RM (Sierra Leone – Female genital mutilation – Membership of a particular social group) Sierra Leone
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Miss K Eshun |
| Judgment Date | 17 May 2004 |
| Neutral Citation | [2004] UKIAT 108 |
| Court | Immigration Appeals Tribunal |
| Date | 17 May 2004 |
[2004] UKIAT 108
IMMIGRATION APPEAL TRIBUNAL
Miss K Eshun (Chairman)
Mr P S Aujla
Mrs L R Schmitt
For the appellant: Mr K Kuranchie of the Refugee Legal Centre
For the respondent: Mr D Saville, Home Office Presenting Officer
RM (Sierra Leone — Female Genital Mutilation — membership of a particular Social Group) Sierra Leone
The appellant, a citizen of Sierra Leone, appeals with leave of the Tribunal against the determination of an Adjudicator (Mr C A Vaudin d'Imecourt) dismissing her appeal against the decision of the respondent made on 14 January 2003 to refuse to vary her leave to enter or remain and grant her asylum in the United Kingdom.
The appellant claimed to have a well-founded of persecution if returned to Sierra Leone as a result of membership of a particular social group, that is a female who is expected to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).
The Adjudicator dismissed both the asylum and Article 3 claims. Mr Saville informed the Tribunal that he was granting the appellant three years humanitarian protection leave and was therefore conceding that there would not be a sufficiency of protection for the appellant were she to be removed to Sierra Leone.
Mr Saville was, however, contesting the argument in the grounds of appeal that the appellant's claim engages the Convention by way of her membership of a particular social group. He relied on the Tribunal decision in M (Kenya).
The appellant's account was that she comes from a lineage of women who generally hold the rank of persons responsible for the carrying out of female genital mutilation. Her grandmother who was the head circumciser in her village died without a female descendant save for her. The appellant said that she was selected by a group of females in her village to replace her grandmother. They were going to force her into having female circumcision which she objected to and one of her relatives paid for her to flee her village and the country.
The Adjudicator having considered the principles established in Shah and Islam did not find that this particular appellant falls within the categories of persons that can be described as persons of a particular social group, since it was clear from the principles enunciated in Shah and Islam that “the social group must exist independently of, and not be identified by, the persecution”. He found that in the particular circumstances of this case the group to which the appellant claims membership of would not exist independently of and not been identified by the persecution.
Mr Kuranchie argued that the appellant is a member of a particular social group of women of the Mendi tribe. Their immutable characteristics are that they are young and female, with an intact body, which has not been interfered with by way of FGM, regardless of the fact that some of the women from that tribe do not oppose FGM. The desire to preserve their body is so fundamental that they should not be required to change it. If those characteristics are accepted as defining the group, then he would argue that the Adjudicator erred in finding that there is no Convention reason.
Mr Kuranchie then went on to argue that there would not be a sufficiency of protection for the appellant in Sierra Leone but, as already stated above, Mr Saville did accept that there would not be and that was why he had conceded the Article 3 claim.
Mr Saville argued that there was nothing in the objective evidence, which says that people of the Mendi tribe suffer more than...
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Fornah v Secretary of State for the Home Department
...has to exist independently of the persecution." 54 In reaching that conclusion the Tribunal followed its earlier determination in R [2004] UKIAT 00108. In that case the Tribunal had directed itself that, in the light of Shah and Islam, what constitutes a particular social group in a particu......
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Upper Tribunal (Immigration and asylum chamber), 2021-02-25, [2021] UKUT 108 (IAC) (GW (FGM and FGMPOs) (CG))
...the Immigration Appeal Tribunal in RM (Sierra Leone – Female Genital Mutilation – membership of a particular social group) Sierra Leone [2004] UKIAT 00108 and by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in FB (Lone women - PSG – internal relocation – AA (Uganda) considered) Sierra Leone [2008] U......
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Upper Tribunal (Immigration and asylum chamber), 2021-02-25, PA/11738/2017 & PA/00957/2018
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Petition Of Helen Johnson (ap) For Judicial Review
...to it by force. [16]The second IAT decision to which Mr Govier referred was that of RM v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] UKIAT 00108. That case related to the practice of FGM in Sierra Leone. The female appellant claimed to have a well-founded fear of persecution if return......