Case Law

27 June 2008 | Judicial Body: Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal | Topic(s): Armed groups / Militias / Paramilitary forces / Resistance movements - Child soldiers - Children-at-risk - Country of origin information (COI) - Military service / Conscientious objection / Desertion / Draft evasion / Forced conscription - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Social group persecution | Countries: Australia - Colombia

25 October 2007 | Judicial Body: Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal | Topic(s): Credibility assessment - Non-state agents of persecution - Right to employment - Social group persecution - Transgression of social / cultural norms | Countries: Australia - Colombia

Application for judicial review.

16 March 2007 | Judicial Body: Australia: Federal Magistrates Court | Topic(s): Evidence (including age and language assessments / medico-legal reports) - Persecution of family members - Social group persecution | Countries: Australia - Colombia

(1) The members of a particular social group must share a common, immutable characteristic, which may be an innate one, such as sex, color, or kinship ties, or a shared past experience, such as former military leadership or land ownership, but it must be one that members of the group either cannot change, or should not be required to change, because it is fundamental to their individual identities or consciences. Matter of Acosta, 19 I&N Dec. 211(BIA 1985), followed.
(2) The social visibility of the members of a claimed social group is an important consideration in identifying the existence of a 'particular social group' for the purpose of determining whether a person qualifies as a refugee. (3) The group of 'former noncriminal drug informants working against the Cali drug cartel' does not have the requisite social visibility to constitute a 'particular social group.'

15 June 2006 | Judicial Body: United States Board of Immigration Appeals | Topic(s): Deportation / Forcible return - Non-state agents of persecution - Social group persecution | Countries: Colombia - United States of America

Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals.

20 April 2006 | Judicial Body: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | Topic(s): Social group persecution | Countries: Colombia - United States of America

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Unpublished opinion.

18 November 2005 | Judicial Body: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | Topic(s): Convention against Torture (CAT) - Credibility assessment - Deportation / Forcible return - HIV and AIDS - Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Social group persecution | Countries: Colombia - United States of America

9 November 2004 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Social group persecution | Countries: New Zealand

6 October 2004 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Abduction - Armed groups / Militias / Paramilitary forces / Resistance movements - Country of origin information (COI) - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Persecution of family members - Social group persecution | Countries: Colombia - New Zealand

26 July 2002 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Asylum and Immigration Tribunal / Immigration Appellate Authority | Topic(s): Credibility assessment - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Social group persecution | Countries: Colombia - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

10 July 2002 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Asylum and Immigration Tribunal / Immigration Appellate Authority | Topic(s): Credibility assessment - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Social group persecution | Countries: Colombia - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland