T.G. v Refugee Appeals Tribunal and Others

JurisdictionIreland
JudgeMR JUSTICE BIRMINGHAM
Judgment Date07 October 2007
Neutral Citation[2007] IEHC 377
Docket Number[No. 635 JR/2005]
CourtHigh Court
Date07 October 2007

[2007] IEHC 377

THE HIGH COURT

[No. 635 JR/2005]
G (T) v Refugee Appeals Tribunal (McGarry) & Ors

BETWEEN

T.G
APPLICANT
-and-
THE REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL (Tribunal Member Paul McGarry), THE MINISTER FOR JUSTICE, EQUALITY AND LAW REFORM, IRELAND
RESPONDENTS

EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT ACT 2003 S13

MOYOSOLA v REFUGEE APPLICATIONS COMMISSIONER & ORS UNREP CLARKE 23.6.2005 2005/40/8261 2005 IEHC 218

IDIAKHEUA v MIN FOR JUSTICE & REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL UNREP HIGH COURT CLARKE 10.5.2005 2005 IEHC 150 2005/31/6357

OLATUNJI v REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL & ANOR UNREP FINLAY GEOGHEGAN 7.4.2006 2006 IEHC 113

K (G) & ORS v MIN JUSTICE & ORS 2002 2 IR 418 2002 1 ILRM 401

BANZUZI v REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL & ORS UNREP FEENEY 18.1.2007 2007 IEHC 2

DA SILVEIRA v REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL UNREP HIGH PEART 9.7.2004 (EX TEMPORE)

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (TRAFFICKING) ACT 2000 S5

IMMIGRATION

Asylum

Refugee Appeals Tribunal - Application to quash refusal to allow appeal against decision refusing asylum - Fair procedures - Country of origin information - Assessment of country of origin information - Whether obligation on decision maker to explicitly state reason for preferment of particular country of origin document over another - Whether respondent required to make specific reference to country of origin information in decision - Decision of respondent quashed (2005/635JR - Birmingham J - 7/10/2007) [2007] IEHC 377

G(T) v Refugee Appeals Tribunal

The applicant applied for judicial review of the decision of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal on the grounds, firstly, that the Tribunal erred in failing to consider and/ or properly and adequately consider all country of origin information, and secondly, that the Tribunal erred in failing to give the applicant an opportunity to address the authenticity of the certificate of membership of an opposition party in Togo.

Held by Birmingham J. in remitting the matter to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal that in the particular circumstances of the case, fair procedures required a more specific and transparent analysis of the alternative country of origin reports. Proper consideration required that the consideration and analysis on this point be transparent. This was a case which required not only the document be considered but that it be seen to be considered.

Reporter: R.W.

EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT OF
MR JUSTICE BIRMINGHAM
delivered on the 7th of October 2007
1

The applicant states that he was born in Lome on the 1st of September 1963 and that he is a national of Togo. The applicant arrived in Ireland on the 26th of January 2002 having travelled to Benin and France and then submitted an application for refugee status the following day.

2

In order to put the issues central to this hearing in context, it is helpful to refer briefly to the basic case made by the applicant in support of his claim for refugee status. He states that in 1993 he joined the Union for Forces of Change, UFC, an opposition party in Togo and thereafter was active in the party attending approximately two meetings a month as well as attending marches.

3

An election was held on the 21st of June 1998; and it is his case that he was active in support of the opposition candidate, Mr Gilchrist Olympio. The government candidate was declared the winner against a background of allegations of vote rigging. Demonstrations ensued as supporters of the opposition took to the streets. The opposition march was broken up by police using tear gas; and according to the applicant many people, of whom he was one, were arrested. He says that following his arrest he was brought to the police station where he was detained for some 24 hours. It is his case that during this period he was beaten with sticks and belts.

4

Mr Gavi indicated that following his release he remained active in the party and indeed upped his level of activity - becoming a member of the UFC Committee, playing a role in relation to the security of political events as well as providing security for the party leaders.

5

Legislative elections were held on the 27th of October 2002. It appears that at least some opposition forces boycotted these elections and that the election results when declared were met with protests. The applicant states that he was arrested on the 9th of November 2002 at a march organized by opposition parties. He recites that the police blocked the march and that in the disturbances that followed that he was struck a number of times with batons. He says that he was arrested and that following his arrest he was brought to the Commissariat Centrale where his party card and his national ID card were confiscated. He remained in detention until December 18th of 2002. During this period of detention, he was interrogated on a number of occasions and he says was beaten on these occasions. On the 18th of December 2002 he succeeded in escaping. The circumstances of the escape are described by him as being that he and another prisoner were assigned to sweep the yard outside the police station in the early morning and at the time it was still foggy. A traffic accident occurred outside the station and the sole guard supervising the prisoners went over to the accident scene giving him an opportunity to escape - an opportunity which he took.

6

Following his escape from the police station, he went to a friend's house, who contacted his uncle, and he in turn was put in touch with an agent, a Mrs Johnson. Accompanied by Mrs Johnson, he left Togo on the 20th of December 2002, arriving in Ireland, as I stated, on the 26th of January 2002. On route he had stayed for a period in Benin and he had stopped over in France for a brief period of something of the order of an hour or so. Mr Gavi's application for asylum was considered in the ordinary way by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC). While the details of that procedure are not directly relevant, two elements of the decision are worth noting.

7

The ORAC report placed considerable emphasis on a document that had been generated by the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board, Research Directorate, indicating that UFC members were not subjected to ill treatment. In addition, reference was made to the fact that the applicant had not submitted any valid documents from Togo to establish his identity. The relevance of these aspects of the ORAC decision is that the applicants went on to address these when appealing - specifically he submitted a country profile prepared by the US State Department which was critical of the human rights situation in Togo. In addition, the applicant submitted a document described as a document of certification, which was purportedly signed by Emmanuel Akitani Bob, the vice president of the UFC. This document referred to Mr Gavi's active membership of the UFC and that he had been forced to leave his native country as a result of his political activities.

8

The applicant submission:

9

The hearing of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal took place on the 16th of March 2005 and by letter dated the 23rd of March 2005 enclosing the decision, the applicant was informed of the facts that his appeal had been unsuccessful. On the 22nd of November 2006 leave to seek judicial review was granted by Mr Justice De Valera. In the context of the present proceedings, it should be noted that the applicant was refused leave on a number of grounds, including grounds related to the treatment of the credibility issue. The grounds on which leave was in fact granted were as follows:

10

(1) The tribunal member erred in law and acted ultra vires in failing to consider and/or properly and adequately consider and/or to give weight to all the country of origin information before him.

11

(2) The first named respondent erred in law and acted in breach of national and constitutional justice in failing to put to the applicant or give the applicant an opportunity to address the authenticity or otherwise the certificate of membership of the UFC dated the 28th of January 2004, submitted by the applicant in support of his plea.

12

In the course of argument these two points have been referred to in shorthand as the party membership certificate point and the country of origin information point. I will adopt that formula.

13

The party membership certificate: The tribunal member dealt with this issue at Paragraph 22 of the decision. He did with these terms:

"In addition, the applicant has provided no photographic identification documents in support of his claim. The applicant has provided a birth certificate and a nationality...

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