1837363 (Refugee)

The applicant sought a protection visa, claiming persecution in Eritrea due to her adherence to the Pentecostal faith. The dispute before the Tribunal concerned whether Australia had protection obligations towards the applicant. The applicant alleged that her unregistered church had been closed, its members detained or disappeared, and that she had personally experienced torture and mistreatment during a prior period of incarceration. She further claimed her husband was killed and that her daughter and granddaughter had disappeared following a security raid on her family home after her arrival in Australia.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant was a person to whom Australia owed protection obligations under section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958, meaning she was a refugee with a well-founded fear of persecution. This required the Tribunal to consider the applicant's claims in light of relevant country information and the criteria for establishing a well-founded fear of persecution, including the nature of the harm feared and the availability of protection in Eritrea. The Tribunal was also required to consider the complementary protection criterion under section 36(2)(aa) if the refugee criterion was not met.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's detailed account of her religious conversion, her husband's leadership role in their church, her prior detention and torture, and the subsequent events including her husband's death and the disappearance of family members. It acknowledged the country information regarding the Eritrean government's repression of Protestant faiths. The Tribunal concluded that the matter should be remitted for reconsideration, indicating that it was satisfied the applicant met the criteria under section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act.