Protection Visas
CASE provides assistance to clients who are seeking to claim
protection in Australia. This assistance is free and is
currently only provided to onshore clients living in Western
Australia. CASE will prepare a protection application for the
client and, if required, will also attend the immigration interview
and become the authorised representative for all documenation from
the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
In 2010 CASE lodged 62 Protection Visa applications.
Clients are assessed on a case by case basis and anyone who is
seeking protection assistance should telephone or attend at the
CASE office.
The Refugee Convention
The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its
1967 Protocol to which Australia is a signatory, defines a refugee
as:
Any person who owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for
reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular
social group or political opinion, is outside the country of
his/her nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is
unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that
country.
This definition is used by the Australian Government to
determine whether our
country has protection obligations towards asylum seekers. If an
asylum seeker is found to be a refugee, Australia is obliged under
international law to offer protection and to ensure that the person
is not sent back unwillingly to their country of origin.