The High Court has allowed a stateless Bidoon man from Kuwait to challenge one aspect of a decision refusing him refugee status in Ireland.
The applicant, identified only as A. A. A. A. D., was born in 1978 and had lived in Kuwait throughout his life before arriving in Ireland in October 2006. He applied for refugee status the following month.
The Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner recommended refusal. The Refugee Appeals Tribunal dismissed his appeal in November 2007.
The tribunal accepted significant elements of his position. It found that he could not return to Kuwait because he had never obtained the required passport and that there was no reasonable likelihood he would be accepted back. It also accepted that he would be imprisoned if returned. However, the tribunal reasoned that because his return was not realistically possible, he could not face a future risk of persecution there.
Before the High Court, the applicant argued that a stateless person unable to return to a former country of habitual residence should qualify as a refugee. Mr Justice McMahon rejected that broader argument.
The judge held that, whether section 2 of the Refugee Act 1996 was interpreted literally or purposively, a stateless applicant must still demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution for one of the reasons protected by the Refugee Convention. Mere statelessness or inability to return is not enough.
A narrower point survived. The applicant argued that Kuwait would refuse him re-entry because he was Bidoon and that this exclusion itself could constitute persecution based on membership of a particular social group or another Convention ground.
The judge found that the tribunal had not adequately focused on that issue. Leave for judicial review was therefore granted on that single ground only. The court also extended time by five days for bringing the proceedings.