2100524 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered the case of an applicant seeking a protection visa. The applicant, a Han Chinese national and a practicing Christian of the Local Church (Shouters), claimed he would face persecution if returned to China. The AAT was tasked with determining 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, or alternatively, whether there were substantial grounds for believing he would suffer significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal to China.

The AAT was required to assess whether the applicant's fear of persecution was well-founded, specifically considering his claims of being a genuine Christian and a member of the Local Church. This involved determining if his religious beliefs and practices, combined with his ethnicity, placed him in a particular social group that would be subject to persecution in China. The Tribunal also had to consider whether the applicant could relocate within China to avoid such persecution or if effective protection measures were available to him.

In its reasoning, the AAT accepted the applicant's identity and that China was his country of nationality and receiving country. The Tribunal found that the applicant was a person in respect of whom Australia had protection obligations under section 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act 1958*. This conclusion was based on the assessment that the applicant was a practicing Christian and a member of the Local Church, and that he would face a real chance of serious harm from the Chinese government if returned. The Tribunal was satisfied that relocation was not a viable option for the applicant.

Consequently, the AAT remitted the matter for reconsideration with a direction that the applicant satisfies section 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act*.