1600818 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for protection visas by individuals from Lebanon. The applicants claimed to fear persecution due to their Christian faith and their proximity to areas experiencing sectarian violence and threats from Islamic fundamentalist groups, including the Islamic State in the Levant. The dispute before the Tribunal was whether the applicants met the criteria for a protection visa under Australian law.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicants qualified as refugees under Article 1A(2) of the Refugees Convention, or alternatively, whether they met the criteria for complementary protection under section 36(2)(aa) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). This involved assessing the credibility of the applicants' claims against available country information and determining if there were substantial grounds to believe they would suffer significant harm if returned to Lebanon. The Tribunal was also required to consider relevant policy guidelines and country information assessments.

The Tribunal found that the applicants had not satisfied the criteria for a protection visa. While acknowledging the volatile situation in parts of Lebanon, the Tribunal was not satisfied that the applicants had established a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, as required by the Refugees Convention. Consequently, the Tribunal also concluded that the complementary protection criterion was not met.

As the applicants failed to satisfy the criteria for a protection visa under either the refugee or complementary protection grounds, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the visas.