1836946 (Refugee)

The applicant, a national of Bangladesh, sought protection visas in Australia. He claimed to have been involved with the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and to have faced threats and extortion attempts from supporters of the governing Awami League (AL) due to his political affiliation and his protest against the imprisonment of a political figure. He asserted that these threats compelled him to leave Bangladesh and that he feared harm if returned. The matter was before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for review of decisions not to grant him protection visas.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). Specifically, the Tribunal had to assess whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of political opinion, as defined by section 5J of the Act, or whether he would suffer significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of being removed from Australia, pursuant to section 36(2)(aa) of the Act (complementary protection). The Tribunal also considered relevant country information and guidelines.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's claims of political involvement and threats from the AL. It noted that the applicant had arrived in Australia in 2013 and had remained since, and that his wife and children remained in Bangladesh. The Tribunal found that the applicant did not satisfy the criterion for being a refugee under section 36(2)(a) of the Act. Furthermore, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not satisfy the complementary protection criterion under section 36(2)(aa), as there were no substantial grounds for believing that he would suffer significant harm upon removal to Bangladesh. The Tribunal's reasoning implicitly involved assessing the credibility of the applicant's claims and the availability of protection within Bangladesh, considering that the applicant had not demonstrated a real risk of harm that was not faced by the population generally or that could not be mitigated by reasonable steps.

The Tribunal affirmed the decisions not to grant the applicant protection visas in relation to matters 1836946, 1905979, and 2112151.