Source description last updated: 22 January 2020

In brief: The Austrian Centre for Country of Origin & Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD) is a department within the headquarters of the Austrian Red Cross (ARC), providing information on countries of origin of asylum seekers (COI) in order to contribute to fair and efficient asylum procedures.

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Query responses and country reports for countries of priorities A-E.

Weekly coverage on ecoi.net.

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

“ACCORD provides independently and neutrally researched information on countries of origin of asylum seekers in order to contribute to fair and efficient asylum procedures for determining international protection needs. [...] ACCORD continuously documents human rights developments focusing on the criteria of the 1951 Refugee Convention and other legal instruments providing international protection. [...] ACCORD offers research services (responses to case related queries, country reports, etc.), manages the COI portal www.ecoi.net and conducts COI Training.” (ARC Website, Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation, undated)

“The research services are open to asylum lawyers, refugee counsels as well as persons deciding on claims for asylum and other forms of international protection in Austria and selected other countries. (ARC Website, ACCORD, Research, undated)

ecoi.net provides “easy and fast access to high-quality and up-to-date country of origin information (COI) for all actors involved in asylum cases. ecoi.net is committed to an impartial information policy and to the objective and neutral presentation of country of origin information. While ecoi.net focuses on human rights issues of relevance for procedures of international protection, it includes information regardless of its positive or negative character. ecoi.net promotes the principle of public domain information as well as equal access to high-quality country of origin information for all persons involved in asylum cases or other forms of international protection.” (ecoi.net, About ecoi.net, undated)

Funding:

“ACCORD is co-funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, UNHCR and various non-governmental organizations working in the field of asylum.” (ARC Website, Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation, undated)

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: countries of origin of asylum seekers

Thematic focus: issues relevant to asylum and human rights

Methodology:

“ACCORD uses publicly citable materials from a variety of sources: international and regional human rights organizations as well as governments, the UN, international and local media and online databases.” (ARC Website, Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation, undated)

Expert information is only used if the person in question agrees with the information being quoted and published by ACCORD. (ARC: Henri, July 2009, p. 72)

ACCORD considers it important that information from different kinds of sources (e.g. government reports, NGO reports, media articles) on the same topic is used and emerging contradictions are clearly represented as such. ACCORD does not evaluate the information. (ARC: Henri, July 2009, p. 73)

ACCORD selects information by its currency and puts emphasis on the transparent and comprehensible presentation of its research results. (ARC: Henri, July 2009, p. 73)

“Research is conducted via publicly accessible resources on the internet as well as by consulting external country experts.” (ARC Website, Recherche, undated, translation ACCORD)

In 2004, ACCORD, together with other organisations working in the field of COI, published a manual on basic quality standards for the research of country of origin information, which was revised in 2013. It is available here: https://www.coi-training.net/researching-coi/

“ecoi.net covers more than 160 sources on a regular basis. ecoi.net preferably uses reliable information sources or sources with a high reputation, such as the United Nations, international non-governmental organisation, news and media services or government departments dealing with asylum and refugee issues. [...] Comprehensive country of origin information encompasses many dimensions of human rights as well as information on the political and living situation in a given country, presentation of ethnic groups and cultural traditions and assessments of the possible development of a security situation. ecoi.net does not cover events in all countries of the world to the same extent, but there is a focus on countries of origin of asylum applicants in Europe.” (ecoi.net, About ecoi.net, undated)

Languages of publications:

German, English

Further reading / links:

ARC Website, ACCORD, quality standards, undated
https://www.roteskreuz.at/en/en/organise/accord/quality-standards/

Austrian Red Cross/ACCORD: Researching Country of Origin Information - Training Manual, 2013 edition, October 2013
https://www.coi-training.net/site/assets/files/1021/researching-country-of-origin-information-2013-edition-accord-coi-training-manual.pdf

Austrian Red Cross/ACCORD: Researching Country of Origin Information; A Training Manual, April 2006
https://www.coi-training.net/site/assets/files/1031/en-coi_manual_part_i_plus_annex_20060426.pdf

ecoi.net - European Country of Origin Information Network: https://www.ecoi.net/


All links accessed 22 January 2020.