Source description last updated: 11 March 2021

In brief: The Norwegian Country of Origin Information Center Landinfo is an independent body within the Norwegian immigration authorities that provides country of origin information (COI) to the immigration authorities as well as the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security.

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Reports and query responses

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

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

Landinfo is “responsible for collecting, analysing and presenting country of origin information to the Norwegian Immigration Authorities. Landinfo also provides information to the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Our core users, the decision makers within the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) and the Immigration Appeals Board (UNE), use the information when making decisions in non-asylum and asylum cases. […]

Landinfo is an independent body within the Norwegian Immigration Authorities. By independence it is here implied that neither the Ministry [of Justice and Public Security], UDI nor UNE can instruct or overrule the professional assessments or research generated by the Centre. Administratively, however, Landinfo sorts under UDI. [...]

According to this mandate, Landinfo does not participate in the actual decision making process, and we do not express any opinion on whether it is safe for an individual person to return to a specific country or area. Nor do we give advice on what should be the outcome of a case, or interfere in how the information we provide is interpreted against applicable legislation. [...]

Landinfo has a staff of about 30. A majority of our employees are country analysts, holding extensive and varied qualifications from work and residency in the countries of their expertise, and from related work in governmental agencies, academic institutions or human rights organisations. [...] Landinfo is organised into four regional desks – Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe/Central Asia/Latin America – each staffed by both country analysts and researchers.” (Landinfo website: About Landinfo, undated)

Funding:

Norwegian government budget

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: Africa, Asia, Balkans and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Turkey, Russia and Former Soviet Republics

Thematic focus: human rights, political conditions, security situation, government bodies, legislation and citizenship, military service, health, societal and cultural conditions, ethnic and religious groups, women and children (Landinfo website: Search in publications, undated)

Methodology:

“Landinfo collects information from and consults a wide range of sources in our work. Among these are UN organizations, multilateral organizations like the OSCE and the EU, other countries’ immigration authorities, research institutions, nongovernmental organizations, news services, and Norwegian embassies.

A significant part of the material presented by Landinfo is accessed through publicly available sources. The country of origin information which Landinfo collects through fact-finding missions constitutes an equally important tier in our work. Through fact-finding missions, our country analysts establish direct contact with primary and secondary sources in the relevant countries of origin. […] The main objective of these missions is to collect specific information not easily accessed or unavailable otherwise. In cases of conflicting statements from crucial sources, fact-finding missions are conducted to verify information. […]

Sources may be anonymized for reasons of personal safety. […] When this occurs, anonymization is commented upon in the report. In some cases, we may describe the competencies or relevance of a source, whereas on other occasions we may be prevented from providing any information at all. Many of our sources risk serious consequences if their identity, work or network is revealed. […]

[W]e have developed guidelines on how we process sources and the information they provide. The guidelines draw on, among others, relevant literature originating from the fields of history and journalism, the Common EU Guidelines for processing Country of Origin Information and ACCORD’s Training Manual for Researching Country of Origin Information. [...]

Landinfo has established a system for peer review as well as an Editorial Board. The peer review focuses on content and is performed by an analyst from the same regional desk. On occasion, peer review is also conducted by analysts from other regional desks.” The peer review assesses reports on the basis of criteria such as the selection of sources, the completeness of information, whether a report is balanced and consistent, its relevance and currency, and whether a report is structured in a logical and coherent way. “On occasion, external experts (from research institutions or other relevant specialist institutions) are contracted to conduct an additional review.

The Editorial Board reviews written products to ensure the uniformity and consistency of products (one system for all), a high quality of language, consistent referencing and a good layout and presentation. Its task is to ensure user-friendly, applicable and recognisable products. All reports are reviewed by the Editorial Board prior to publication.” (Landinfo website: COI practices, undated)

Languages of publication:

Norwegian and English; Reports in Norwegian  provide summaries in English.

Further reading / links:

Dagbladet: Landinfo kan ikke brukes ukritisk (English: “Landinfo should not be used uncritically“ (author: Camilla Hagelien, Jussbuss), 7 June 2018
https://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/landinfo-kan-ikke-brukes-ukritisk/69876921

Landinfo: Annual Report 2019 (in Norwegian)
https://landinfo.no/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/%C3%85rsrapport-2019-22052020.pdf

Landinfo: Retningslinjer for kilde- og informasjonsanalyse (English: “Guidelines for source and information analysis”), Februar 2015 (Norwegian)
https://landinfo.no/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Retningslinjer-for-kilde-og-informasjonsanalyse-13022015.pdf

 

All links accessed 11 March 2021.