1925235 (Refugee)

The decision concerned an application for a protection visa by a primary applicant and a secondary applicant, who was a member of the primary applicant's family unit. The primary applicant claimed to fear persecution in Venezuela due to their opposition to the government, involvement in anti-government protests, and past work for a security agency. The applicant alleged repeated interrogations, fear of arbitrary detention and ill-treatment, fear of killing, refusal of passport renewals, and frozen bank accounts. The matter was before the Tribunal for review.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the primary applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) as a refugee, and consequently, whether the secondary applicant met the criteria under section 36(2)(b) as a member of the primary applicant's family unit. This required determining if the primary applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of political opinion, and if there was a real chance of such persecution in Venezuela, considering the country's human rights situation as evidenced by reports from Human Rights Watch, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN Fact-Finding Mission.

The Tribunal found that the primary applicant satisfied the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) of the Act. This conclusion was based on the evidence presented regarding the political situation in Venezuela, including state repression of opponents, arbitrary detentions, torture, and extrajudicial killings, which indicated a real chance of persecution for those with political opinions contrary to the government. As the primary applicant met the refugee criterion, the Tribunal also concluded that the secondary applicant, as a member of the same family unit, satisfied the criterion under section 36(2)(b).

Accordingly, the Tribunal remitted the matter for reconsideration with the direction that the primary applicant satisfies section 36(2)(a) and the secondary applicant satisfies section 36(2)(b) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).