O (J)(A Minor) v Min for Justice & Refugee Applications Commissioner

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Mr. Justice Cooke
• Judgment Date: 28 October 2009
• Neutral Citation: [2009] IEHC 478
• Docket Number: No. 1076 J.R./2008
• Court: High Court
• Date: 28 October 2009

O (J)(A Minor) v Min for Justice & Refugee Applications Commissioner

BETWEEN

J. O. (A MINOR, SUING BY HER MOTHER AND NEXT FRIEND, A. O.)

APPLICANT

AND

THE MINISTER FOR JUSTICE, EQUALITY AND LAW REFORM AND THE REFUGEE APPLICATIONS COMMISSIONER

RESPONDENTS

[2009] IEHC 478

No. 1076 J.R./2008

THE HIGH COURT

IMMIGRATION LAW

Asylum

Leave to apply for judicial review - Minor applicant - Claim that respondent failed to individually examine applicant's asylum application or to carry out investigation into her personal circumstances - Negative s 13 report in respect of parents of applicant - Claim that respondent erred in relying on negative reports of parents - No distinguishing fact or circumstance pertaining to infant's application - Whether respondent obliged to individually examine application of infant where application of parents already examined - Refugee Act 1996 (No 17), ss 11 and 13 - European Communities (Eligibility for Protection) Regulations 2006 (SI No 518/2006), reg 5 - Leave refused (2008/1076JR - Cooke J - 28/10/2009) [2009] IEHC 478

O (J) (a minor) v MJELR

REFUGEE ACT 1996 S13

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (ELIGIBILITY FOR PROTECTION) REGS 2006 SI 518/2006 REG 5

REFUGEE ACT 1996 S11

Mr. Justice Cooke

1 In this application leave is sought to apply for,inter alia, an order of certiorari to quash a report of the second named respondent, the Commissioner, dated the 5^th September, 2008 made under Section 13 of the Refugee Act 1996 in which the authorised officer of the Commissioner recommended that the applicant be not declared a refugee. The report is comparatively short because it reaches its negative recommendation on the basis that the minor applicant, who was three months old at the time, had no well-founded fear of persecution if returned to Nigeria because her fear was the fear of her mother and that fear had been found not to be well-founded in a separate report by another officer dated the 30^th September, 2005.

2 It is this feature of the child's Section 13 report which constitutes the ground upon which it is proposed to seek to have the report quashed. It is submitted that the report is unlawful because the child's application for asylum has received no individual examination or consideration; no investigation into her personal circumstances had been carried out in breach of the obligation imposed by Regulation 5 of the European Communities (Eligibility for Protection) Regulations 2006. It is also submitted that the report gives no adequate statement of reasons for rejecting her claim.

3 The minor applicant was born in Ireland on the 12^th June, 2008. Her parents are from Nigeria. Her mother, A.O., claimed asylum and included four older sisters in the application at the time. The claim was based on the threats of her husband's family because she had given birth to daughters only. They wanted him to marry another woman.

4 The claim was the subject of a negative report on 30^th September, 2005, as mentioned and was, at the time of the Section 11 interview in the present case, subject to a pending appeal to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. The applicant's father had also claimed asylum based on the threats to him from his own family because of his wife's failure to bear him a son. His claim was also found not to be well-founded in a report of the Commissioner of the 10^th October, 2007. On...