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Country of Origin Information

COI Publications

The EUAA Country of Origin Information (COI) gathers relevant information and draws up reports providing for accurate, reliable and up to date information on third countries to support EU+ asylum and migration authorities in reaching accurate and fair decisions in asylum procedures, or support policy making. For that purpose, the Agency established Country Specialist Networks that collaborate to avoid duplication and create synergies with national COI production. COI refers to, inter alia, the political, religious and security situation and to violations of human rights, including torture and ill-treatment in the third countries concerned. The EUAA activities include general COI and medical COI (MedCOI).

 

About COI
COI Methodology

The EUAA gathers information about countries of origin, habitual residence, and transit used in procedures for the individual assessment of applications for international protection. COI may also be used in the context of non-asylum related migration cases. COI aims to answer questions about countries of origin relating to, for example, the socio-economic, legal, political, human rights, conflict, and humanitarian situation at a given time. 

COI facilitates and supports decision-making processes but does not dictate decisions. It is distinct from country guidance and legal assessments. COI constitutes evidence in the international protection procedure and is important in making a fact-based assessment of international protection needs.

COI Methodology

The EUAA has a mandate to produce COI reports on countries of origin that are relevant to the EU+ asylum caseload, based on the EUAA’s common Country of Origin Information (COI) Report Methodology and Writing and Referencing Guide.

COI Production / COI Portal

EUAA’s production of COI is often done in close cooperation with EU+ countries, generating publicly available COI reports and COI queries, which are used both as evidence in the asylum procedure, or to assist in the drafting of common country guidance at the EU level. 
 
The EUAA’s COI publications (reports, queries, and other COI products) can be found on the EUAA COI Portal, a dedicated public platform managed and maintained by the agency. National EU+ countries’ COI production can also be found in the COI Portal. 

COI Networks

The agency coordinates a COI query system and twelve (12) COI Country Specialist Networks, where specialised COI researchers from EU+ national administrations cooperate by exchanging information and knowledge on relevant issues in the asylum procedure and countries of origin related to topics such as security, human rights, or the socio-economic situation. To enhance COI cooperation, the EUAA organises country and thematic meetings, workshops, seminars, and conferences on relevant issues in the top countries of origin, and has currently activities focused on Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Latin America, Libya, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Somalia, Syria, and West Africa, among others.

Medical country of origin information (MedCOI)

The EUAA provides access to medical country of origin information (MedCOI). This information supports the national migration and asylum authorities in Europe to reach accurate and fair decisions in international protection and other migration procedures. MedCOI is a service for national migration and asylum authorities solely, providing responses to requests for information about the availability and accessibility of medical interventions in countries of origin. 

EUAA MedCOI relies on a worldwide network of medical experts that provides up-to-date medical information in countries of origin. Based on this information and combined with desk research, the EUAA produces responses to individual requests from EU+ countries and maintains a portal with a specific database where the information can be found. The portal also allows for the continuous exchange of information between countries, and between countries and the EUAA. The database is only accessible to trained personnel in EUAA and the EU+ countries’ relevant administrations (MB Decision / MedCOI Database Access Policy). 

EUAA MedCOI also produces public general medical country reports that can be found together with the EUAA general COI reports.

The high quality and medical accuracy of the information is guaranteed by specifically trained medical advisors and research experts who also provide guidance to the users of the portal.

EUAA MedCOI is continuously subject to internal and external quality assurance activities such as validations, audits, and peer reviews.
 

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