2321351 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for review of a decision to refuse a protection visa made by a male applicant from the Solomon Islands. The applicant claimed he fled his home country due to an affair with a married woman, the subsequent demand for compensation by her husband, and threats of violence and death. The Tribunal was satisfied that the application for review, though not in the approved form, substantially complied with the requirements for lodgement and that it had jurisdiction.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically under section 36(2)(a) or section 36(2)(aa) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). This required determining if the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution or if there were substantial grounds for believing that, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal, he faced a real risk of suffering significant harm in the Solomon Islands. The Tribunal also considered the applicant's claims regarding the inability of Solomon Islands authorities to provide protection and the lack of viable internal relocation options.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant had failed to provide sufficient detail in his claims to satisfy the statutory elements for protection. It emphasised that the onus rests on the applicant to establish their case with adequate evidence, and a decision-maker is not obliged to construct or supplement the applicant's claims. The Tribunal found significant problems with the applicant's evidence, concluding that it was not detailed enough to establish a real chance of persecution or a real risk of significant harm upon return to the Solomon Islands. The Tribunal also noted that the applicant did not satisfy the criteria for being a member of the same family unit as a person who holds a protection visa.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.