The COI Unit of the Austrian Federal Asylum Office published a new version of its working methodology.

The first COI report produced by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) has been published. It focuses on Taliban recruitment strategies in Afghanistan. Along with the report, the EASO also published its methodology for COI reports.

As a result of the ERF-funded project “COI in Judicial Practice”, in which the Austrian Red Cross/ACCORD participated, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee has published a new study on how quality standards of Country of Origin Information (COI) appear in the form of authoritative legal requirements within the present system, either as binding legal provisions or guiding judicial practice. As such, the study intends to provide a  tool and a set of concrete examples for policy- and law-makers, advocates, judges and trainers active in this field.

As a result of the ERF-funded project “COI in Judicial Practice”, in which the Austrian Red Cross/ACCORD participated, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee has published a study on structural differences between European courts dealing with asylum and their access to Country of Origin Information (COI).

Issue 38 of the Forced Migration Review covers the positive and negative aspects of the spread of modern technologies for researchers and agencies as well as for displaced people themselves. The issue also contains an article on access to good quality Country of Origin Information.

UNHCR published a summary report on its EU-funded project on quality of asylum procedures in nine EU member states. Additionally, a manual introducing to various elements necessary for a high quality asylum system provides annotated checklists as an aide to decision-makers.

Fleeing Homophobia, a project by COC Nederland and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, has published a report on differences in the examination of LGBTI asylum applications in member states of the European Union. The report also contains a chapter on Country of Origin Information (COI) in the LGBTI context.

The EU common guidelines on (Joint) Fact Finding Missions serve as a practical tool to assist EU member states in organizing Fact Finding Missions to gather Country of Origin Information. Click on “Read more” for details on these new Guidelines and to access them.

The report published by the UK-based Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) explores how individuals from four stakeholder groups use COI and what factors impact on their level of use and approach to COI. Data was gathered from UK Borders Agency staff, legal representatives, immigration judges and experts.

With the Italian version of the COI Training Manual, translated by the Consiglio Italiano Rifugiati (CIR), the manual is now available in seven languages.