location. However after further consideration of the evidence, I find that you do not have an IFA in this location. XXXX’s recent threatening and persistent inquiries about your whereabouts demonstrate that he is motivated to find you. In the past during a trip to your home state of Yucatan, he was able to find out about, and keep track of your daily routine from his location in Tamaulipas some 2,000 kilometres away.
[18] I find that this demonstrates that he has the means to locate you in other areas in Mexico. Consequently, I find that you do not have a viable IFA in Mexico.
CONCLUSION
[19] For the foregoing reasons, I find that you are a Convention refugee and I accept your claim.
——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———