1909214 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the protection visa application of an Ethiopian citizen of Amhara ethnicity and his family. The primary applicant arrived in Australia in 2013 and subsequently lodged an application for a protection visa in 2017, with his wife and children, who were born in Australia, relying on his claims. The applicant alleged that he was asked to spy on Amharas in Australia, refused, and as a result, his employment was not renewed. He further claimed that he was suspected of being an informant after notifying opposition groups of meeting locations and was subsequently ostracised at work.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicants were persons to whom Australia owed protection obligations. This involved assessing whether the primary applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, or whether there were substantial grounds for believing that, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal to Ethiopia, he would suffer significant harm. The Tribunal was required to consider the human rights situation in Ethiopia, including the ongoing civil war, and the applicant's social media activities.

The Tribunal noted that if a person does not meet the refugee criterion under s 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), they may still qualify under the complementary protection criterion in s 36(2)(aa) if there is a real risk of significant harm upon removal. The Tribunal considered the definitions of "significant harm," "torture," and "cruel or inhuman treatment or punishment" as outlined in the Act. It also took into account Ministerial Direction No. 84 and relevant guidelines and country information.

Ultimately, the Tribunal concluded that the matter should be remitted for reconsideration. The Tribunal directed that the first applicant should be found to satisfy s 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act*, and that the other applicants should satisfy s 36(2)(b)(i) on the basis of being members of the same family unit as the first applicant.