Case Law

19 October 2010 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Gender-based persecution - Non-state agents of persecution - SGBV - State protection - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: New Zealand - South Africa

The Refugee Status Appeals Authority reaffirmed in this decision New Zealand jurisprudence on the internal protection alternative, holding that even were it free to do so, it would not follow the decisions of the House of Lords in Januzi v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2006] 2 AC 426 and AH (Sudan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] 3 WLR 832 which facilitate the withholding of recognition of refugee status. The Authority emphasized that such withholding of recognition can only occur in a highly limited class of case where (a) the proposed internal protection alternative is accessible to the individual. This requires that the access be practical, safe and legal; (b) in the proposed site of internal protection there is no risk of being persecuted for a Convention reason; (c) in the proposed site of internal protection there are no new risks of being persecuted or of being exposed to other forms of serious harm or of refoulement; and finally, (d) in the proposed site of internal protection basic norms of civil, political and socio-economic rights will be provided by the State. The Authority has also declined to follow the two recent decisions of the High Court of Australia in SZATV v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (2007) 237 ALR 634 and SZFDV v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (2007) 237 ALR 660. In these two decisions the "protection" element of the refugee definition in Article 1A(2) was interpreted as "diplomatic protection".

In this decision, addressing honour killings in Turkey, the Authority also held that the political opinion ground was the most appropriate Convention ground on which the claim succeeded. The Authority has made important observations about gender in the context of the political opinion ground and the need for that ground to receive a gender-sensitive interpretation. It concluded that "honour" enforces rigid control by men over women and their sexuality. It is about policing community norms and codes of behaviour, collective decisions and acts of punishment. Ultimately, it is about the distribution and exercise of power in Turkish society. The observance of honour reflects the gendered inequality of power in that society. In the specific context the Authority was satisfied that the claimant's assertion of her right to life and of her right to control her life and her challenge to inequality and the structures of power which support it, was plainly "political" as that term is used in the Refugee Convention.

11 September 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Blood feuds - Country of origin information (COI) - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Kurd - Persecution based on political opinion - Social group persecution - State protection - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: New Zealand - Turkey

14 June 2007 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Credibility assessment - Passports - Persecution based on political opinion - Standard of proof - Unlawful departure - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: Iran, Islamic Republic of - New Zealand

19 April 2007 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Coup d'état - Credibility assessment - Discrimination based on race, nationality, ethnicity - Racial / Ethnic persecution - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: Fiji - New Zealand

15 March 2007 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Credibility assessment - Evidence (including age and language assessments / medico-legal reports) - Passports - Persecution based on political opinion - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: Iran, Islamic Republic of - New Zealand

14 March 2007 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Christian - Credibility assessment - Religious persecution (including forced conversion) - Well-founded fear of persecution - Witnesses | Countries: Iran, Islamic Republic of - New Zealand

17 April 2006 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: El Salvador - New Zealand

Appeal against the decision of a refugee status officer given on 9 May 2003 declining the grant of refugee status to the appellant, a twenty-five-year-old citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

7 July 2004 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) - Persecution on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity - Social group persecution - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: Iran, Islamic Republic of - New Zealand

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5 April 2002 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Burden of proof - Country of origin information (COI) - Standard of proof - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: New Zealand - Viet Nam

29 October 1999 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Chinese - Country of origin information (COI) - Discrimination based on race, nationality, ethnicity - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Mental health - Non-state agents of persecution - Racial / Ethnic persecution - Right to education - Right to liberty and security - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: Indonesia - New Zealand