2019 RLLR 148

2019 RLLR 148 Citation: 2019 RLLR 148 Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division Date of Decision: September 26, 2019 Panel: Daniel Carens-Nedelsky Counsel for the Claimant(s): (no information available) Country: Lebanon RPD Number: MB9-03758 Associated RPD Number(s): N/A ATIP Number: A-2022-00210 ATIP Pages: 000069-000074 [1] This is the decision for the claim of refugee protection made by XXXX XXXX under file number MB9-03758. I have considered all of the evidence and I am ready to render my decision orally. [2] You are claiming to be a citizen of Lebanon and are claiming refugee protection pursuant to Sections 96 and 97 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. ALLEGATIONS [3] You alleged that you cannot return to Lebanon because of your fear of persecution due to your gender identity as a transgender person and you fear persecution from your family and society at large. [4] During the hearing and in making my decision I have considered and applied the Chairperson’s Guideline number 9 regarding claimants with diverse sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. DETERMINATION [5] For the following reasons, I find that you are a “Convention refugee”. IDENTITY [6] I find on a balance of probabilities you have established your personal identity and your identity as a citizen of Lebanon through your documentary evidence, in particular your Lebanese passport as well as through your credible testimony. NEXUS [7] I find that you have a nexus to the Convention as a member of a particular social group, specifically as a person fearing persecution due to your gender identity. CREDIBILITY [8] You testified in a spontaneous and forthcoming manner with no omissions, contradictions or inconsistencies and I therefore accept as true what you have told me here today and what you have written in your Basis of Claim. [9] You provided detailed testimony about first realizing that you were a transgender in Lebanon preferring to wear women’s clothing in secret at an early age, about a time when your uncle assaulted you for wearing earrings, about seeking the assistance of an LGBTQ group in Beirut in Lebanon. [10] You told me about how you got there and how they weren’t ultimately able to help you, about a relationship that you had with a man in Lebanon. You provided details about how that relationship began and what you liked about him and about convincing your parents to come and let you study here in Canada. And you also told me about your experiences here in Canada, about how seeing gay and transgender people out in the world started to make you feel more comfortable about exploring your own gender identity, about your relationship with a man named XXXX and how he also encouraged you to push and explore your boundary. And you corroborated this evidence with a number of text messages and pictures of XXXX. [11] Based on your credible testimony, I find that you have a subjective fear of returning to Lebanon. OBJECTIVE BASIS [12] The country condition documents are clear that LGBTQ individuals who are open about their identity face widespread discrimination and violence in Lebanon. [13] The United States Department of State Report at 2.11 of the National Documentation Package notes that there is official and societal discrimination against LGBTI persons and that there is no (inaudible) anti-discrimination law to protect LGBTI persons. And the same document notes that most reports of abuse came from transgender women and it also notes that a project from the Arab Foundation for Freedom and Equality highlighted employment discrimination faced by transgender women. [14] Item 6.2 of the National Documentation Package notes that article 534 of the Lebanese Code is still in force which makes illegal “unnatural sexual intercourse” carrying a sentence of up to a year in prison. And the same document notes that although some judges had held that this law cannot be used to convict LGBTQ individuals, arrests under the law have continued and actually increased from 2016 to 2017 and that this ambiguity creates a scope of violence against LGBTQ individuals. The same document reports the terrible treatment that LGBTQ individuals face by police, including physical violence, mandatory HIV testing carried out in an unsafe manner and psychological torment. [15] Item 2.2 of the National Documentation Package notes that security forces continue to arrest people and press charges under this law and similarly item 2.8 of the National Documentation Package notes that in 2017 a transgendered woman in Lebanon was detained due to her sexual identity. [16] Item 6.3 of the NDP notes that when asked whether people could identify not strictly as either a man or a woman, 72 per cent of Lebanese people surveyed disagreed and that the idea that there was only two sexes had 97.5 percent agreement. [17] Item 9.4 of the National Documentation Package notes that LGBTQ people often faced recurrent humiliating treatments and verbal and psychological violence and abuse from the police and also reported being harassed. And this also includes a reference of a transgender person who was treated very terribly by the police and in another case an individual was deprived access of medicine for nine months. [18] And lastly, I note that there is some positive evidence of life for LGBTQ people specifically in Beirut and Lebanon. Item 6.4 of the NDP notes that there is an underground LGBTQ life in Beirut, but the same document describes police abuse of LGBTQ individuals, police raids on LGBT establishments and that LGBTQ individuals are not able to live openly in Beirut without facing severe harassment and discrimination. BY CLAIMANT [19] I can help you with that. There is maybe one road. I think we can live there, but you cannot from the society. It’s called the “hamara (phonetic)”. BY THE MEMBER [20] And similarly, item 2.8 of the National Documentation Package notes that while the first Pride Parade in Beirut happened in 2017, numerous events were either cancelled or downsized due to threats of violence and protests. And similarly, item 2.5 of the National Documentation Package it says LGBTQ individuals face a moderate risk of societal and official discrimination and that in Beirut an individual would be able to lead a relatively open life, but would need to keep a low profile and would be at risk of societal and family ostracism. [21] I find that the term of “relatively open life” understates the significant risks described earlier in the report that individuals with whatever sexual orientation and gender identity face and that the documentary evidence is clear that individuals who live openly face extreme persecution and discrimination including in Beirut. [22] And based on this documentary evidence, I find there is an objective basis for your fear of returning to Lebanon. STATE PROTECTION [23] As discussed in the documents discussed above, the police often do not protect LGBTQ individuals and are in fact frequently agents of persecution towards LGBTQ individuals and particularly transgender individuals and I therefore find that adequate State protection would not be available to you if you were to return to Lebanon. INTERNAL FLIGHT ALTERNATIVE [24] The documentary evidence discussed above states that even in Beirut where there is something of an underground LGBTQ community, individuals are notable to live openly without facing severe discrimination by society and the police and that anti-LGBTQ sentiments are prevalent throughout the entire country. And I therefore find on a balance of probabilities that you would face a serious possibility of persecution throughout Lebanon and therefore do not have an internal flight alternative available to you. CONCLUSION [25] I find that you face a serious possibility of persecution as a result of your gender identity and therefore find that you are a “Convention refugee”. Your claim is therefore accepted.