Canadian immigration authorities rejected a Venezuelan woman’s claim for asylum under Canada’s “Gender-Related Persecution guidelines”: she claimed she’d be persecuted in Venezuela because she was overweight. The story suggests that this was a classic example of a bogus claim by someone who had no other leg to stand on:
Ian Clague, the adjudicator, had doubts about her claim, including questions on just how overweight the woman actually is.
“At the hearing, the claimant did not appear to fit the dictionary definition of obese. According to her personal information form, she had gained weight since she had been in Canada. No evidence was presented as to what her weight actually was, if she was medically overweight, or how her weight compared to others, male or female, in Venezuela,” says the decision summary.
Mr. Clague also questioned how damaging being overweight is to life in Venezuela. “She graduated from university.