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Report on pledge: Improving access to high quality information on the situation of vulnerable groups in countries of origin of asylum seekers

Actions taken:

The AUSTRIAN CENTRE FOR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AND ASYLUM RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION – ACCORD is hosted by the Austrian Red Cross and provides independently and neutrally researched information on countries of origin of asylum seekers in order to contribute to fair and efficient procedures for determining international protection needs.

Human rights form a crucial aspect in procedures for international protection: Human rights violations force people to leave their countries of origin in order to find protection from persecution or war. A fair procedure to assess individuals’ claims to international protection requires access to information and knowledge about the situation in the countries of origin.

With the country of origin information system ecoi.net, Austrian Red Cross’ department ACCORD already provides easy and fast access to high-quality and up-to-date country of origin information (COI) from currently 169 countries for all actors involved in asylum cases.

With the pledge number: SP330175, the Austrian Red Cross committed to organise events and publish documentation to improve knowledge about the situation of vulnerable groups.

The COI unit of the Austrian Red Cross, ACCORD, organised the following public events that have contributed to the improvement of knowledge about the situation of vulnerable groups, and documented the results:
COI Webinar on Iraq, 28 November 2023.
COI Webinar on Afghanistan, 22 February 2022
COI Webinar on Somalia, 5 May 2021.
COI Webinar on Afghanistan, 11 May 2020.

Apart from the public and documented events above, ACCORD organised events for specific target groups: 1 seminar on Turkey (2020), 5 seminars on Syria (2023), 4 seminars on Afghanistan (2023), 1 seminar on Bangladesh (2024), and 2 seminars on Somalia (2024).

ACCORD published the following country report on topics including the situation of vulnerable groups:
Bangladesh: COI Compilation, August 2023.
COI Compilation Côte d’Ivoire, December 2020
COI Compilation Côte d’Ivoire, Update, September 2021.
Guinea: COI Compilation, December 2023.
Haiti: COI Compilation, April 2023.
Honduras: Gang-based violence, criminality and human rights violations against specific groups, December 2022.
Pakistan: COI Compilation, April 2024.
Pakistan: Religious Minorities, March 2021,

Implementation completion:

No
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