Where the State or agents of the State are the actors of persecution or serious harm, there should be a presumption that effective protection is not available to the applicant and the determining authority need not examine whether an internal protection alternative exists. The determining authority should be able to examine whether an internal protection alternative exists only where it is clearly established that the risk of persecution or serious harm stems from an actor whose power is clearly limited to a specific geographical area or where the State itself only has control over certain parts of the country concerned.