1421141 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered whether Australia owed protection obligations to an applicant from Malaysia. The applicant claimed to have experienced sexual harassment and assault in Malaysia, including unwanted advances from a group of men, an attempted kiss outside a club, and subsequent harassment at her workplace, which led her to leave Malaysia.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had established that she faced a real risk of significant harm amounting to persecution, as required by the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) for the grant of a protection visa. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if the applicant's claims, if accepted, met the statutory criteria for protection under sections 36(2)(a) and (aa) of the Act, and whether she had provided sufficient evidence to satisfy these requirements.

The Tribunal reasoned that the onus was on the applicant to provide detailed evidence to establish the facts of her claim and to satisfy the Tribunal that the statutory elements for protection were met. Citing established case law, the Tribunal noted that mere assertion of fear or risk does not suffice; the applicant must demonstrate the genuineness and well-foundedness of her fear and that the feared harm constitutes "significant harm" for the reasons claimed. The Tribunal found that the applicant's claims were vague regarding the timing and location of the incidents and the identity of the perpetrators. Furthermore, the Tribunal noted that the applicant did not satisfy the criterion in section 36(2) of the Act, as there was no suggestion she was a member of the same family unit as a person who held a protection visa.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.