Finnish Immigration Service develops its database of Country of Origin Information

The Finnish Immigration Service has launched a project sponsored by the European Refugee Fund. The project will run until the end of 2012 and its primary aim is to integrate the Tellus Country of Origin Information database of the Finnish Immigration Service into the European Union’s Country of Origin Information (COI) portal.

Country of Origin Information is up-to-date information compiled from various sources about the prevailing conditions of a country. It plays a crucial role in the processing of applications for international protection. Information is often required, for example, about the prevailing status of human rights and the safety and security conditions of the applicant’s country of origin, about the availability of health care services, about legislation and about practices relating to the granting of official documents. Country of Origin Information is taken into account when processing the application, alongside information submitted by the applicant.

Country of Origin Information is regulated by quality standards issued by the European Union and by guidelines issued by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), for example. The information is compiled by impartial researchers who obtain the information independently of individual decisions concerning international protection.

Towards a common European asylum system

The objective in integrating the Tellus database of the Finnish Immigration Service into the common European COI portal is to harmonise the quality and use of Country of Origin Information in different Member States. Efficient sharing of COI is a step towards a common European asylum policy, which has been set as a goal in the European Commission’s action plan and Finland's Government Programme, for example.

Once the two systems have been integrated, Finnish authorities will have access to the databases of all of the Member States participating in the portal, which will improve the availability of COI and promote efficient and legally certain decision-making both nationally and across the Member States of the European Union.

In the future, a function enabling the publishing of video will also be added on the frontpage of the Tellus database. This is one of the responses of the Finnish Immigration Service to the demands of its decision-making bodies and stakeholders for access to up-to-date information as efficiently as possible, for example, when there are sudden changes in the safety and security conditions of countries of origin.

The database serves multiple Finnish authorities

In addition to the Finnish Immigration Service, Tellus also serves various stakeholders, such as local register offices, police departments across the country and administrative courts. The database currently has approximately 550 users. One of the objectives of the project is to expand the user base and to establish the European Union’s common COI portal as an integral part of the asylum procedure in Finland.

Further information to the media:

Martin Airisto, Project Coordinator, Legal Service and Country Information Unit
Tel. +358 (0)71 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi