1420100 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the protection claims of an applicant who asserted he was a national of Sudan and feared harm due to his ethnicity and membership in a particular social group. The applicant claimed to be an ethnic [Tribe 1] and [Tribe 2] from Darfur, who had experienced discrimination, harassment, and detention by Sudanese authorities. He also feared harm as a "Returned failed asylum seeker from a western country from an African tribe."

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had established a well-founded fear of persecution for a Convention reason, thereby entitling him to protection under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). This required the Tribunal to assess the applicant's claims of past harm and his fear of future harm in light of the evidence presented and relevant country information.

The Tribunal noted that it had taken into account Ministerial Direction No. 56, policy guidelines, and country information assessments. However, the Tribunal expressed significant concerns regarding the credibility of the applicant's claims. These concerns stemmed from inconsistencies in his account of where he was targeted by police, discrepancies in his driver's licence regarding his occupation, and information from his social media that appeared inconsistent with his stated reasons for leaving his home area. The Tribunal also found implausible the applicant's explanation of how police might have used a customer list from his business to accuse him of supporting rebel groups. Despite these credibility concerns, the Tribunal ultimately found that the applicant satisfied the criterion set out in s.36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act*.

The Tribunal remitted the matter for reconsideration with a direction that the applicant satisfies s.36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act*.