SVRB v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 This is an application for review of a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) made on 31 January 2005 and handed down on 18 February 2005 affirming a decision not to grant protection visas to the two applicants. 2 The applicants are husband (second applicant) and wife (first applicant) who are citizens of Albania. They married, so it was claimed, in 1988. They have two children. One of their children, a 12 year old boy arrived in Australia on 23 January 2004 (about one year after his parents). His visa application is the subject of another matter before me, SYQB v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, which has been adjourned pending the outcome of this application. It is not clear if the second child is in Australia or Albania but nothing turns on that. 3 The applicants arrived in Australia on 25 December 2002. On 10 February 2003 they lodged applications for protection (class XA) visas with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA). 4 On 23 July 2003 a delegate of the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (the Minister) refused to grant protection (class XA) visas. The applicants applied to the RRT for a review of the delegate's decision and on 26 February 2004 the RRT affirmed the decision of the delegate. 5 The applicants applied to this Court for a review of the decision of the RRT. On 9 September 2004 I made orders quashing the decision of the RRT made on 26 February 2004 and remitting the matter to the RRT, differently constituted, for hearing and determination according to law. 6 On 31 January 2005 the RRT, constituted by Mr Peter Katsambanis affirmed the decision of the delegate. The applicants seek a review of that decision. 7 The first and second applicants are Roman Catholics who, whilst living in Albania, for reasons which I will explain, lived separately and apart. 8 From June 1996 to June 2002 the first applicant was employed as Finance Officer for the Bushat Commune (which is like a Local Council in Australia). She lived in a predominantly Catholic town, Beltoje, approximately 10 kilometres from the centre of Catholicism in Albania, Shkoda. The first applicant said that there was no police station in Beltoje. The nearest police station was in Shkoda. 9 The first applicant had the duty of collecting the rates and taxes for the town of Kosmac which had a population of about 2,000, of which approximately 95% were Muslim. The rest of the population were Roman Catholic. If a ratepayer neglected to pay their rates, the first applicant was obliged to go to the ratepayer's house and make a demand in person. If the ratepayer still neglected to pay, she sent their names to the taxation office who, in turn, would send taxation officers to their houses to confiscate items of value to cover the outstanding rates. 10 After 1993 the second applicant lived in Vermosh, about 100 kilometres from Shkoda which the first applicant said was approximately three hours drive away from her. They lived apart because it was claimed the second applicant was involved in a blood feud. Apparently the blood feud began in the 1960s and concerned the confiscation of land. In 1993 the second applicant's father killed a person in retaliation for that person having killed the father's uncle many years ago. The second applicant did not identify any convention related basis for the dispute to the RRT. 11 The first applicant claimed that by reason of her separation from her husband she belonged to a particular social group or a class of persons characterised as a woman without adult male protection in Albania. 12 The RRT found that the first applicant was the subject of three armed assaults between October 2001 and June 2002. 13 The first attack occurred in October 2001. The first applicant was working alone late in her office when five armed men approached her in an angry manner. They were from Kosmac and told her that she could not make them do what the government wanted. They told her that because she was a Catholic she could not tell them what to do and that she could not continue her work. The first applicant claimed that the men would have known she was Catholic because she wore a gold cross on a chain around her neck and she lived in a Catholic town. She claimed the men told her all Albanian women should be Muslim, and stay at home with their faces hidden. The men hit her several times, pushed her to the floor and then left. The first applicant called the police, who arrived two hours later, long after the men had left the office. The applicant claimed the police told her they would try to find the people responsible but they would not be able to do much because the men were armed. She also claimed that the police told her to look after herself because they could not really help her. She claimed that the police told her that the same men had done other things and were like gangsters. 14 The applicant stated that she told her 'boss', who was also a Roman Catholic, about the incident and claimed that he was also scared of these men and could only suggest that she try to get the police to help her. 15 The second attack took place in January 2002. The first applicant was walking home alone from work when she was confronted by the same five men who attacked her in October 2001. She claimed that by then she knew that these men were Islamic fundamentalists who were aggressive towards Catholics. She claimed that the men accused her of getting the taxation authorities to single them out for particular treatment. They swore at her and abused her. She claimed that they told her to stay at home and wear a veil and that as a Catholic she could not work in their town. The first applicant said that the men were carrying Kalashnikov rifles with bayonets, and they fired their rifles to either side of her. She claimed that they beat her and kicked her and she fell unconscious. Bystanders took her to hospital where a bayonet cut on her leg was stitched. She said that she was told by bystanders that whilst she was unconscious her attackers had ripped off her gold cross and thrown it on top of her. She reported the incident to police who, according to the first applicant, said they could not help her and that they would not risk their lives for the pay they received. 16 The third attack took place on 5 June 2002. The first applicant was at home after work and noticed five men approaching her house. She described the guns they were carrying as ranging from big (Kalashnikovs) to smaller. She said the men shouted at her that she was a Catholic and they were going to kill her family. They opened fire on her house and then she heard explosions that, according to her, lasted two or three minutes. The first applicant claimed that she did not bother to tell the police what had happened because they were unable to give her or her family effective protection from the Muslim men. She claimed the police were poorly paid, poorly trained and had no discipline so they were not prepared to risk their lives confronting criminals. 17 The first applicant said that after the third attack she did not return to work but stayed with relatives and did not go out. She said she did not return to her home again and decided she had to leave Albania or she would be killed. 18 The first applicant claimed that she feared persecution because of her religion and race and that police were unable or unwilling to provide effective protection to her. In a statement received by the RRT on 23 December 2004 the applicant stated that she feared that if she returned to Albania she would suffer persecution because of her membership of the following particular social groups: · Roman Catholics; · Women in Albania living alone without male protection or women alone in Albania without an adult male relative to protect them; · Employees, or former employees, of local councils who are (or were) responsible for forwarding the bills of councils and advising taxation authorities to follow up on non-payment of bills.