Khawar v Minister of Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 1529

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Khawar v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 1529

MIGRATION - Migration Act 1958 (Cth) – review of decision of Refugee Review Tribunal ("the Tribunal") – applicant target of domestic violence in Pakistan – failure of law enforcement officers to provide protection –- whether Tribunal's consideration of the husband's motivation for harming the applicant involved an incorrect interpretation of the applicable law (ie, the phrase "well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of membership of a particular social group") – whether Tribunal failed to construe the phrase as a whole, having regard to the purposes of the Refugees Convention - whether failure of state to protect applicant from non-Convention based persecution can amount to persecution

Migration Act 1958 (Cth), s 476(1)(e) 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees as amended by the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, Art 1A(2)

Islam v Secretary of State for the Home Department [1999] 2 WLR 1015, considered Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs v Sarrazola [1999] FCA 1134, followed Applicant A v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (1997) 190 CLR 225, applied Chan v Minister for Immigration & Ethnic Affairs (1989) 169 CLR 379, considered Refugee and Humanitarian Visa Applicants Guidelines on Gender Issues for Decision Makers, Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, 1996 NAIMA KHAWAR & ORS v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS N 102 of 1999

BRANSON J SYDNEY 5 NOVEMBER 1999

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY N 102 of 1999

BETWEEN: NAIMA KHAWAR and OTHERS

Applicant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent