1510526 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for protection visas by several applicants from Myanmar. The applicants, who identified as Rohingya Muslims, claimed to have been persecuted by Myanmar authorities due to their race and religion. The central dispute concerned whether the applicants met the criteria for a protection visa under Australian law, specifically whether they were persons in respect of whom Australia owed protection obligations.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicants had established a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race or religion, and consequently, whether Australia had protection obligations towards them. A key issue before the Tribunal was the credibility of the applicants' claims, with the Member explicitly finding that the applicants were "not a witness of truth."

In reaching its decision, the Tribunal applied the relevant provisions of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), including sections 36(2)(a), (aa), (b), and (c), which set out the criteria for granting a protection visa. The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the adverse credibility findings made against the applicants. Because the Tribunal was not satisfied that the applicants were persons of truth, it concluded that they had not established a well-founded fear of persecution. Consequently, the Tribunal found that Australia did not owe protection obligations to the applicants, and they therefore failed to satisfy the criteria for a protection visa.

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