More detailed information available in the Finnish Immigration Service’s country of origin database
The Finnish Immigration Service is improving its Tellus -Country of Origin Information (COI) database to make it more comprehensive. A section will be added to the database to include detailed local information specific to a particular city or region, such as maps and images.
Country of origin information is of vital importance in the processing of an asylum application. The database contains up-to-date information on conditions and circumstances in various countries, obtained from a variety of sources. This information is needed for making decisions on 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 reports submitted by the applicant.
The European Refugee Fund is contributing funding to the project.
A better tool for asylum decisions
Improvement of the Tellus COI database is also compliant with the goals entered in the Government Programme of the current Finnish Government concerning high-quality asylum decisions made with a shorter turnaround time. When the official handling an asylum application already has detailed Country of Origin Information available at the asylum interview, no further investigation needs to be conducted after the interview. Therefore, applications can be resolved in a shorter space of time.
The local information section to be added to the database will be a great help in asylum interviews. It will also help ensure that decisions are made in an efficient and legally certain way. The section will be introduced with local information concerning Mogadishu; the underlying technical design is applicable to other locations too.
The database serves multiple Finnish authorities
In addition to the Finnish Immigration Service, Tellus also serves various stakeholders, such as local register offices, the police and administrative courts. There are about 600 users of the database in Finland at the moment. Tellus is also being integrated into the common European Country of Origin Information (COI) portal, through which authorities in other EU Member States may refer to Tellus in their official duties.
Country of Origin Information is governed, among other things, by the European Union’s quality criteria and guidelines issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and its acquisition is independent of individual decisions on international protection.
Further information for the media:
Project Manager Martin Airisto, Legal Service and Country Information Unit,
tel: 071 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi
