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Important news from EUAA and the world of COI

Our approach to COI news

The News section aims to inform users about recent COI publications or upcoming workshops/conferences. EUAA selects information provided in the News section according to its relevance to the COI and asylum fields. EUAA welcomes suggestions to insert a particular news (event, publication).

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20 May 2022

EUAA publishes report on Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Today, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) published an updated Country of Origin Information (COI) report on Pakistan. The report revises the previous EASO COI report Pakistan – situation of Afghan refugees, released in May 2020. It specifically covers developments between 1 May 2020 and 17 March 2022.

Split into three chapters, the report describes the presence of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, examines their legal status and provides information on their socio-economic situation in the country.

Amid the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan, and the Taliban takeover of power in August 2021, a large number of Afghan refugees crossed the Pakistani border. Between January 2021 and February 2022, UNHCR documented 117 547 new arrivals from Afghanistan in Pakistan, with a significant peak of 35 289 persons in August 2021.

In recent years, Pakistan has shifted its policy towards Afghan refugees. Between early 2017 and January 2022, the country reportedly fenced around 90 % of its border with Afghanistan, making formal and informal border crossings much more difficult. However, due to the 'porous' nature of the border, undocumented crossings continue to occur.

As of January 2022, there were approximately 3 million Afghans living in Pakistan, around 1.4 million of them are Proof of Registration (PoR) cardholders, approximately 840 000 hold an Afghan Citizen Card (ACC), and an estimated 775 000 are undocumented. While PoR and ACC cardholders are offered limited protection, mainly from refoulement, undocumented Afghans are exposed to arrest, detention and deportation.

The report can be downloaded here.

Background 

The COI report was drafted by ACCORD in accordance with the EUAA COI Report Methodology, and was reviewed by EUAA together with Germany, The Netherlands, Slovak Republic, and France, as well as by external expert Zia Ur Rehman, a Pakistan-based journalist and researcher.

Further information on EUAA Country of Origin Information activities, including on Pakistan, can be found on the EUAA website.


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  • Pakistan

12 May 2022

EUAA publishes report on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM/C) in Ethiopia

The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has just published a Country of Origin Information (COI) report on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Ethiopia (FGM/C). The report provides background information and maps FGM/C practices and trends at the national and regional levels in the country. The report responds to EU+ information needs, following over 800 asylum applications lodged by Ethiopian nationals so far in 2022, as reported by EUAA.

The report takes the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) as the starting point of its review and, together with more recent studies and research published between 2015 – 2022, describes that:

  • The practice of Female Genital Mutilation is widely spread in the country, affecting 25 million women and girls, despite being a criminal offence in Ethiopia;
  • The most common practice – 'cut, flesh removed' – is largely prevalent among women aged 15-49 of the Afar and Somali ethnic groups;
  • In families and communities most likely to engage in child marriages, FGM/C tends to be seen as a necessary precursor to marriage.

On 4 February 2022, the EU's High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy issued a Joint Statement condemning the practice of Female Genital Mutilation as 'a crime and a violation of women's human rights'.

The EUAA's report can be downloaded here.

Background

The report was drafted in accordance with the EUAA COI Report Methodology by COI researchers from the EUAA. It was reviewed by Netherlands - OCILA, Belgium - CEDOCA, and Norway - Landinfo. As always, the European Union Agency for Asylum thanks our partners in the EU+ for peer-reviewing this report.

The report can be downloaded from the EUAA COI Portal.


  • Ethiopia

10 May 2022

Reports recently published by the Danish Immigration Service and the Swedish Migration Agency

​In the first quarter of 2022, the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen) had published three new reports, out of which two in Engish:

In April 2022, the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) had published two new country of origin reports on Afghanistan and Syria. The reports are available in Swedish, and can be found on the following links:

  • Afghanistan
  • Ethiopia
  • Syrian Arab Republic

21 April 2022

EUAA publishes Medical Country of Origin Report on Nigeria

Today, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has published a general Medical Country of Origin Information (MedCOI) report on Nigeria. The report aims to provide national asylum caseworkers in EU with information on the overall epidemiological situation as well as the challenges in accessing healthcare. This, in turn, enables them to reach accurate and fair decisions when considering applications for asylum and international protection filed on health grounds. In 2021, EU+ countries received around 16,850 requests for international protection from Nigerian nationals.

Based on initial drafting by International S.O.S., our Asylum Knowledge Centre's report brings together almost 250 reliable sources including the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Development Programme and various UN-sponsored global health initiatives, as well as the World Bank and the Nigerian government. It describes the overall organisation of the healthcare system; the role of the federal, state, and local governments therein; as well as the socioeconomic and human security situations.

The report's main findings, which cover specific disease groups and paediatric care, include but are not limited to:

  • Nigeria, like many African countries, has a critical shortage of healthcare professionals. In 2018, there was 1 doctor for every 2,500 people, and it is estimated that there were only 3 nurses and midwives for every 2,000 people in 2019.
  • The National Health Insurance Scheme, launched in 2005, covers only 5% of the population through the Formal Sector Social Health Insurance Programme with over 70% financing their healthcare needs out-of-pocket (OOP). The OOP spending accounts for 77.5% of current health expenditure, classifying it as "catastrophic".
  • The under-5-mortality rate is the 2nd highest in the world, with over 260,000 babies dying at birth, while around 257 die every day – within the first month of their lives. 
  • Despite dedicated national treatment strategies, Nigeria accounted for over a fifth of global Malaria-related deaths in 2019 and has a prevalence of sickle-cell anaemia that is 12 times higher than the global average.
  • In the face of serious challenges, the Nigerian government has nevertheless demonstrated political will and set strategic direction by committing to enabling its health development agenda, in line with targets agreed at several international fora.

Today's report and its findings comes as Nigeria is faced with a challenging health and human security situation, including hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDP), and most of whom are in the north-eastern region of the country that faces the continued terrorist insurgency of Boko Haram, and Islamic State in north-western region, according to Europol. Furthermore, the country's population is expanding rapidly and is projected to become the third most-populous country in the world by 2050. The majority of the country is under 20 years of age.

The report is written according to the EUAA COI Report Methodology, and can be reviewed on the Agency's Country of Origin Information Portal. It can also be downloaded directly here.

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  • Nigeria

23 February 2022

EUAA publishes a COI report on Iraq: Security Situation

​Today, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) published a Country of Origin Information (COI) Report on Iraq titled Iraq: Security situation. This report provides information on the security situation, armed actors, and the impact of conflict on civilians in Iraq between 1 August 2020 – 31 October 2021, as well as relevant context information in view of the assessment of international protection status determination for Iraqi asylum seekers, notably subsidiary protection and in particular for use in EUAA's country guidance development on Iraq (2022).

The report, EUAA COI Report – Iraq: Security Situation is a part of a series of Iraq reports produced in 2021-2022 and should be read in conjunction with the  EASO COI Report – Iraq: Key socio-economic indicators published in November 2021 and the EUAA COI Report – Targeting of Individuals published in January 2022.

Since June 2021, Iraqis have lodged increasingly more applications for international protection in the EU+. After their monthly applications had fluctuated between 1 300 and 1 700 from August 2020 to May 2021, Iraqis lodged around 1 800 applications in both June and July 2020, rising to some 2 300 in August and then 2 900 in September.[1] The main receiving country for Iraqis has been Germany (accounting for more than half of all Iraqi applications from August 2020 to August 2021) followed by Greece, Austria and Belgium[2], but recently Iraqi applications have risen quickly also in Lithuania and Latvia as a result of the surge in irregular border crossings from Belarus. The latest asylum trends for applicants from Iraq and other countries of origin can be found on the EUAA website here.

The report was drafted in accordance with the EASO COI Report Methodology by COI researchers from Belgium (Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Cedoca), Sweden (Swedish Migration Agency, Section for Information Analysis), the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD) and EUAA.  It was reviewed by Finland (Finnish Immigration Service, Country Information Service), France (Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA), Information, Documentation and Research Division), Slovakia (Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, Department of Documentation and Foreign Cooperation), and the Asylum Research Centre (ARC).

The report can be downloaded from the EUAA COI Portal on the following link.



[1] EUAA Early Warning and Preparedness System data, 15 November 2021. Recent data were missing for two EU+ countries. See also: Latest Asylum Trends | European Union Agency for Asylum (europa.eu).

[2] Eurostat [migr_asyappctzm], last update on 11 November 2021.

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  • Iraq