Resources for pro bono Refugee Lawyers
(core vollies)
(core vollies)
HREOC report on Children in Detention: a national scandal
INDEX
A simple guide to the refugee process
A guide to Protection Visa applications for refugee lawyers produced by Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
A guide to Judicial Review for refugee lawyers produced by Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
A guide to section 417 applications for refugee lawyers produced by Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
Contacts:
refugee lawyers in other states
Refugee support groups
Department, ACM, detention centres &c
Law
Legal resources:Migration Act, ALHR site etc
New information(updated regularly)
Pro forma submissions, various
section 417 applications
Country information:
Best available country info from ECOI
Comprehensive country info from Uni. Minnesota
(this library brings together country information compiled by human Rights Watch, UNHCR and US State Department)
Critique of language analysis as method of identifying country of origin
Human rights
Human rights and humanitarian organisations
STOP PRESS:
UNHCR country information, current
Report on effects of mandatory detention in Medical Journal of Australia
A guide to Judicial Review for refugee lawyers produced by Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
An overview of TPVs and the changes to the protection visa regime
Developments in non-refoulement cases
Department has to change method of processing Bridging Visas
ALHR LEGAL RESOURCES KIT – fantastic resource
Fed Court judge criticizes RRT handling of Sabian Mandaean cases
High Court further explains jurisdictional error
Amnesty International report condemns Australia refugee policy
A Full Court win for Sabian Mandeans in SCAT
Information about TPVs
Country information and submissions
Useful basic information advocacy kit prepared by Refugee Council of Aust
Al Masry decision affirmed on appealin Full Federal Court
New info: return to top
A Full Court win for a refugee (case note + link)
Al Masry decision affirmed on appealin Full Federal Court
ALHR LEGAL RESOURCES KIT – fantastic resource
An overview of TPVs and the changes to the protection visa regime
Case Law summary prepared by John Gibson
Country information concerning Arabs from Iran
Country information: see AsylumLaw website website
Department has to change method of processing Bridging Visas
High Court restores “jurisdictional error” despite privative clause: see the decision in Plaintiff S 157
How to prevent return to Iran of refugee threatened with involuntary deportation. Applies to other refugees threatened with repatriation.
HumanRightsWatch have just produced a damning report on Australia
Notes on “jurisdictional error”
Pro forma argument based on s.474 and decision in Plaintiff S157
Pro forma submissions, various
RRT decision overturned in Sabian Mandean case SBAU
The meaning of "bad faith" explained by French J in WAFV
UN Working Group report on arbitrary detention in Australia
Useful basic information advocacy kit prepared by Refugee Council of Aust
RRT PROCEDURE
APPLICATION
If the Asylum Seeker is rejected by DIMIA they have the option of applying to the Refugee Review Tribunal to have their decision reviewed. Most Asylum Seekers will take this option. The RRT is an administrative tribunal set up under the Migration Act (Cth) 1958.
The hearing is usually a 1-3 hour interview. The interview is done over telephone link up. It will involve the Asylum Seeker, the tribunal chair, an interpreter and a migration agent. The migration agent is not obliged to attend and the often don’t. Accordingly the Asylum Seeker is often unrepresented at this stage. The tribunal will make a fresh decision on whether the Asylum Seeker is a Refugee.
DECISION
This document outlines what facts the RRT used to make its findings. It outlines what findings where made, and how the findings determine that the Asylum Seeker is not a Refugee.
GREEN BOOK
The Green Book is a compilation of documents used by both DIMIA and the RRT to make their decisions at the respective stages of the application. It includes the DIMIA interview notes and the RRT decision. The Green Book is only created after the Asylum Seeker has lodged an application in the Federal Court.
TAPES
The RRT interviews the Asylum Seeker during the hearing. The Tribunal bases a large amount of its decision on the oral testimony of the Asylum Seeker; this is especially true regarding credibility. The hearing is tape recorded. The RRT is obliged to keep a copy of these tapes. These tapes can provide insight in where the tribunal may have erred when making its decision
Contacting Lawyers 525-14
Spare Lawyers for Refugees: email return to top
SA
Refugee Advocacy Service of S.A. (RASSA)
PO Box 6662, Halifax Street
Adelaide SA 5000
Phone: (08) 8211 9097 (Deslie Billich)
Fax: (08) 8211 6955
Email: info@rassa.org.au
New RASSA address :
Epworth Building , Level 2 , Rooms 223/224
Victoria
Public Interest Law Clearing House
Jane Dimsey: 03 9225 6676
Queensland
Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House Incorporated
GPO Box 1543
BRISBANE QLD 4001
Phone: 07 3211 4770
E-mail:contact@qpilch.org.au
Website:www.qpilch.org.au
NSW
Refugee Advice Casework Service
Suite 8C, 46-56 Kippax St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Tel: 02 9211 4001
Fax: 02 9281 8078
Email: louise.boon-kuo@racs.org.au
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
Level 1, 46-48 York Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
DX 643 SYDNEY
Ph: (02) 9299 7833
Fax: (02) 92997855
Email: agoodstone@piac.asn.au
WA
CASE for Refugees
CASE for Refugees
PO Box Z5189
St Georges Tce
PERTH WA 6831
Mary Anne Kenny 08 9362 5624 (h) 0412 415 077
Email: caseforrefugees@iinet.net.au
Legal options after rejection by RRT: return to top
Has the Applicant been left in detention for a long time after the end of all legal process? If there are substantial practical difficulties to returning the Applicant to their country, an Al Masry application may be appropriate.
Decision of Merkel J in Al Masry
The Al Masry decision was affirmed on appeal in Full Federal Court
The al Masri question was argued in the high Court on 12 and 13 November 2003 (transcript 12 Nov and 13 Nov)
See notes on Al Masri.
Pro forma Al Masri documents: Application, Motion, submissions for interlocutory release, orders for interlocutory release
Another Al Masry-type decision: WAIW Finkelstein J 23 December 02.
Client questionnaire - getting the basic information
Muin's case applications: pro forma Application and Affidavit
Communications with UN Committee for Human Rights:
Section 417 applications return to top
Pro forma materials for rule 86 requests and international resources
Pro forma submissions return to top
A guide to Protection Visa applications for refugee lawyers produced by Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
A guide to Judicial Review for refugee lawyers produced by Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
A guide to section 417 applications for refugee lawyers produced by Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
details of risk faced by various Iranian groups
“al Masri release application”
Refugee advocacy training notes
Useful legal resources return to top
High Court, Full Federal Court and Federal Court judgments
Aust Lawyers for Human Rights site
Kate Orman's Asylum Seekers site: a good collection of reports, statistics etc
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
Rome Statute establishing International Criminal Court
International resources and conventions:
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Committee on the Rights of the Child, and Australia’s reports to that committee
European Convention of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
HREOC return to top
HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
Level 8, 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 1042, Australia
tel: (+61 2) 9284 9775
fax: (+61 2) 9284 9849
Melbourne (03) 9235 3901; fax (03) 9235 3948 fax (03) 9235 3973
DIMIA contact details Australia-wide
Ruddock's fax no. (02) 6273-4144
GSL (Australia) Pty Ltd
GSL (Australia) Pty Ltd
a subsidiary of Group 4 Falck Global Solutions
now runs Australia's detention centres.
Established in 1994 under the name of Group 4 Correction Services, GSL is a wholly owned subsidiary of GSL UK Limited, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Group 4 Falck. Group 4 Falck is based in Denmark and listed on the Copenhagen stock exchange.
Level 16
499 St Kilda Road
Melbourne Vic 3004
T 61 3 9864 4044
F 61 3 9866 8568
ww.gslpl.com.au
Detention Services
Suite 3: 03, Phillips Fox Building
Canberra ACT 2601
T 61 2 6275 1500
F 61 2 6247 5280
Detention centres now managed by GSL are:
Port Hedland
Dempster Street
Port Hedland WA 6271
tel: 08 9173 2822
Maribyrnong
53 Hampstead Road
Maidstone Vic 3012
tel: 03 9318 1999
Baxter
Locked Bag 1
Port Augusta SA 5700
tel: 08 8641 8900
Christmas Island
Vagabond Road
Phosphate Hill
Christmas Island WA 6798
tel: 08 9164 8723
Perth
Cnr Baker and McCombe Road
Radcliffe WA 6104
tel: 08 9479 1257
Villawood IRPC
5 Miowera RoadPO Box 413
Chester Hill Chester Hill
NSW 2162 NSW 2162
Nauru (not run by GSL but by the International Organisation for Migration)
Topside Camp
Republic of Nauru
Central Pacific
Fax: +674 444 3524
Migration Agents return to top
Melbourne
Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre Inc. (RILC)
95 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Vic. 3065
Phone: (03) 9483 1144
Fax: (03) 9483 1136
Advice Line: 1-4pm Wed (03) 9483 1140
207 & 211 Nicholson Street, Footscray, Vic. 3011
Phone: (03) 9687 2134 and (03) 9689 5075
Fax: (03) 9362 0810
Adelaide
Refugee Advocacy Service South Aust (RASSA)
PO Box 54 Rundle Mall, Adelaide 5000
08 8211 9097 08 8211 6955
Brisbane
South Brisbane Immigration & Community Legal Service Inc
Boundary Chambers
Floor 1, 170 Boundary St
West End 4101
Ph: (07) 3846 3189
Fax: (07) 3844 3073
Rural Australians For Refugees, Port Augusta:04 2198 3595
Hazara Association of Vic
PO Box 7268 Dandenong Vic 3175
Ph: (03) 9547 0849
Mobile: 0438 895 728
Fax: (03) 9792 0195
E-mail: hav2002@bigpond.com
Email: info@spareroomsforrefugees.com