1718914 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of China, sought a protection visa, asserting that she held a genuine belief in Falun Gong and had experienced persecution in China due to her family's involvement with the practice. She claimed her mother and aunt were arrested in 2000 for attempting to protest the ban on Falun Gong, and that her mother's Falun Gong materials were confiscated by police. The applicant arrived in Australia in February 2014 as a student and had no criminal convictions or ongoing investigations in China. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), which concerns Australia's obligations under the Refugees Convention.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's account of her family's practice of Falun Gong, the subsequent ban and persecution of adherents in China, and the specific incident involving her mother and aunt's arrest. The Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was a person in respect of whom Australia had protection obligations under the Refugees Convention. Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the matter for reconsideration with a direction that the applicant satisfies section 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act*.