2023 RLLR 73
Citation: 2023 RLLR 73
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: November 21, 2023
Panel: A. Shaibu
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Diane B. Coulthard
Country: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Saudi Arabia
RPD Number: TC2-38002
Associated RPD Number(s): N/A
ATIP Number: A-2023-01721
ATIP Pages: N/A
DECISION
[1] MEMBER:
INTRODUCTION
[2] This is the decision of the Refugee Protection Division for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. You allege you are a citizen, you allege you’re a stateless Palestinian, and you’re claiming refugee protection pursuant to Section 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
[3] I have considered your testimony and the other evidence in this case and I’m ready to render my decision orally. The written decision will come to you shortly in the mail and may be amended to include references to Exhibits or case law as needed.
ALLEGATIONS
[4] The full details of your allegations are set out in your Basis of Claim form found at Exhibit 2 and 2.1. In summary, you allege that you’re a stateless Palestinian from Gaza born in Saudi Arabia to Palestinian parents who were also born in Palestine and are currently long-term residents of Saudi. You allege that, you allege fear of forced recruitment by Hamas to which you are opposed. You allege that if you do not join the militia, they will deny you employment and harass you in order to force you to join the militia. You also fear that they could go as far as threatening to kill you if you do not join them. You allege that you cannot join Hamas as they commit war crimes and crimes against humanity and that you do not want to be a part of such atrocities. You allege that some of your relatives of the same age who have returned to Gaza have been targeted for forced recruitment by Hamas, specifically your brother and your brother-in-law, and other members of the family who are currently in Gaza are not safe. You also allege that you have no right to return to Saudi Arabia where you have lived on a temporary status and since your employment was terminated, you’ve not been able to secure another employment and you made arrangements to come to Canada to seek protection for this reason. You allege you cannot return to Palestine for this reason as well. You allege that if you return to Saudi Arabia without status, you will be deported to Gaza. You fear returning to Gaza.
DETERMINATION
[5] For the reasons that follow, I find that, I find that you face a serious possibility of persecution pursuant to Section 96 of The Act if you return to Gaza because of your opposition to Hamas and your fear of forced recruitment. I also find that you do not have a right to return to Saudi Arabia as you currently do not have authorization to stay there.
Identity
[6] Give me one moment. I find your identity as a Palestinian who is stateless, and your personal identity is established on a balance of probabilities by your oral testimony and copies of your Palestinian authority issued passport which shows that, which contains an identification number and shows that it was issued in XXXX and that you were born in Saudi to Palestinian parents. This also includes your Palestinian, a copy of your Palestinian ID card which shows your place of birth as Saudi, and your parents’ Palestinian authority issued passports which shows their place of birth as Palestine, just one moment, country of habitual residence as a stateless Palestinian, I find it is necessary to determine your status in countries where you have had formal habitual residence. In this case, I find Saudi Sarabia is your country of habitual residence, and you must show that you either have a well-founded fear of persecution in Saudi or that you have no status that would allow you to return there.
Credibility and Subjective Fear
[7] Pursuant to the Maldonado Principle in refugee claims, when a claimant swears to the truth of the allegations, this creates a presumption that those allegations are true unless there is a reason to doubt their truthfulness. I find that you testified in a straightforward manner. It was spontaneous. There were no inconsistencies, material inconsistencies between your testimony, the documents that you have provided, or your narrative. I noted that you lived, you visited, just one moment, Türkiye and you also studied for almost a year in Egypt and that you did not make claims in these countries. You have testified that for Türkiye, you did not have a need to make a claim at the time you visited in 2019 and for Egypt, you, your narrative indicates that you were compelled to leave because, on your father’s instructions. I do not make a negative inference with regard to your failure to claim in Türkiye or in Egypt.
[8] With regard to Jordan and the UAE where you also visited, I note that these countries are non-signatory to the Refugee Convention, and I do not draw a negative inference for your failure to claim there considering that you also had temporary status; you were only visiting.
[9] I’ve considered your rights to return to Saudi. I note you were born there and that you lived there extensively according to your testimony from when you were born to 2022 when you left apart from the short occasions when you traveled out of the country to visit family.
[10] I’ve considered the Exhibit 3.2 of the NDP for, Exhibit 3.2 which is the NDP for Saudi Arabia, specifically item 1.3 which indicates that there is no citizenship by birth in Saudi Arabia and that citizenship is by descent only in which case the father must be a citizen of Saudi. I’ve considered the Palestinian authority passports for your parents and your, their Saudi resident ID’s which shows that they remain temporary residents in Saudi; this is found at Exhibit 55. This evidence before me indicates that both parents are stateless Palestinians and as you were born to Palestinian parents, I find that you don’t have the ability to gain Saudi Arabian citizenship by birth by virtue of your being born there. Just one moment please.
[11] Item 1.3.1 for Saudi also indicates that non-citizens born in Saudi Arabia to non-citizen parents only have temporary status as Saudi Arabia does not bestow citizenship rights on foreign nationals who reside there, even after they have kids, and their residence status must be renewed as you testified and may be withdrawn.
[12] Item 3.5 also speaks to the status of children. Just one moment. 3.5 indicates that children born in Saudi Arabia to non-Saudi parents are not considered Saudi citizens and they face discrimination including obstacles in finding jobs and they are not eligible to access government services and they also have to renew their residency permits every year. Access to education, health care, public housing, courts, and judicial proceedings are reserved only for citizens.
[13] Item 3.9 of the NDP for Saudi that’s found at Exhibit 3 regarding Palestinians in Saudi, it reports that most only have residence status and are excluded for naturalization proceedings even though the resident requirement for naturalization which is five years. This means that their stay and status in the country relies on ensuring that they have sponsorship. They constantly have no security, their status is very volatile, and they’re ineligible to benefit from public services. Give me one second. Saudi Arabia is also not a party to the Convention Refugee, sorry, the Refugee Convention, and this is stated in item 14.2 of the NDP for Saudi. They do not have an asylum system under which people fearing persecution in their home country can seek protection leading to a real risk of deporting them to harm.
[14] Still on the impact of statelessness in Saudi, item 3.9 of the NDP for Saudi indicates that being stateless in Saudi Arabia can result in significant violations of rights which has included lack of access to public education, health, and other services and inability to access employment, social alienation and psychological challenges.
[15] Just one more bit on Saudi Arabia, item 2.1 identifies as for Saudi Arabia, that although racial discrimination is illegal, societal discrimination continued. So, I find this is consistent with your testimony with regard to your situation in Saudi. I find that you have temporary status in Saudi and that status no longer exists. You’ve been out of Saudi for a year. Your employment in Saudi has been terminated. You provided a letter for that at Exhibit 5 which corroborates your testimony regarding the termination of your employment of which you were advised was coming in XXXX, XXXX 2021, due to Saudization. You testified you were not able to find another job and that the precarious nature of your residence rights in Saudi Arabia had become a frustration, frustrating over the years with the need to renew constantly. You testified that a family member was also deported to Gaza from Saudi Arabia, and this heightened your fear as well. I note that there was a slight inconsistency in the timing while your brother indicates that he was forced to Gaza in 2021, you testified that it was in 2008 or 2009, but you did come back to say that you were mistaken and not sure about the timing. I do not draw a negative inference from this inconsistency.
[16] I assign weight to the letter from your brother which indicates that he was forced to depart Saudi to Gaza and that he faced persecution in Gaza. So I find that you do not have on the balance of probabilities, that you do not have status in Saudi even though you were born there and despite your long residence that would allow you to return to the country legally and that you’ve established a serious possibility of persecution there based on your ethnicity or nationality and that your fear of returning to Saudi is objectively well-founded. I find that you do not have, reasonable state protection would not be forthcoming to you and that you do not have an Internal Flight Alternative there as a non-national without the rights to return there or in the absence of status in that country and I find that you would face persecution amounting, you face discrimination amounting to persecution should you return there without status.
[17] In terms of your fear of persecution in Gaza Palestine, you did testify about your position to Hamas which is described as a terrorist organization. You testified that you know from your family experience, that of your brother and that of your brother-in-law who had to escape to Egypt, that Hamas is also forcibly recruiting civilians into their armed activities and that those who do not, who oppose Hamas, are denied employment and they face precarious situations in Gaza. You testified that you cannot join Hamas because they permit war crimes and crimes against humanity, and you do not want to be part of it. You did express that you have not, you have only shared this opinion with family members and friends. Give me one moment. I do not have any, I do not draw a negative inference from your, I find your testimony was consistent about your fear of Hamas in Gaza and to support your claim, you provided support letters from your siblings in Gaza, and they detailed their experience of difficulties of living in Gaza. I noted that the letter from your brother does not mention that he has been recruited by Hamas, but you did explain orally that your brother told you that that was the case and for security reasons, he has not indicated so in his letter. Again, I do not draw a negative inference from this concern. I find that you have reasonably explained the absence of that information in his letter, and I have assigned full weight to the letters in the absence of concerns about the authenticity. I find that the objective evidence supports your fear of returning to Gaza and Palestine.
[18] Item 1.6 of the NDP for occupied Palestinian territory at Exhibit 3.1 speaks to the fact that the Gaza strip has been under the de facto governing authority of Hamas since 2007 and that since Hamas took over, Israel and Egypt have enforced tight restrictions on movement and access of individuals in and out of the country. In addition, Hamsa also operates their own restrictions and limitations of movement in and out of Gaza.
[19] Item 1.10 indicates that travel to and from the Gaza strip is subject to severe restrictions and is only possible by the territories through land crossing points, Erez Crossing and Rafah Crossing. Very few Gazans are able to travel out of the Gaza strip. In your case, you’ve testified that you have your right to return because you have a Palestinian Authority ID card, but you are not able to do so because you fear Hamas.
[20] Item 2.1 and 1.6 of the NDP for the occupied Palestinian territory also makes it clear that Hamas does not tolerate dissent or opposition and those who are perceived as opposing Hamas face arrest and detention. Item 2.1 which I referenced earlier speaks to the fact that, contains a report of unlawful or arbitrary killings by Hamas, torture or cruel inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment by Hamas personnel and it indicates that Hamas has detained an unknown number of Palestinians due to their real or suspected anti-political affiliation. Just one moment. I’m aware currently there is a conflict situation in Gaza as well between the Israeli authorities and Hamas. I find that the objective evidence supports that you would not be able to return to Gaza in the occupied Palestinian territories, and that you would face a serious possibility of persecution from Hamas should you return there with your opposition to its activities.
State Protection and Internal Flight Alternative With Respect to Gaza
[21] I have noted earlier that the de facto territory in Gaza is still Hamas, and that even though Israeli authorities try to control some of the Palestinian authority, (inaudible) to control in Gaza strip itself. I note that there is also at the moment an ongoing conflict between the Israeli authorities and Hamas in Palestinian territory, occupied territory. I find that the agent of persecution as you have described is Hamas and adequate state protection would not be reasonably be forthcoming to you on a balance of probabilities given your position to its activities.
Internal Flight Alternative
[22] I also find that you do not have a viable Internal Flight Alternative in the occupied territory, specifically Gaza. You did testify about the severe limits on freedom of movement from the Gaza strip to the West Bank which Israel controls and like I mentioned earlier, the objective evidence also indicates that there is severe limits on freedom of movement on the occupied Palestinian territory. I find based on the evidence before me including the objective evidence and your personal experience that you face a serious possibility of persecution if you were to return to Gaza because of your opposition to Hamas and your fear of forced recruitment. I find that you do not have a visible Internal Flight Alternative there in the absence of a real government.
[23] So based on the totality of the evidence, this is my conclusion. I find pursuant to Section 96 of The Act that you have established a serious possibility of persecution in Gaza, and you are not able to return to Saudi Arabia because you do not have any status there. I find you are a Convention refugee and I accept your claims. Congratulations and I wish you all the best in Canada.
——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———