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2019 RLLR 36

Citation: 2019 RLLR 36
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: January 22, 2019
Panel: Michal Fox
Country: Nigeria
RPD Number: VB8-04811
ATIP Number: A-2021-01124
ATIP Pages: 000203-000209


[1]       PRESIDING MEMBER: [XXX], [XXX], and [XXX] claim to be citizens of Nigeria and the United States. You claim refugee protection pursuant to sections 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

[2]       At the hearing the claimant was appointed the designative representative to the minor claimants, [XXX] and [XXX].

Allegations from the Basis of Claim forms, Exhibits 2.1 and 2.2

[3]       The claimant, [XXX] is a citizen of Nigeria. The claimant is Yoruba and is from the western part of Nigeria, from [XXX] (ph). The claimant is a devout Jehovah’s Witness. She attends the Kingdom Hall two times a week and preaches as well.

[4]       The claimant is the mother of the minor claimants, [XXX] and [XXX]. [XXX] is a citizen of Nigeria, being born there on [XXX], 2013. The minor claimant [XXX] is a US citizen, born in the United States on [XXX], 2017.

[5]       The claimant’s mother and father were from [XXX] – state, Nigeria. On [XXX] 2012 the claimant married her husband, [XXX]. He’s from Delta State and he is [XXX] by ethnicity.

[6]       The claimant’s family were quite hostile to the claimant. They were against this inter-tribal union and the claimant became a Jehovah’s Witness. She wasn’t born into that religion and the husband’s family rejected not only her but that their son and brother became Jehovah’s Witness as well before he married the claimant.

[7]       The claimant’s Ogun state ethnicity being Yoruba but mostly her religion is the main reason of their hatred toward her. On several occasions the claimant was attacked and beaten by the claimant’s family so that she would get away from her husband. Her husband’s sister threatened to kill her if she didn’t step away from the marriage and it is because of this that she developed psychological problems.

[8]       In [XXX] 2015, she had a heated confrontation with a sister-in-law and thereafter miscarried at ten weeks of pregnancy.

[9]       The claimant was verbally attacked so many times that she would go to her parents’ home in Ogun state for refuge. One time was in [XXX], 2017. Her husband’s family followed her there and set the house ablaze. Her room was set on fire and all of her personal documents were burned. The claimant’s family went to the police but they refused to get involved.

[10]     The claimant herself was born in to a different Christian religion or sect called Church of Christ Family and her own family rejected her for becoming Jehovah’s Witness. They turned against her. They burned her clothes. They burned her religious publications and study materials. She was beaten, denied access to food and locked out for attending Christian meetings.

[11]     Her father showed up at the Kingdom Hall and embarrassed her. Her father threatened to burn down the Kingdom Hall if the claimant did not leave there and he threatened to disown her for being part of the Jehovah’s Witness community.

[12]     She was forced out of her home and the elders of the church had to take her in. The claimant supported herself without her family’s support when she went for higher education.

[13]     Many occasions when the claimant’s husband and herself were going for the door to door ministry, his family members would mock them and throw rocks at them and yell insults. They became fearful that there were people going to kill them because of their religious beliefs.

[14]     The claimants left Nigeria, came to United States, where the minor claimant was born. The claimants thereafter came to Canada and applied for refugee protection.

For the claim of the minor claimant [XXX]

Determination

[15]     I find that the claimant is not a Convention refugee in that she does not have a well-established fear of persecution for a Convention ground in Nigeria. I also find that the claimant is not a person in need of protection in that her removal to Nigeria would not subject her personally to a risk to her life or to a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment and in that there are no substantial grounds to believe that her removal to Nigeria will subject her personally to a danger of torture.

Analysis

[16]     The minor claimant is a citizen of United States. See Exhibit 1, her US birth certificate. As well, the claimant averred in Basis of Claim form that the minor claimant is a citizen of the United States.

[17]     At the hearing, in consultation with the claimant, who is the minor claimant’s designated representative, counsel stated that the claimant has no claim per section 96 and 97 against the United States.

Conclusion

[18]     For the foregoing reasons, I conclude that the minor claimant [XXX] is not a Convention refugee and not a person in need of protection and I therefore reject her claim.

The claims of [XXX]

Determination

[19]     I find that you are Convention refugees and that you do have a well-founded fear of persecution in Nigeria by reason of religion and race or ethnicity for the following reasons.

Analysis

[20]     Your identities as nationals of Nigeria are established by your testimony and supporting documentation filed, namely your Nigerian passports found in Exhibit 1.

[21]     I have found you to be a credible witness and I therefore believe what you have alleged in support of your claim. You testified in a straightforward manner and you corroborated your case with extensive documentary evidence, found in Exhibits 4 through 10.

[22]     I find your fears to be well-founded for the following reasons.

[23]     You have been attacked and even had part of your house burned down by family members due to you and your husband’s conversion to be Jehovah’s Witnesses over the years and also because of your husband’s family rejecting you due to your tribe being Yoruba while they are Osoko – O-S-O-K-O.

[24]     You’ve had stones thrown at you and at your husband when you were preaching your religion to others.  You’ve been threatened with death and abused verbally countless times. You also had a miscarriage due to the violence perpetrated against you for these very reasons and you still grieve this child to this day.

[25]     There is clear and convincing evidence before me that the state is unable or unwilling to protect you.

[26]     You filed police complaints on two times, see Exhibit 6 at page 3 and 4, and Exhibit 5 at page 16 and 18. Even neighbours filed police diary notices based on – to the police – about what they saw. Even when the agents of harm had been identified the police did nothing to investigate or take action.  It would be futile to expect protection in the future when the police, with the full evidence from even your neighbours, about who the agents of harm are, failed to take any action whatsoever in your case.

[27]     I have considered whether a viable internal flight alternative exists for you. On the evidence before me, I find that you would not be at risk in Port Harcourt. The claimants fear family members who reside in Delta, Lagos and Ogun state. She fears no one in Port Harcourt. The jurisprudential guide addressed this issue in decision TB7-19581. It states that those who fear non-state actors who have a viable internal flight alternative under such facts.

[28]     The claimant has no family members in Port Harcourt as well. She fears that perhaps family members of her husband would show up or visit Port Harcourt as Delta state is right next door, an hour away. I find that her evidence is speculative that such a risk of harm would take place. I thus find there’s no serious possibility of persecution in Port Harcourt.

[29]     However, on the evidence before me I find that it is objectively unreasonable in all the circumstance, including those particular to the claimants, for the claimants to seek refuge in Port Harcourt for the following reasons.

[30]     Psychological evidence is central to the question of whether an internal flight alternative is reasonable and cannot be disregarded. See the case of Cartaga — C-A-R-T-A-G-A – v. Canada, 208.FC.289.   In this case, the court noted that in considering whether internalflight alternative was unreasonable, the Board must take into account a claimant’s fragilepsychological state. See also Okafar v. Canada — O-K-A-F-O-R – 2011.FCl.002 andmore recently Kayhonini v. Canada-K-A-Y-H-O-N-I-N-I-2018.SC.1300.

[31]     In this case the claimant has a long history of mental health issues that only arose in her life after she converted to be a Jehovah’s Witness.  The psychological stress of losing her own family in this conversion compounded with the persecution she faced by her own family and her husband’s family, induced depression and psychosomatic illnesses since about 2013.

[32]     She’s been hospitalized for this in Nigeria. She received psychotherapy and has been medicated for her psychological condition since that time. The claimant continues to receive treatment here for these conditions. See Exhibit 4, page 10.

[33]     The [XXX] hospital in [XXX], in Exhibit 5 at page 4, specifically refers to when the claimant was hospitalized there for a week to address her psychological conditions that this was caused by the family violence towards here.

[34]     The report states that the violence perpetrated against the claimant by her in-laws on account of her religion and different ethnicity caused her poor sleep, headaches, weeping spells and low mood. The claimant was placed on anti-depressants. She deteriorated medically despite these interventions and had to change medications.

[35]     Even here in Canada, Exhibit 9, the claimant’s physician stated that her medical concerns today include depression and migraine type headaches, which were both pre-existing conditions diagnosed in Africa. The claimant is on various medications and to this day meets with her doctor every two to three months.

[36]     The claimant testified that because of all of her fears which started due the persecution she faced in Nigeria and with all of her worries and being rejected by everyone in her world, she would have epileptic attacks all over her body. Here in Canada she still has this condition but it is manageable with medication and ongoing assessment by her physician.

[37]     The claimant stated that with fears about Nigeria, she will be debilitated. She fears that she will run into someone from her family and they will tell others and that she will be attacked. With such a condition she would not be able to hold a job because she would miss more work because of her fears.

[38]     She had at times stopped working in Nigeria due to her – due to the physical condition that she suffered which was psychological in nature. The claimant also stated that she won’t be able to parent the minor claimant and her other child because she’d become so debilitated due to fear.

[39]     The claimant stated that with her fears that she is not safe in Nigeria, in Port Harcourt, just with those fears her psychosomatic symptoms will debilitate her and this is exasperated because of the claimant’s religion.

[40]     The claimant’s religion as Jehovah’s Witness requires her to go out as much as possible and spread the word. Jehovah’s Witness goes out every week, almost two days a week and weekends here in Canada, knocking on doors on strangers’ homes in unknown areas that are designated by her church. This would be the same, she did this also in Lagos, she did this in Ogun state, she did this in the United States. She would also have to do this – she would also want to do this and is required to do so in Port Harcourt.

[41]     She takes her children with her when she witnesses. This is essential to her religion. And that’s every week. If she were to return to Port Harcourt in Nigeria she would go into new areas, much more than other people do, knocking on doors, worrying that she will see someone on this street or that street who might know someone in her family, who might be visiting because of the closeness of Delta state and just this fear that she’ll be harmed once again, the claimant would psychologically fall apart.

[42]     The claimant has a chronic condition. It’s only ameliorated here but it’s not disappeared, even with medication and ongoing assistance and psychotherapy.

[43]     I find that due to the chronic nature of the claimant’s psychological condition just worrying about her situation and in conjunction with the way that she practices her religion, which is protected by a Convention ground, that she would be in a constant state of fright and dysfunction based on that she would be witnessing on average two times a week and sometimes even more if she were to return to Nigeria.

[44]     Even here she says, where she can witness freely, she still has her condition. In Nigeria it would be complete debilitation. The claimant said that she would be terrified, hyper-vigilant at all times, worrying. The claimant has suffered persecution in the past and that harm she carries with her emotionally and psychologically and physically.

[45]     Similarly, the internal flight alternative is unreasonable for the minor claimant as his mother will not be able to parent him. She will be recurrently disabled physically due to her psychosomatic illnesses and depression that have already caused her to be hospitalized, to lose work. She will not be able to support her child and take care of him when she is in so much pain herself. That pain will only be increased if she’s returned to Nigeria.

Conclusion

[46]     For the foregoing analysis, I conclude that the claimant [XXX] and [XXX] are Convention refugees and I therefore accept their claims.

[47]     That is the end of my decision.

—PROCEEDINGS CONCLUDED