1502842 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the protection visa application of a man from Peru and his de facto partner. The applicant, who had been politically active in Peru supporting the "Si Cumple" party and its affiliated movements, claimed he faced persecution due to his political opinions and a land dispute involving local authorities. He alleged threats to himself and his family, and that his land had been invaded and occupied by families as a political strategy by local officials.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically whether he was a person to whom Australia had protection obligations under the refugee convention, or alternatively, whether there were substantial grounds for believing that his removal from Australia would result in a real risk of significant harm. This involved assessing the applicant's claims of political persecution, threats, and the impact of the land dispute in the context of the current political landscape in Peru.

The Tribunal reasoned that recent political developments in Peru, including the narrow presidential election victory of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski over Keiko Fujimori's Popular Force party, did not support the applicant's assertion of ongoing risk from his political opponents. The Tribunal found that the applicant had not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate a real chance of serious harm based on his political opinions or affiliations, nor that the usurpation of his lands constituted significant harm as defined by the Act. It concluded that the applicant had not demonstrated that he could not access legal protections in Peru for his land dispute and that the land invasions did not cause him significant economic hardship that threatened his ability to subsist.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicants protection visas, finding that they did not satisfy the criteria under section 36(2)(a) or (aa) of the Migration Act 1958.