Background Material on Asylum Producing Countries

ResourceShelf recently drew my attention to the Country of origin information service of the United Kingdom's Home Office:

"Country of Origin Information Service (COI Service) exists to provide accurate, objective, sourced and up-to-date information on asylum seekers' countries of origin, for use by ... officials involved in the asylum determination process."

"COI Service is staffed by specialist country officers whose sole function is to research, compile and produce country of origin information (COI). They monitor the position in their countries daily and have access to all the most up-to-date COI sources."

"All COI products focus on human rights issues and matters frequently raised in asylum and human rights claims. They are compiled from reliable material produced by external information sources such as the US State Department, UNHCR, human rights organisations, and news media. All COI products are in the public domain and are based on published or unclassified source material. They do not contain any Home Office opinion or policy."

Other sources of information about "asylum-producing countries" include:

• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Country of Origin information: "The country of origin information database is the first and foremost tool for country information that UNHCR provides. The information provided is essential for the refugee status determination procedure, and it is often the only and most complete tool that is available for refugee-related issues. It is also very useful for research purposes. The majority of the documents relate to the human rights situation in the countries. The sources are carefully selected, and aim to provide a balanced and objective overview. There are international (including UNHCR) documents, as well as governmental and non-governmental reports"
• Country of Origin Research Documents (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada): "These papers (...) provide in-depth research on issues relevant to the refugee protection determination process. Issue Papers dating back to 1995 and Extended Responses dating back to 1999 may be found."
• National Documentation Packages (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada): "National Documentation Packages contain a selection of documents on general country of origin information, human rights and security conditions, and various types of refugee protection claims. NDPs are regularly reviewed and updated as country conditions change."