2009407 (Refugee)

The applicant, a Somalian citizen, sought review of a delegate's decision to refuse her protection visa. The applicant claimed that if returned to Somalia, she would face persecution due to her status as a single woman from a minority tribe without clan protection, fearing kidnapping, rape, torture, or death. She also asserted that the Somali authorities could not provide protection and that relocation within Somalia was impossible without clan support.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of membership of a particular social group, as defined by the Migration Act 1958. This required determining if she met the criteria for being a refugee under section 5H of the Act, specifically whether there was a real chance of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, and if effective protection measures were unavailable in Somalia.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution. It reasoned that her circumstances as a divorced woman from a minority tribe in Somalia, lacking family support and facing potential harm from other clans, placed her within the definition of a "particular social group." The Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant could not access effective protection from the Somali state and that the fear of persecution was not general but specific to her situation. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant met the criteria for being a refugee under section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act.

The Tribunal remitted the matter for reconsideration with a direction that the applicant satisfies section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act.