The High Court granted O. G. N. leave to seek judicial review of a decision affirming a recommendation that the applicant should not be declared a refugee, finding substantial grounds on one point concerning UNHCR guidance on internal relocation.
In a judgment delivered on 5 February 2009, Mr Justice Brian McGovern said the applicant had shown an arguable case that the second respondent, David Andrews sitting as the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, failed to have regard to the correct UNHCR guidelines on international protection.
The challenged tribunal decision, dated 19 April 2007, affirmed a recommendation by the Refugee Applications Commissioner dated 27 January 2007 that the applicant should not be declared a refugee. The judicial review application sought an order quashing the tribunal decision and consequential relief against the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
The tribunal member’s decision referred to a UNHCR position paper dated February 1999 on internal flight or relocation. The court said that paper appeared to have been superseded by UNHCR guidelines on international protection dated 23 July 2003, reference HCR/GIP/03/03/04. Those guidelines were intended to provide interpretative legal guidance for governments, legal practitioners, decision-makers, the judiciary and UNHCR staff conducting refugee status determinations.
The judge noted that the refugee status decision appeared to have been bound up with the possibility of internal relocation. He concluded that this supported granting leave on the question of whether the tribunal member had used the correct guidance.
The ruling was at the leave stage of judicial review. The judge made no finding on whether the apparent mistake affected the tribunal’s decision, saying that issue would be for the court at the full judicial hearing. The judgment therefore did not quash the refugee decision or determine the applicant’s refugee status.