New country priorities on ecoi.net

In November 2024, we update our country priorities. These priorities define which sources are covered on ecoi.net, i.e. which documents you can expect to find for a country. The update is based on Austrian, European and global asylum statistics and affects what sources we cover for what countries.

Coverage of sources

On ecoi.net, more than 160 sources are covered regularly, which means our editorial staff goes through the newest publications of these sources and adds them to ecoi.net if relevant. Coverage of sources is the most comprehensive for countries of priority A, and the least comprehensive for priority E. To ensure consistency, we use application statistics from the past 3 years. Statistics on applications lodged in Austria and the EU are weighted slightly higher in our ranking.

Changes are marked in bold.

A countries

Afghanistan

Eritrea

India (previously B)

Iran, Islamic Republic

Iraq

Nigeria

Pakistan

Russian Federation

Somalia

Syria Arab Republic (Syria)

Türkiye [+R]

Venezuela (previously B)

B1 countries

Albania

Chad

China

Congo, Democratic Republic

Egypt

Georgia

Moldova, Republic

Myanmar (Burma)

North Macedonia

Palestine

Serbia

South Sudan

B2 countries

Algeria

Azerbaijan

Bangladesh

Burkina Faso (previously C)

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Colombia

Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Cuba

El Salvador

Ethiopia

Guatemala

Guinea

Haiti

Honduras

Lebanon

Libya

Mali

Morocco

Mexico

Nepal (previously C)

Nicaragua

Niger

Peru (previously C)

Senegal

Sri Lanka (previously C)

Sudan

Tunisia

Ukraine

Yemen

C countries

Armenia

Belarus

Benin

Burundi

Cambodia

Chile

Congo (Republic of the Congo) (previously D)

Ecuador

Gambia (previously B)

Ghana

Guinea-Bissaa

Jamaica

Jordan

Kosovo

Liberia (previously D)

Mongolia

Rwanda

Sierra Leone

Tajikistan

Togo (previously D)

Uzbekistan

Viet Nam (Vietnam) (previously B)

D countries

Angola

Argentina

Bhutan (previously E)

Bolivia (previously E)

Bosnia and Herzegovina (previously B)

Botswana (previously E)

Comoros (new)

Dominican Republic

Indonesia

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kuwait (previously C)

Kyrgyzstan

Malaysia (previously C)

Mauritania

Philippines

South Africa

Tanzania, United Republic

Uganda

Zimbabwe (previously C)

E countries

Australia

Austria

Bahrain

Belgium

Brazil

Bulgaria [+R]

Canada

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cyprus

Czechia (Czech Republic)

Denmark

Germany

Djibouti

Equatorial Guinea

Estonia

Eswatini

Fiji

Finland

France

Gabon

Greece [+R]

Guyana

Hungary [+R]

Iceland

Ireland

Israel

Italy [+R]

Japan

Korea, Democratic People's Republic (North Korea)

Korea, Republic (South Korea)

Laos, People's Democratic Republic

Latvia

Lesotho

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Malawi

Maldives

Malta

Mauritius

Montenegro (previously C)

Mozambique

Namibia

New Zealand

Netherlands

Norway

Oman

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Poland [+R]

Portugal

Qatar

Romania [+R]

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain [+R]

Suriname

Sweden [+R]

Switzerland

Taiwan

Thailand

Timor Leste

Trinidad and Tobago

Turkmenistan

Uruguay

United Arab Emirates

United States

United Kingdom

Western Sahara

Zambia

C

What country priorities mean for coverage of sources is best explained in reversed order:

Countries of priority E receive only the most important publications: publications explicitly produced in the asylum context, like guidelines/positions or COI query responses; the main annual reports (USDOS, HRW, ai, Freedom House); as well as reports from UN CAT.

Countries of priority D receive, additionally, reports of UN committees, including NHRI reports.

Countries of priority C receive, additionally, publications from most of our sources: for instance, IWPR articles, ICG publications, as well as NGO reports for UN committees. Also, while coverage for priorities D and E is limited to annual reports by ai and HRW, priority C receives their other publications as well.

Countries of priority B receive, additionally, either a general media source (like BBC) for priority B2, or a country-specific source (like the Afghanistan Analysts Network) for priority B1. Which one of these two options is decided per country, based on availability and feasibility.

Countries of priority A receive coverage of all of the above.

For a country with the modifier "[+R]", we include basic information on reception conditions. When choosing these countries, we took into account the numbers of Dublin requests - both incoming and outgoing.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us: info@ecoi.net.

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