2011064 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal) considered the case of an applicant seeking a protection visa. The applicant, a pastor from Myanmar's Chin state, claimed he feared persecution upon return due to his ethnicity, religion, and alleged association with the Chin National Army (CNA). The Tribunal determined that Myanmar was the applicant's receiving country for the assessment of his protection claims.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, as defined by the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). This required the Tribunal to assess the applicant's claims of being targeted by the Burmese military following an incident involving the CNA in his village, including past detentions and ongoing surveillance, and whether these fears were such that Australia had protection obligations towards him.

The Tribunal found that it had not considered all aspects of the applicant's claims. Consequently, it remitted the matter for reconsideration with a direction that the applicant satisfies section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), meaning the Tribunal must be satisfied that Australia has protection obligations because the applicant is a refugee.