2024 RLLR 106
Citation: 2024 RLLR 106
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: May 21, 2024
Panel: Persia Sayyari
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Usman Mahmood
Country: Pakistan
RPD Number: VC3-01802
Associated RPD Number(s): N/A
ATIP Number: A-2025-00611
ATIP Pages: N/A
DECISION
This unedited transcript constitutes the member’s written reasons for decision.
[1] MEMBER: These are the reasons of the Refugee Protection Division for the decision in the claim of XXXX XXXX, who claims to be a citizen of Pakistan and is seeking protection pursuant to sections 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
ALLEGATIONS
[2] The claimant’s allegations were fully set out in her Basis of Claim form at Exhibit 2, and oral testimony. This is only a brief summary. The claimant is a 34-year-old woman who is a citizen of Pakistan and no other country. In XXXX 2022, she got engaged. After later being influenced by the religious conversion of her sister and her brother-in-law, whom she lived with, the claimant also converted from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam. In XXXX 2022, the claimant’s fiance discovered she had converted to Shia Islam. He assaulted her and told her to convert back to Sunni Islam. In XXXX 2022, he told her he had arranged for a fatwa to be issued against her, due to her conversion. In XXXX 2022, the claimant received the fatwa. In XXXX 2023, she was attacked by her ex-fiance, but police refused to take her report because he was involved with a terrorist group that they feared. The claimant came to Canada in XXXX 2023.
Determination and Nexus
[3] I find the claimant is a Convention refugee as she faces a serious possibility of persecution due to her intersectional profile. She faces a serious possibility of persecution due to her gender and her religious beliefs.
ANALYSIS
Identity and Country of Reference
[4] I find the claimant’s identity as a citizen of Pakistan is established on a balance of probabilities by her Pakistani passport at Exhibit 1.
Credibility
[5] The claimant provided oral testimony at the hearing as well as documentary disclosure. I did not find the claimant to be an entirely credible witness. There are some material aspects of her allegations that I do not find her credible regarding, such as her allegation that her ex-fiancee threatened her life and issued a fatwa against her. However, I do not find it necessary to fully outline my credibility concerns about the facts I do not accept, because I do find the claimant has provided adequate evidence to establish the following facts on a balance of probabilities.
[6] Namely, I find the claimant is a single woman who has converted from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam. I find she does not have support of family members in Pakistan as her parents are dead. Her sister is in Canada, and she is not on speaking terms with her brother in Pakistan. Regarding those specific allegations, I did not identify material inconsistencies, omissions, or contradictions. I find those material facts adequate to ground the claimant’s claim, as they show she has a profile as someone who would face a serious possibility of persecution in Pakistan. My reasons for that finding are as follows.
Risk of Harm
[7] The claimant is a single woman without family support in Pakistan, who has chosen to follow Shia Islam instead of Sunni Islam. There is evidence in the National Documentation Package for Pakistan that both converts to Shia Islam and single women are at risk of violence from general members of society in Pakistan. I find the claimant’s intersectional profile as a single woman who has also converted from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam, sufficient to establish she faces a serious possibility of persecution in her home country.
[8] Regarding the treatment of Shia Muslims, according to Tab 1.8 of the National Documentation Package, Shia are reportedly the main targets of sectarian attacks in Pakistan. Extremist groups have publicly called for their killing and use various tactics to instill fear and to force them to flee their homes. These attacks are reportedly a growing threat. According to a report at Tab 12.40, conversions from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam are becoming less common in Pakistan due to the increasing hostility towards Shia individuals.
[9] According to a report at Tab 1.8, there has been an increase in sectarian violence targeting Shia individuals since 2012, with attacks primarily targeting ordinary people. Another report at Tab 12.5 confirms that armed, extremist, sectarian groups in Pakistan target Shia Muslims with violence. Shia Muslims have been vilified and subject to various forms of hate speech. Another report at Tab 1.24 confirms the security situation deteriorated in Pakistan in 2022 due to political unrest and devastating floods. It describes a 27 percent rise of terrorist incidents in the country compared to 2021.
[10] Regarding the treatment of single women in Pakistan, a report at Tab 5.21 of the National Documentation Package indicates, and I quote, “there seems to be no space in Pakistani culture for women living alone. The common expected arc of a woman’s life consists of first living in her parent’s home and moving out only when moving into the home of her husband and family. Women who seek independence are often thought of bringing shame upon the family by doing so and are severely criticized by relatives.” The same report describes that recently, the situation has become somewhat easier for single women who decide to live alone. However, overall, it still appears that this puts single women in a dangerous situation.
[11] The same report quotes a lawyer saying that grown women who were not under the wing of a husband in Pakistan are considered social pariahs, and their morals are declared compromised. The same report quotes the same lawyer by saying that although it is possible for women to live alone in Pakistan, doing so is considered a sign of dishonour for their families because it implies that women are unwilling — excuse me, correction. It is considered a sign of dishonour for their families, because it implies that men are unwilling or unable to care for their female relatives, or that the women are morally problematic for living away from the family home. To remain single in Pakistan is not only considered socially unacceptable, but also perceived as noncompliant to the cultural hegemony of the institute of marriage.
[12] There is also information in the same report indicating that Pakistan was considered the sixth most dangerous and fourth worst country in the world for women in terms of economic resources and discrimination, as well as the risks women face from cultural, religious, and traditional practices, including so-called honour killings. Furthermore, a report at Tab 1.13 indicates Pakistan has one (1) of the worst records for gender equality in the world.
[13] In 2021, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report ranked Pakistan as 153rd out of 156 countries for female economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Rates of gender-based violence in the country are very high. Given this country condition evidence, I find the claimant faces a serious possibility of persecution in Pakistan from members of society, due to her profile as a single woman who has converted from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam.
State Protection
[14] I find there is clear and convincing evidence that Pakistan state authorities are unable or unwilling to provide the claimant with adequate protection. I make this finding based on the following country condition evidence. According to a report at Tab 1.13, Pakistan state authorities lack the ability to protect individuals from violence due to under-resourcing, corruption, socioeconomic factors at the individual level, and lack of political will. The same report indicates that despite efforts to curb violence, successful prosecution for politically motivated or sectarian violence is rare. This is due to ineffective police investigations, lack of forensic capacity and prosecution, and judicial legal understanding that is also lacking, as well as threats against judges, lawyers, witnesses, and their families. Police work is reportedly poorly paid and dangerous, and a lack of centralized or national law enforcement databases makes it difficult to track offenders.
[15] According to a report at Tab 10.4, Pakistan’s judiciary is often subject to external influences, such as fear of reprisal from extremist elements. There is also a specific information regarding the inability of Pakistan authorities to protect Shia Muslims from attacks at Tab 1.8 of the National Documentation Package.
Internal Flight Alternative
[16] I have considered whether a viable internal flight alternative exists for the claimant. On the evidence before me, I find she faces a serious possibility of persecution throughout Pakistan, due to her gender and religious beliefs. The country condition evidence I have cited refers to Pakistan generally and does not indicate that the claimant would be safe from the serious possibility of persecution, due to her gender and religious beliefs, in any specific area of the country. There is also information that specifically suggests the risk is countrywide. For example, in a report at Tab 12.25, which indicates that the Shia Muslim community has been targeted by sectarian violence throughout Pakistan. There is also information to this effect at Tab 1.8, which indicates that attacks against Shia have been reported in all parts of the country, and that anti-Shia hate speech permeates all sectors of Pakistani society. I find this information adequate to show the claimant would face a serious possibility of persecution throughout Pakistan.
CONCLUSION
[17] I find the claimant is a Convention refugee pursuant to section 96 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and I accept her claim.
——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———