1803850 (Refugee)

The applicants, citizens of Vietnam, sought review of a decision not to grant them protection visas. Their claims for protection were based on their Catholic faith, family connections to the former Vietnamese regime, allegations of corruption, and adverse economic conditions leading to unemployment. The applicants did not attend a scheduled hearing and provided no further evidence to the Tribunal.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicants met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), specifically whether they were refugees owing to a well-founded fear of persecution. This required determining if they feared persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, and if there was a real chance of such persecution upon return to Vietnam, considering whether any such risk was faced by the population generally.

The Tribunal applied section 36(2B)(c) of the Act, which provides that there is taken not to be a real risk of significant harm if the risk is faced by the population generally and not by the applicant personally. The Tribunal noted that the risk must be assessed in relation to the country generally, not a specific region. Furthermore, under section 5AAA of the Act, the onus was on the applicants to specify all particulars of their claim and provide sufficient evidence to establish it. The Tribunal found that the applicants had not satisfied this onus, as their claims regarding persecution due to their religion and family connections were not substantiated with sufficient evidence to demonstrate a risk beyond that faced by the general population of Vietnam.

Consequently, the Tribunal was not satisfied that the applicants were persons in respect of whom Australia had protection obligations. The decision not to grant the protection visas was affirmed.