Uses and Misuses of Country of Origin Information (COI) in the Refugee Status Determination Process

Résumé

Country of Origin Information is crucial for decisions on the credibility of asylum applicants’ accounts, and on the risks they would face if returned to their home countries. In the UK, ‘official’ Home Office COI has changed over time, both in factual content and in the balance between information and policy. Country Guidance cases, in which COI is judicially assessed so as to establish ‘factual precedents’, have taken on a prominent role in asylum jurisprudence. However, it is not only the factual accuracy of COI that is relevant but also its discursive form. This paper critically assesses the ways in which COI is used in practice by administrative decision-makers and immigration judges.