1504818 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for a Protection visa by a child, represented by his mother, who had previously had his own Protection visa application refused. The dispute centred on whether the applicant would face persecution or discrimination upon return to China, specifically concerning the country's family planning laws and religious freedom. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to consider the applicant's claims under sections 36(2)(aa) and 36(2)(c) of the relevant legislation, as his previous claims had been assessed under section 36(2)(a).

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant met the criteria for a Protection visa, specifically whether he would be a person in respect of whom Australia has protection obligations. This involved assessing the credibility of claims that the applicant, as the third child of a single mother who had violated China's one-child policy, would be unable to obtain household registration ('hukou'), rendering him a "black child" subject to severe discrimination and social exclusion. Furthermore, the Tribunal had to consider the claim that both the applicant and his mother, having been baptised as Catholics, would face persecution due to their religious beliefs in China.

The Tribunal was not satisfied that the applicant was a person in respect of whom Australia owed protection obligations. While acknowledging the mother's financial hardship and her fear of being unable to pay the social compensation fee for her third child, the Tribunal did not find that this would necessarily lead to the applicant being denied household registration or facing persecution. The Tribunal also did not find sufficient evidence to conclude that the applicant or his mother would face persecution based on their Catholic faith. Consequently, the Tribunal determined that the applicant did not satisfy the criteria under section 36(2)(aa) and, by extension, section 36(2)(c) for a Protection visa.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicants Protection visas.