2024 RLLR 76

Citation: 2024 RLLR 76
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: January 12, 2024
Panel: S. Mashkuri
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Paul Vandervennen
Country: Ethiopia
RPD Number: TC3-22032
Associated RPD Number(s): N/A
ATIP Number: A-2025-00362
ATIP Pages: N/A

DECISION

[1] MEMBER: I have considered your testimony and other evidence before me, and I am going to give you my reasons orally right now. When you do get the transcript of these reasons, there will not be any footnotes or any editing for syntax or grammar, but I want to reassure you that I have considered all the documentary evidence that was provided to me, including case law, which I have considered. The claimant, Mr. XXXX XXXX XXXX, file number TC3-22032, you claim to be a citizen of Ethiopia, and you are claiming refugee protection pursuant to section 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

DETERMINATION

[2] After considering the totality of the evidence before me, I find that you are a Convention refugee based on section 96, with an intersection of grounds, namely your ethnicity as a Tigray and your perceived political opinion.

ALLEGATIONS

[3] Your allegations are set out in your Basis of Claim form, as well as being supported by your oral testimony today. You are — to summarize, you are a 30-year old Tigrayan man from the Tigray region of Ethiopia. You were born in XXXX, which is located in the northwest region of Tigray. Your family since 2020 has been expelled from their homes to Mek’ele, and you left for Rwanda in 2019 to work at a XXXX XXXX.

[4] Prior to coming to Canada to seek protection based on your ethnicity, you worked and lived in Rwanda from 2019 until XXXX 2023. The last time you visited Ethiopia to visit your family was in XXXX 2020, a month prior to the civil war breaking out. Your family and relatives have been severely affected by the ethnic war in Tigray region, and your work visa was not renewed in XXXX 2023 in Rwanda, and you were — and you used the student visa issued to you in XXXX 2022 to flee to Canada in XXXX 2023, and you sought protection shortly after arriving in Canada.

Identity

[5] As far as your identity is concerned, I find that you have established your citizenship and your nationality as an Ethiopian on a balance of probabilities based on your testimony as well as the supporting documentation that I have before me. I have considered your documents, such as copies of your passports, kebele card, et cetera. I also find that you have established on a balance of probabilities your ethnicity as a Tigrayan.

Credibility

[6] Credibility was a determinative issue. I have used the Maldonado principle, which is that there is a presumption of truth when claimants come forward and make allegations of persecution. I also find you to be a credible witness and therefore believe what you have alleged. There were no inconsistencies or contradictions between your oral and written evidence. You testified in a straightforward and credible manner. You are fluent in Tigray language, you were born in Tigray, and your family still resides in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

[7] I find that you have established your particular ethnicity, which is supported by the objective documentary evidence about the Tigray people being targeted in Ethiopia based on their ethnicity. Your allegations are also supported by corroborating evidence you provided from your work at the UNHCR, your family, your community, and the Tigrayan community in Canada, as well as photos and social media posts.

[8] Subjective fear was an issue with regards to your credibility, and that is because you had visited your family before the civil war erupted in Ethiopia. However, as you explained that you did not have any fear at the time, and you have travelled several — to several other countries for vacation while you still had your work visa and you could go back to Rwanda. Your explanation that you did not want to use the UK visa you had to seek protection is reasonable to me, considering the UNHCR UK and Rwanda disagreements about shipping of asylum seekers to Rwanda. You feared that you would not be accepted in UK and sent to Rwanda to be in a camp.

[9] Also, with regards to not asking protection as you arrived in Canada, I find that it is reasonable that you were in a status — you were in status upon arriving in Canada as a student, and therefore I do not draw a negative inference with regards to delay in asking for protection. In conclusion, your travels and delay in asking for protection does not affect your subjective fear or your credibility.

[10] I have also considered objective documentary evidence. I have considered the newest NDP for Ethiopia, Item 2.1, which is a DOS report, and Item 2.2, which is an Amnesty International report. Although there has been a truce since November 2022, it has not been a durable solution according to the documentary evidence. Effectively, with regards to your own allegations and your own testimony, your family has been expelled from their home in XXXX and they are still living in Mek’ele. There are latest Human Rights Watch and the newest Amnesty International report in the NDP, which I have also considered. The NDP for Ethiopia lends credence to your fear of harm, of arbitrary arrests and detention based on your Tigrayan ethnicity.

[11] I do need to quote some of the documents from the NDP. The NDP reports that Ethiopia’s political system is known as an ethnic federation, or ethnic federalism, that allocates to the largest ethnic groups administration of their state under considerable autonomy from the federal government. This has resulted in a dramatic rise in identity-based attacks and ethnic conflicts. Item 13.12 of the NDP for Ethiopia reports that Tigrayans are currently the most targeted people, and that there is a general impression that they are losing their citizenship rights across Ethiopia. Tigrayans are suspected of opposing Prime Minister’s political party or being affiliated with or supporting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

[12] Item 2.1 again states that they have been ethnically profiled and arbitrarily detained by the law enforcement officials for alleged support for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front or terrorists throughout the country, often without due process. The reports of growing harassment, threats, recruitment, forced disappearance of Tigrayans by state and non-state actors. Item 1.35 of the NDP reports that since the state of emergency was lifted in February 2022, reactions to the conflict has continued to affect all persons of Tigrayan origin, as well as those who are suspected by the authorities of affiliation to TPLF. Tigrayans outside of Tigray are still exposed to widespread discrimination and persistent threats of deprivation of liberty.

[13] The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission reported in July 2022 that detainees have been subjected to unlawful treatment, while armed and organized groups and individuals have conducted ethnic-motivated killings, physical injury, and destruction or looting of property against civilians across many parts of the country. While the government denies reports of ethnic profiling Tigrayans, sources indicate Tigrayans are especially targeted, and there is no state protection for Tigrayan people because the government is actively agitating violence and ethnic cleansing of them.

[14] Freedom House 2023 lists Ethiopia as not free. The report further states that Ethiopia remains beset by civil war, and inter-communal violence, abuses by security forces, and violation of due process are still common, and many restrictive laws remain in force. And since late 2020 until November 2022, fighting between federal government and TDF has led to the displacement of millions, and atrocities and violence has spilled over to the neighbouring regions. In the same report, another source states that there is no state protection for Tigrayan people, as the government are actively agitating violence and ethnic cleansing.

[15] Despite government’s stated intention to target only TPLF leadership, this conflict is also having a much broader negative impact on Tigrayans outside of Tigray. This would mean that if you even moved to Addis Ababa, you would not be safe. Tigrayans outside of the northern region are still being harassed. As well, as far as state protection is concerned, given the agent of persecution is primarily the state, I find that it would be objectively unreasonable for you to seek protection of the state, and the presumption of adequate state protection has been rebutted on a balance of probabilities.

[16] As far as the IFA, which is internal fight alternative, is concerned, I find that the agent of persecution, as I stated, is primarily the state. Absence of adequate protection and the state’s prosecutor treatment of Tigrayans is nationwide, and you would not — and you would face a serious possibility of persecution throughout the country on a balance of probabilities, since the Ethiopian government is in control of most of its territories, and therefore you do not have a viable IFA in Ethiopia.

[17] Therefore, based on the foregoing analysis, and taking into consideration the objective documentary evidence of ongoing treatment of Tigrayans and those who are deemed to be in opposition to the government, as well as your own personal documentary evidence, I find that you are a Convention refugee pursuant to section 96 of IRPA, based on your ethnicity and your perceived political opinion, and therefore I accept your claim.

——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———