Case Law

28 November 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Darod - Non-state agents of persecution - Racial / Ethnic persecution - Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) - Single heads of household - Social group persecution | Countries: New Zealand - Somalia

The appellant's first claim was declined by the Refugee Status Branch of the Department of Labour, and on appeal (the first appeal) by the Authority (differently constituted) -- see Refugee Appeal No. 76065.

26 November 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Appeal / Right to appeal - Arbitrary arrest and detention - Country of origin information (COI) - Falun Gong - Jurisdiction - Persecution of family members - Religious persecution (including forced conversion) | Countries: China - New Zealand

This is an abridged version of the decision. Some particulars have been removed from or summarised in the decision pursuant to s 129T of the Immigration Act 1987. Where this has occurred, it is indicated by square brackets.

12 November 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Arbitrary arrest and detention - Country of origin information (COI) - Disappeared persons - Evidence (including age and language assessments / medico-legal reports) - Extrajudicial executions - Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment - Persecution based on political opinion - Tamil | Countries: New Zealand - Sri Lanka

11 November 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Arbitrary arrest and detention - Country of origin information (COI) - Credibility assessment - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Racial / Ethnic persecution - Tamil | Countries: New Zealand - Sri Lanka

25 September 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Chin - Christian - Country of origin information (COI) - Racial / Ethnic persecution - Religious persecution (including forced conversion) | Countries: Myanmar - New Zealand

23 September 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Credibility assessment - Evidence (including age and language assessments / medico-legal reports) - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Political groups | Countries: Nepal - New Zealand

16 September 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Arbitrary arrest and detention - Country of origin information (COI) - Discrimination based on race, nationality, ethnicity - Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Persecution based on political opinion - Racial / Ethnic persecution - Rohingya (Arakanese) | Countries: Myanmar - New Zealand

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 - Türkiye

4 September 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Evidence (including age and language assessments / medico-legal reports) - Racial / Ethnic persecution - Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) - Tamil - Women-at-risk | Countries: New Zealand - Sri Lanka

27 August 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Credibility assessment - Persecution based on political opinion - Racial / Ethnic persecution | Countries: New Zealand - Ukraine