Safe Haven a Step Closer for Mohen

JusticeNet members Peter Barnes and Paula Stirling made a successful application on behalf of Mohen*, a Sri Lankan asylum seeker, for judicial review of a decision to refuse him a protection visa (CRK18 v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs [2021] FCCA 267].

Mohen is a Catholic Tamil who had fled Sri Lanka by boat in 2012 and sought asylum in Australia because of fear of harm and persecution arising from his imputed links to the LTTE (‘Tamil Tigers’). Some of Mohen’s claims had been accepted by the delegate of the Minister for Immigration at first instance, but rejected by the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA) on review, without the IAA sufficiently giving the applicant an opportunity to comment on their reasons for rejection, or turning its minds to inviting him to an interview.

The Federal Circuit Court allowed the application for judicial review based on the recent High Court authority of ABT17 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2020] HCA 34 and ordered that the IAA to review according to law the decision to reject Mohen’s application for a Safe Haven Enterprise visa.

First published 21 Mar 2021
Image credit: James Barr on Unsplash