Country of origin information (COI): uma análise sobre sua utilização pelo Comitê Nacional para Refugiados no Brasil

Abstract

The refugee is an individual who has been forced to leave his country of origin and has come to an asylum state due to persecution motivated by race, religion, nationality, political opinion and belonging to a specific social group. In Brazil, the concept of refugee, besides the persecution factor, is also applied to every individual who left a State of origin because of ""grave and widespread human rights violations."" The Country of Origin Information (COI) is a tool used by decision-makers during the applicant's Refugee Status Determination (RSD) procedure of refugee. Among decision makers using the COI in Brazil, the government, through the National Committee for Refugees (CONARE), is the main actor. Therefore, the objective of this dissertation is to analyze how CONARE understands and uses the COI in its RSD procedure, based on the main international guidelines adopted by the most respected actors within this theme. The general evidence found shows that the practices adopted by CONARE do not follow some international recommendations - such as: the independence of the institutions of eligibility for refugee status and COI research; updating and using COI reports from trusted sources; cooperation within the COI; and training of COI eligibility actors and researchers - due to structural difficulties. The conclusion suggests that institutional cooperation within the COI can be an alternative of improving COI use according to international recommendations.