Kocharyan

MEMORANDUM

Varditer Kocharyan (Kocharyan), a native and citizen of Armenia, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), affirming the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of her applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief pursuant to the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Kocharyan seeks, in the alternative, discretionary relief from removal pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13 (b)(l)(iii), under the humanitarian principles set forth in Matter of Chen, 20 I. & N. Dec. 16 (BIA 1989).

1. The State Department country reports relied upon by the BIA fall short of providing substantial evidence to support the determination that the government proved by a preponderance of the evidence that a fundamental change in country conditions has occurred such that Kocharyan’s fear of religious persecution is not well-founded. See Kamalyan v. Holder, 620 F.3d 1054, 1058 (9th Cir.2010). The country reports did not in any way relate to Petitioner’s individual circumstances. Thus, we remand to the BIA to conduct an individualized analysis of whether changed country conditions in Armenia affect the reasonableness of Kocharyan’s fear of future persecution. See…