Caribbean women suffer abuse at their spouses’ hands - Refugee Board in Canada

Caribbean women suffer abuse at their spouses’ hands – Refugee Board in Canada

Feb 01, 2009 News

…many granted refugee status – Kaisree Chatarpaul

Canadian Immigration lawyer Kaisree Chatarpaul

By Tusika Martin

The Immigration and Refugee Board in Canada has ruled on numerous occasions that it has enough information to show that women in the English-speaking Caribbean are abused by their spouses.

This is according to Canadian Immigration lawyer Kaisree Chatarpaul, who, during an interview with Kaieteur News, said that the documentation centre of the Immigration and Refugee Board in Canada also pointed out that many of those who are abused are living in countries that have anti-domestic violence legislation.

In 1995, he said, the National Chairman representing the State in Canada issued guidelines for women, called the ‘Gender Guidelines’ for those who claimed that they are abused.

The board, he said, has also ruled that the abuse is not limited to married women, but also women who are in common-law relationships.

Many of these women, he said, are granted resident visas based on the level of corruption in their countries.
A refugee is a person who is outside of his country of nationality, and is afraid to return to his home country because he is being victimized either by reason of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

The definition of a refugee also includes that the individual is afraid of returning to their country of nationality because of fear, and is unwilling or unable to avail him/her self of the protection of that country.

Chatarpaul said that in presenting him/herself to the Tribunal Board, the person has to prove that he or she has been singled out and is being prosecuted in various forms of discrimination.

“As a lawyer, we take information from clients and we represent them; we discuss with them their chances of being a refugee.”

He said that an individual’s chance of being a refugee is ‘extremely poor’ since the success rate of such cases are about 20 percent.

The success rate last year was about 18 percent, he added, noting that that figure is very high for a country like Guyana.

“People come and tell us their problems, and we can tell them upfront if they can get through or not,” he added.

Many lawyers, he said, ‘jump on the refugee bandwagon’ because it gives their clients time to remain in the country as their applications are being processed.

“It takes about six months to two years for the application to be processed, and in the meantime people are given work permits.”

In many instances, he said, consultants and relatives give advice that they know someone who was granted refugee status, and as such they fabricate stories.

“When you go there, there is a refugee board and that person will have to meet with a judge. A tribunal officer will then advise the judge on the case. That person is then allowed to present his of her case to the board.”

He added that some persons seek refugee status on the grounds of banditry, but are denied residency in Canada because a person who is a victim of a robbery is clearly not a refugee but, rather, a victim of crime.
“A victim of crime is not the same as a victim of persecution. If a person gets through as a refugee, it’s an indictment against the state where that person comes from.”

He cited a very famous case from the Essequibo Coast, where a family became residents in Canada since they proved to the court that they were being persecuted by agents of the state.

He added that when persons succeed as refugees, they are entitled to a Convention passport.
The Canadian Refugee Law is a carbon copy of the Law of Refugee as passed by the United Nations Convention.