Source description last updated: 16 October 2018                              

In brief: The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, BZ) is the Dutch government department responsible for foreign affairs.

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Official Reports, including Country of Origin Information Reports (Dutch: Algemene ambtsberichten) and Thematic Country of Origin Information Reports (Dutch: Thematische ambtsberichten).

Covered quarterly on ecoi.net, for countries of priorities A-E (all available countries).

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ) “coordinates and carries out the foreign policy of the Dutch government” (BZ: Organisation, undated).

Upon request by the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security (IND: Terms of Reference voor algemeen ambtsbericht Sudan, 12 October 2018; Werkinstructie totstandkoming Algemene Ambtsberichten, 2007), the BZ produces reports on countries of origin of asylum-seekers (called “Official Reports”) that form the basis of country-specific asylum policies (Dutch Council for Refugees: Standpunt: algemene ambtsberichten, undated). The Official Reports, which are categorised into General Official Reports and Thematic Official Reports, are drafted by the BZ’s “Department for Official Reports” (Dutch: Afdeling ambtsberichten, AB) (see, for example, BZ: Algemeen Ambtsbericht Sudan, October 2019, p. 2, BZ: Ambtsbericht veiligheidssituatie in Jemen, July 2019, p. 2 and BZ: Thematisch Ambtsbericht Turkije: Dienstplicht, July 2019, p. 2), usually based on terms of reference (ToR) received from the Ministry of Justice and Security’s Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) (see, for example, IND: Terms of Reference voor algemeen ambtsbericht Sudan, 12 October 2018 and IND: Thematisch Ambtsbericht Veiligheidssituatie Jemen, July 2018). However, in some cases, the Minister of Foreign Affairs may initiate the compilation of specific Terms of References by the IND, or even the drafting of an Official Report (Werkinstructie totstandkoming Algemene Ambtsberichten, 2007).

As the Dutch Council for Refugees (DRC) notes, the Official Reports carry significant weight in assessing claims in Dutch asylum procedures because they are viewed by judges as expert reports. (Dutch Council for Refugees: Standpunt: algemene ambtsberichten, undated)

Funding:

Dutch government budget (BZ: Foreign Affairs Budget 2018, undated).

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: countries of origin of asylum-seekers

Thematic focus: political and security developments, human rights (by category of human rights and groups of concern), personal documents, military service, displacement etc. (see, for example, BZ: Algemeen Ambtsbericht Sudan, October 2019 or BZ: Algemeen ambtsbericht Libië, April 2019; BZ: Ambtsbericht veiligheidssituatie in Jemen, July 2019; BZ: Thematisch Ambtsbericht Turkije: Dienstplicht, July 2019, p. 2)

Methodology:

The Official Reports are based on both public and confidential sources. Public sources include reports from “the United Nations, non-governmental organisations, specialised publications and the media reports” while confidential information stems from Dutch diplomatic representations (see, for example, BZ: Algemeen Ambtsbericht Sudan, October 2019, p. 5, working translation by ACCORD or BZ: Ambtsbericht veiligheidssituatie in Jemen, July 2019, p. 5, working translation by ACCORD).

The working instructions for drafting Official Reports state that when selecting sources to be included in a report, the sources must be tested for reliability, i.e. as to whether they are 1) “well-informed” (first-hand knowledge of the events vs. second or third-hand knowledge), 2) “independent” (possible vested interest in presenting things in a certain way) and 3) “diverse” (include a variety of sources). The working instructions add that “[i]f a source is to be categorised as non-independent, this does not mean that the information is by definition unreliable. However, it needs to be handled with even greater care. For example, the drafter must search for other, preferably independent, sources that can provide information on the same subject. Where information from a non-independent source cannot be confirmed or refuted by other sources, this needs to be stated explicitly in the Official Report.” (Werkinstructie totstandkoming Algemene Ambtsberichten, 2007, working translation by ACCORD)

The reports contain footnotes that mention public sources by name and refer to confidential sources as such (“vertrouwelijke bron” in Dutch) (see, for example, BZ: Algemeen Ambtsbericht Sudan, October 2019, BZ: Ambtsbericht veiligheidssituatie in Jemen, July 2019 and BZ: Thematisch Ambtsbericht Turkije: Dienstplicht, July 2019). The reports also contain a list of public sources in the annex (see, for example, BZ: Algemeen Ambtsbericht Sudan, October 2019, pp. 119-125 and BZ: Thematisch Ambtsbericht Turkije: Dienstplicht, July 2019, p. 27-28).

Some reports are also made available in English translation. However, only the Dutch version is deemed authoritative (see, for example: BZ: Thematic Country of Origin Information Report Turkey: Military service, July 2019, p. 2, BZ: Country of Origin Report Afghanistan, March 2019, p. 2 or BZ: Country of Origin Information Report on South and Central Somalia, March 2019, p. 2).

Languages of publication:

Dutch, English

Further reading / links:

Government of the Netherlands: Asylum policy, undated
https://www.government.nl/topics/asylum-policy

Dutch Council for Refugees: Standpunt: algemene ambtsberichten, undated
https://www.vluchtelingenwerk.nl/wat-wij-doen/standpunten/standpunt-algemene-ambtsberichten

NPO Radio 1: Twijfel aan bronnen recent ambtsbericht Eritrea, 21 April 2018
https://www.nporadio1.nl/argos/onderwerpen/452915-twijfel-aan-bronnen-recent-ambtsbericht-eritrea

 

All links accessed 16 October 2019