The High Court has quashed part of a tribunal decision rejecting a Pakistani man’s subsidiary protection claim, finding that the tribunal failed to ask whether it was reasonable for him to relocate within Pakistan.
Mr Justice Richard Humphreys ordered certiorari removing paragraphs 7.4 and 8.1 of the International Protection Appeals Tribunal’s decision of 11 December 2017 for the purpose of being quashed. He remitted the internal relocation issue to the same tribunal member, Nicholas Russell, for reconsideration in accordance with the judgment.
The man, identified in the judgment as A.A. (Pakistan), said he had been assaulted by an uncle in 2005 and 2012 in connection with a property dispute. The tribunal accepted some, but not all, material facts of his claim. It rejected his asylum claim, concluding that no Convention connection had been established. That part of the decision was not challenged in the judicial review.
On subsidiary protection, the tribunal considered that he could live safely and anonymously in Karachi. The High Court rejected his complaints that the presenting officer’s questions amounted to evidence and that he had not been given fair notice that internal relocation would be considered. The judge said that appealing the refusal of subsidiary protection inherently raised the question of internal protection, and that questions at the hearing had put the issue to him. The judge also found no basis for the claim that relevant country information had not been considered: the tribunal had received the full file from the International Protection Office.
The court held that the applicable test required consideration of whether the applicant could reasonably be expected to settle in Karachi, taking account of both objective conditions and his individual circumstances. The tribunal had not asked that question. The judge found that failure to address the correct test gave grounds for certiorari.
The order was limited to the internal relocation aspect of subsidiary protection. The court did not quash the asylum decision or decide the remitted relocation issue itself.