Last updated: 23 September 2026

What is country of origin information?

If you’re making an asylum or human rights claim, information about what is happening in the country you are from can be an important part of your evidence.

The Home Office uses the term ‘country of origin’ to mean the country you are from. This usually means the country of your nationality. Information about your country is called country of origin information, which is shortened to COI on this page.

COI can be general information about the country, or more specific information, for example about:

• How a particular group might be treated due to:
  • Political opinion
  • Faith or religion
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Sexual orientation
• Whether the authorities (the police) can provide protection
• The situation in a particular part of the country
• The government and national laws
• Conflict or instability in the country
• Humanitarian issues e.g. Access to healthcare, water, food, shelter

Sometimes, COI can also be useful if it helps support what you have said about your own personal experiences. This could mean finding information that helps explain or prove something that happened to you, or to give context to your story. 

You do not need to prove every part of your story with COI, and it is not always useful, but it is worth checking what COI is available and what it says. COI is normally about the situation in the country generally, rather than proving that every detail of your own account happened.

Focusing on understanding what you need to prove can help you find COI that helps the person making the decision understand the issues in your case. Finding a small amount of relevant, reliable and up-to-date information can be enough, and often more helpful than submitting lots of reports, news articles and webpages. 

What type of information can I look for?

The most useful types of COI should be objective. This means it gives a general view of the situation in a country, a part of a country, or a particular issue. Objective evidence should be based on facts, direct observations and records. This can include COI in human rights reports, news reports, and official country policy reports from different countries or organisations. Information from independent, trusted sources is more likely to be accepted and considered reliable – we explain this below.

Objective evidence is different to subjective evidence, which means information that is based on personal feelings, opinions and experiences. This might include your story written down as a statement, or a statement from someone else. It might also include COI that comes from a blog, website or campaign page.

If you want to gather COI, it can help to first understand what you need to prove. We explain how evidence can work differently in different types of cases in our Evidence Key Guide. This is particularly important to understand if you are gathering COI later in your case, after you have received a decision from the Home Office or court. 

If you are doing your own research, start by working out what questions you actually need the information to answer. Then you can search for evidence that answers those questions.

At the start of an asylum case, you might want to gather COI about the general situation in the country you are from, or a particular issue in the country. This could also be helpful if you are making an immigration application.

If you have received a decision on your asylum claim, then it is important to first understand what has been accepted, and what you need to challenge when you are looking for COI. We explain this in more detail on our Fresh claims page.

Where can I find country of Origin information?

COI can include any information about a particular country, but there are certain sources that are considered more reliable than others. This means they are more likely to be accepted by the Home Office or a Judge. The main types of COI include:

• Home Office Country Policy and Information Notes (CPIN)
• Case Law
• Human rights reports
• News articles

Home Office Country Policy and Information Notes (CPIN)

The Home Office writes its own COI in its Country Policy and Information Notes (CPINs). CPINs usually give background information about a particular country, region or issue in that country. The Home Office will usually rely on the CPINs when deciding whether you are at risk in your home country. A CPIN usually explains the Home Office’s view on a particular country or issue, and explains what it should look at to make a decision. It is important to look at the CPINs when preparing your case so that you can understand the Home Office’s position and you can think about how tit might look at your case, and what you might need to prove. 

A Home Office CPIN can be very useful if it says that someone in your situation would be at risk in the country you are from. They can also be incorrect, and outdated. So while it is important to look at them, and consider what they say, you might be able to also submit different evidence to challenge what a CPIN says by finding your own COI.

Case Law

Case law is used as a reference point by the Home Office and courts for making decisions. Case law comes from a decision made about a certain country, group or issue that explains how that type of case should be considered. Some types of case law are called  “country guidance” cases because they explain how cases in a specific country should be assessed. 

Often, if there is a new piece of case law, then the Home Office CPIN for the country or issue it relates to will also be updated. This does not always happen quickly, so it can be helpful to check for legal updates and information on the country you are from to see if there is any new case law.

To learn more about understanding case law, you can watch our video about Understanding Case Law below.

Human Rights Reports

Human rights reports can be really useful for finding up-to-date information on the situation in a particular country. We talked about ‘objective evidence’ and which sources are likely to be considered reliable. When it comes to Human Rights reports, it can help to start with some key sources that are generally considered to be trustworthy and accurate. This might include:

• Amnesty International
• Human Rights Watch
• United Nations (UN) reports – OHCHR, UNHCR Refworld
• National Country Reports e.g. US State Department
• Freedom House

There are also some databases you can use to search for reliable reports and information:

• ECOI (European Country of Origin Information Network)
• Asylos
• ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross)

When you look for human rights reports, try to find reports that are recent so that the information is accurate. You might want to find older reports if you need to prove a situation at a certain point in time, but you will still need to show what the situation is now to explain what might happen to you if you were returned to the country you are from.

We explain how to check COI and think about whether it is useful below.

News Articles

When you are looking for COI, you might find relevant information online in media sources, like newspapers, community reports and forums or blogs. While these sources might confirm what you have said, they may not be considered as independent and reliable sources. 

If a source is opinion-based or cannot be checked it might not be accepted as factual information for your case. This does not mean that you should never submit information from these sources, but you might want to consider whether there are also reports from larger media outlets and human rights organisations discussing the same issue.

For example, you might find a report from a local newspaper or blog about something that happened in your country. You can check to see if this was also reported in mainstream or international media, for example in newspapers like The Guardian, Independent, New York Times or Al Jazeera. 

A source does not have to be completely neutral to be useful. Think about who produced it, why they produced it, how they gathered their information and whether you can check the information against other sources. Sometimes, an article or report will say where they found their information, and provide links to their own sources. Sometimes, you will need to explain why COI is relevant and should be considered even if it is not completely objective.

What type of information will be useful for my case?

Understanding what types of country information might be useful is much easier if you understand what you need to prove.

If you have claimed asylum, and have not received a decision from the Home Office, then you can focus on explaining and evidencing some key things:

1. What do you fear in the country you are from?
2. Why would you be at risk? Who do you fear?
3. Can the authorities (police) protect you?
4. Could you live safely in another part of the country?

This might mean looking for general information about your particular group or situation. Or, it might mean finding reliable sources of information that show that you are being truthful about what happened to you, for example to prove that a protest took place, that a law has recently changed or that there is active conflict in the area you are from.

If you have claimed asylum and received a decision from the Home Office or courts, then you need to think about what has been accepted or rejected in your case. Understanding the reasons for refusal is really important for understanding what types of evidence might help challenge the decision, and whether COI will be useful. 

You can ask someone you trust to help you read through the decision and pick out key points that explain why you were refused. We explain this in more detail in our toolkit here.

You might also be looking for COI for an immigration case, for example if your case is based on your health. Focusing your search on information that is relevant to your case can help you avoid spending too long reading through general reports. This might mean using specific search terms, or finding sources that are more specific. For example, you might look at the World Health Organisation for information on healthcare systems.

Watch our video below on Country of Origin evidence to find out what you can do once you have collected your objective evidence.

Organising your research

You might find lots of information – you can save this to help you think about what is useful, but you might decide not to submit all of it. To help you think about what information is important, you can think about what you need to prove, and how a piece of evidence will help.

COI can be useful for proving something specific to your story or giving general context to your situation and the situation in the country you are from.

Think about what the information you have found shows. Does it help prove or challenge something specific to your case, or provide useful background information? If it doesn’t then it might not be helpful. If it does, you might want to explain how or why.

You can try sorting the information you find into three groups to decide what you want to include:

1. Directly relevant

The information helps answer one of the important questions in your case. This might mean:

• it supports something you have said about what has happened or might happen
• It provides information to challenge what the Home Office or a Judge has said
• It provides general information about the experience or treatment of people in a similar situation to you in the country you are from

This is most likely to be useful for your case, but you should, as always, read the information carefully. You can highlight key parts or make a note of the most relevant sections.

2. Useful background

COI can help to give context to your case by explaining the background information about a particular issue or country.

You may want to keep some of this, particularly if it helps someone understand the more specific evidence that is directly relevant to your story or circumstances.

This type of information can be helpful in the early stages of a case, before a decision has been made. It can also be helpful if you are trying to challenge a CPIN or information that the Home Office has relied on.

3. Interesting, but not relevant

Some COI might be interesting and it could feel like important information but this does not mean it is going to be useful for your case. Think about what you are trying to prove and the key issues in your case to decide whether the information will be helpful.

It can be overwhelming to find and read lots of general information. Your argument will probably be clearer if you can refer to selected, reliable sources that are relevant to your situation.

You might find that there is useful information within a large, more general report. You could consider including the relevant sections, and highlighting important information, then including a link to the full report instead of submitting the whole thing.

Identifying the key issues is a key part of finding useful COI. If you are trying to show that a specific event happened and lots of people know about it, then showing it was reported in lots of newspapers could be helpful. If you are trying to explain something more general, like how a particular group is treated, then finding lots of COI that refers to one source might be less helpful. 

Try to focus on the core questions in your case when you look for COI before considering whether the information you find is likely to be helpful. Asylos and ARC Foundation have created some key principles for checking your COI – ask yourself if the COI is:

Relevant – it relates to the particular issues and circumstances in your case.

Reliable and balanced – you have thought about who produced it and whether other sources support or challenge it.

Accurate and current – it is correct and up to date for the issue you are researching.

Traceable – someone else can find the source and check what it says.

Neutral – it is not based on opinions or analysis.

Once you have decided which pieces of COI are going to be the most useful and important for your case, you can:

• Save a PDF copy of the webpage or document
• Print a copy for your records if you can, or save a copy online by emailing it to yourself or using an online storage system
• Create a document including:
  • A list of COI you have found: The name of the report or article, who wrote it, when it was published, when you accessed it, a link to the document or website
  • Key parts of the documents that you want to highlight. You might want to copy quotes.
  • A short explanation about why the COI you found is important, and what it means for your case.

What if I can’t find the information I want?

Sometimes, you might not find any COI. This does not mean that something didn’t happen, but the Home Office will expect you to provide information yourself. It will not produce this for you, but it might have its own information. If you are appealing a decision, or making a fresh claim then the Home Office should have told you what information it is relying on which makes it a easier to know what you need to challenge or prove.

You can find this in a Home Office refusal letter, or Home Office appeal bundle. If you don’t have these documents, you might be able to request copies by making a subject access request.

There are many reasons why information might not be available about a specific issue. An event may not have been reported, records may not be public, journalists or researchers may not have access to an area, or information may only be available in another language.

If your search is not finding any useful sources, you could try:

• different search terms
• different spellings
• different languages
• academic research e.g. JSTOR, EBSCO or Google scholar
• organisations focused on a specific issue e.g. LGBT rights, children’s rights, healthcare
• reports by local organisations and newspapers – you can search Google News or look on individual websites 
• looking at the references or sources in reports you have already found

If you still can’t find COI then you might need to think about other types of evidence or consider whether you want to request a report about the issues in your specific case.

Country Expert Reports

Sometimes the information you need is not available in published COI. If you feel like you do not have enough information, you can think about seeking help from someone with particular knowledge of the country or issue.

This could mean asking someone to help you by writing a report on a specific issue. You can try contacting asylos to ask if they can provide you with any further information or reports on a certain country or issue. You can also ask a trusted person to help you do some research if you are struggling to do this alone.

You might also think about contacting a country expert. This means someone who is considered an expert on a particular country, or region. Usually they will be a professor or official researcher or advisor, for example for the UN. 

Expert reports can be very expensive – up to several thousand pounds – so it is important to consider whether COIn from an expert will help your case. Sometimes, a country expert might tell you whether or not they will be able to write a report, and whether they think it will be helpful before they ask for a fee. This can be a useful way of deciding whether it is worth spending money on a report.

A country expert report might be less helpful if you already have a lot of reliable COI for your case. If there is no evidence available online, you want to challenge information in a CPIN or the information you have found is not useful for proving your particular case, then a country expert report might be more helpful.

If you want to look for a country expert, you can try searching the ILPA and EIN directory or the Rights in Exile database.

If you decide to pay for an expert report, it might be helpful to do some research about the expert you find. You can search for their name or organisation online and check if there is any information about their qualifications or experience. Try to check that the expert is qualified to comment (like a professor or professional advisor) and unbiased (not a political activist or campaigner) as this means their report is more likely to be accepted.

A report does not have to be very long to be a good report. What matters is whether it is relevant, gives clear sources, explains its evidence and methodology, and is within the expert’s actual area of expertise.

Using AI for country research

AI tools can be useful for helping you think about and organise your research. They can help you generate search terms, explain unfamiliar words, summarise a document you have already found, or suggest questions you might investigate.

An AI tool can give you an answer that sounds confident and convincing, but is wrong. It can also invent reports, quotations, websites or references, including pieces of law or information. It may misunderstand a question, leave out important information, or reproduce biases in the material it was trained on.

AI can be helpful for searching widely, and organising information, but be careful about relying on AI to find information or to write arguments for your case. This does not mean that you can never use AI to help you prepare your case, but it is important to check the information it is giving you by checking the sources.

You can ask an AI tool to suggest:

• alternative search terms
• names of organisations that might research an issue
• different ways a law, group or place might be described
• questions you could investigate

Then you can do the research yourself using the actual sources. You can also ask AI to search for information for you, but you should then check the sources and read what it produces carefully. 

Check every important claim. If AI tells you that a report says something, find the report and check it. If AI gives you a link or citation, check that the source actually exists – sometimes it doesn’t! If it points you towards a particular report, read the original source rather than relying on the AI’s summary.

Try not to rely on an AI summary as a source, or put an AI-generated statement into your evidence just because it sounds like it might be true or helpful.

AI can be unbalanced, focusing on one perspective and leaving out contradictory information. It can rely on information that is not verified or that is uncertain to narrow down a wide issue into a simple summary.

If the AI summary contains a particular paragraph, statistic or quotation that matters to your case, read the original source and use that source directly to write your argument.

Watch out for bias. AI systems learn from large amounts of existing information. That information is not neutral or complete.

Some countries, languages, groups and events are much better represented online than others. Information produced by powerful governments or large organisations may also be much easier for an AI system to find than information produced by smaller local organisations.

An AI answer can therefore give you a distorted picture without making it obvious that anything is missing.

If you decide to use AI, try to be very careful about entering your personal information e.g. about your asylum claim, your family, your immigration history, medical information, addresses, names, personal documents or other identifying information

You do not know what will happen to information you enter into a particular service, so check its privacy terms and your organisation’s policies before using it.

AI tools can also be very helpful for organising information and formatting documents. This is particularly true if you are preparing for an appeal because the court asks for documents to be formatted in a certain way. Using an AI tool to lay out your information clearly could be helpful, but again, be careful about checking the information it produces, and about sharing personal details through any online public tools.

A useful rule is: AI can help you find the door, but you still need to walk through it yourself.

AI can help you generate ideas and navigate research. The COI that you use in your case should be from sources you can check and access directly. 

Key sources of specific information

You can search for the below key sources using google or click on the links in the text. You can also search for each type of information online by putting in the search terms and the name of your country.

Human rights – general

Amnesty International — Country research on human rights violations, political repression, detention, torture, discrimination and freedom of expression. Useful for assessing whether a person may face persecution or serious harm because of their political activity, identity or circumstances.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) — Detailed reporting on human rights abuses, often including specific incidents, affected groups and government practices. Particularly useful for corroborating allegations of persecution, violence, arbitrary detention or discrimination.

Freedom House — Assesses political rights, civil liberties and freedom in countries worldwide. Useful for quickly understanding the broader political environment, including restrictions on political participation, media and civil society.

International Crisis Group (ICG) — Provides analysis of conflicts, political crises and security situations, including their causes and development. Particularly relevant where the asylum claim is connected to armed conflict, political instability or regional violence.

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) — Documents human rights violations and the situation of vulnerable or persecuted groups, often through country and thematic reports. Useful for claims involving state abuses, discrimination and restrictions on civil society.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) — Provides reporting and analysis from conflict-affected and politically sensitive countries, often through local journalists. Useful for information on local events, conflict, political developments and abuses that may not receive wider coverage.

UNHCR Refworld — A major collection of country-of-origin information, including UN reports, legislation, case law and human rights material. Particularly useful when researching a specific asylum claim and for finding authoritative material from multiple sources in one place.

Transparency International — Provides information and assessments on corruption, including corruption within public institutions and government. Relevant where corruption, state failure, bribery or abuse of public authority forms part of the circumstances of a claim.

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) — Provides authoritative UN information on human rights violations, investigations, country situations and the work of human rights mechanisms. Particularly useful for assessing state conduct and serious human rights abuses.

US Department of State – Country Reports on Human Rights Practices — Annual country reports covering areas such as torture, arbitrary detention, political freedoms, discrimination and abuses by state and non-state actors. Useful as a broad country overview and for corroborating specific human rights conditions.

VOA News — International news reporting covering political, social and security developments, including events in countries where access to information may be restricted. Useful for recent events and contextual information, although individual reports should generally be corroborated with specialist sources.

World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) — Focuses on torture, detention, ill-treatment and human rights defenders, often providing information on specific cases and countries. Particularly relevant to claims involving torture, arbitrary detention or mistreatment by state authorities.

COI research and specialist resources

Asylos — Produces detailed, specialist COI research for asylum cases, often addressing specific questions and vulnerable groups. Particularly useful where a case requires targeted research rather than a general country overview.

ARC Foundation — Provides guidance and training on researching and using COI in asylum decision-making. Useful for understanding how to formulate research questions, evaluate sources and identify gaps in the available evidence.

European Country of Origin Information Network— A specialist COI database bringing together reports and information from governments, international organisations, NGOs and other reliable sources. Particularly useful as a starting point for finding country-specific information across a wide range of issues.

Armed forces

War Resisters’ International (WRI) — Provides information on conscription, military service, conscientious objection and treatment of people who refuse military service. Particularly relevant to asylum claims involving draft evasion, desertion or conscientious objection.

Children

Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) — Provides research and reporting on children’s rights, including discrimination, violence, detention and access to justice. Useful where the claim involves risks or rights violations affecting children.

Save the Children — Reports on children’s welfare, protection and humanitarian conditions in countries affected by conflict or poverty. Useful for assessing risks to children, including violence, exploitation and lack of protection.

UNICEF — Provides country-level data and analysis on children’s rights, health, education, protection and living conditions. Particularly useful for assessing the situation of children and access to essential services.

Coram – A library of published work involving Coram. International works around the world to protect and promote children’s and young people’s human rights.

Child labour

International Labour Organisation (ILO) — Provides authoritative information and data on labour conditions, including child labour and national implementation of labour standards. Useful for assessing the prevalence and regulation of child labour.

US Department of Labor – Child Labor — Provides country-specific information on child labour, including sectors affected and government efforts to address it. Particularly useful where a claim involves exploitation or forced/child labour.

Child soldiers

UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict — Provides UN reporting on recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups. Particularly relevant to claims involving child recruitment or risks to children in conflict areas.

Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict — Documents grave violations against children in armed conflict, including recruitment, killing, sexual violence and attacks on schools. Useful for detailed information about risks to children in particular conflicts.

Constitutions and national legislation

International Labour Organisation (ILO) — Provides national labour legislation and information on compliance with international labour standards. Most useful where an asylum claim concerns employment rights, forced labour or discrimination at work.

Law Library of Congress — Provides comparative legal research and country reports on foreign laws and legal systems. Useful for establishing what national law formally provides on a particular issue.

The Constitute Project — Provides access to constitutions from countries around the world in a searchable format. Useful for checking constitutional rights, governmental structures and formal protections.

World Law — Provides access to legal materials from different jurisdictions. Useful for locating national legislation and checking the formal legal position in a country.

Death penalty

Amnesty International – Abolish the Death Penalty — Provides country information on death-penalty laws, executions and developments towards abolition. Relevant where an applicant faces a risk of execution or a death sentence.

Hands Off Cain — Tracks death-penalty laws, executions and abolition developments worldwide. Particularly useful for current information on whether the death penalty is applied in practice.

Reprieve — Focuses on death-penalty cases and other serious human rights issues, including individual cases. Useful where a claim involves a particular individual facing execution or serious state mistreatment.

Ethnic groups and minorities

Ethnologue — Provides information on the world’s languages and the communities that speak them. Useful for establishing linguistic or ethnic identity and the geographic distribution of particular groups.

Minorities at Risk Project — Researches politically significant ethnic and communal groups and the risks they face. Useful for assessing discrimination, political exclusion and conflict involving particular minority groups.

Minority Rights Group International (MRG) — Provides detailed information on minority and indigenous communities and discrimination against them. Particularly useful for claims based on ethnic, religious or linguistic minority status.

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) — Provides information on groups that lack effective representation and may face political or human rights problems. Useful for claims involving stateless, indigenous or politically marginalised communities.

Internally displaced people / humanitarian issues

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) — Provides data and analysis on internal displacement caused by conflict, violence and disasters. Particularly useful for establishing the scale, location and causes of displacement.

ReliefWeb — A UN humanitarian information platform collecting reports and situation updates from humanitarian organisations. Useful for current information on conflict, displacement, food security and humanitarian conditions.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) — Provides authoritative humanitarian situation reports, including information on conflict, displacement, access to services and humanitarian needs. Particularly useful for assessing conditions in specific regions.

Refugees International — Reports on displacement, refugee protection and humanitarian crises. Useful for understanding conditions faced by displaced people and gaps in state or humanitarian protection.

Journalists and media

Article 19 — Focuses on freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information. Particularly relevant where an applicant has been threatened or persecuted because of journalism, speech or activism.

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) — Documents attacks, imprisonment and other abuses against journalists. Useful for establishing risks faced by journalists and media workers in particular countries.

Freedom House — Assesses media and internet freedom alongside broader political rights. Useful for understanding restrictions on independent media, censorship and online expression.

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) — Reports on attacks, harassment, detention and working conditions affecting journalists. Particularly useful for assessing risks to journalists and media professionals.

International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) — Monitors threats to freedom of expression, including censorship, intimidation and attacks on journalists and activists. Useful for specific incidents and broader restrictions on expression.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) — Provides country assessments and information on press freedom, censorship and attacks against journalists. Useful for quickly assessing the overall media environment and risks to journalists.

LGBTQI+

ILGA World (Stonewall)— Provides detailed information on laws, policies and discrimination affecting LGBTI people worldwide. Particularly useful for assessing criminalisation, legal protections and societal discrimination.

Human Dignity Trust – A resource library about Anti-LGBT+ laws across the globe

PinkNews — Provides news and reporting on LGBTI issues, including political and legal developments. Useful for recent events and developments, although specialist or primary sources may be preferable for establishing country conditions.

Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) — Provides comparative information on discriminatory social institutions, including laws and social norms affecting gender and LGBTI-related issues. Useful for understanding structural discrimination.

Rights in Exile – LGBT+ situation by country — Provides country-specific information relevant to LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers. Particularly useful as a focused starting point for identifying relevant risks and sources.

ReportOUT – A human rights organisation documenting the lived experiences of sexual and gender minorities across the globe.

Medical care

World Health Organization (WHO) — Provides country information on health systems, diseases, healthcare access and health infrastructure. Useful for assessing whether necessary medical treatment or healthcare is realistically available.

Africa Health Workforce Observatory — Provides information on health workforces and healthcare capacity in African countries. Particularly useful when assessing the availability and capacity of medical services in specific African states.

Doctors without Borders (MSF) – Provides independent, neutral and impartial information and support. Articles published on many issues and crises across many countries

Medical Justice – Reports that can be useful if you are detained or experienced harm in immigration detention. Based on casework evidence, Medical Justice carries out research and publishes reports to help to bring about policy change and improve healthcare for people in immigration detention. 

Religious freedom

Freedom House — Provides information on political and civil freedoms, including restrictions affecting religious communities. Useful for understanding the broader environment of religious discrimination and state restrictions.

International Institute for Religious Freedom – Provides a comparative framework for viewing a wide range of data from country rankings on issues of freedom of belief or religion.

US Department of State — Provides country-specific reporting on religious freedom, including discrimination, violence and government restrictions. Particularly useful for claims based on religious belief, conversion or membership of a religious minority.

Women

Center for Reproductive Rights — Focuses on laws and policies affecting women’s reproductive rights and access to healthcare. Useful where reproductive rights, abortion, pregnancy or gender-based discrimination are relevant.

International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) — Researches gender inequality, violence against women and women’s social and economic circumstances. Useful for broader evidence on gender-based discrimination and violence.

Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) — Provides comparative data on laws, social norms and discrimination affecting women. Useful for assessing structural gender inequality and discriminatory practices.

UN Women — Provides UN research and country information on gender equality, violence against women, political participation and women’s rights. Particularly useful for authoritative evidence on women’s position and gender-based violence.

UN Commission on the Status of Women — Provides UN material on women’s rights and gender equality. Useful for international assessments of discrimination and measures affecting women.

WHO – Women’s Health — Provides information on women’s health, healthcare access and health risks. Particularly relevant where the claim involves pregnancy, reproductive health or access to medical treatment.

Female genital mutilation (FGM)

Center for Reproductive Rights – FGM: Legal Prohibitions Worldwide — Maps national laws prohibiting FGM and related legal protections. Useful for establishing the formal legal position, while other sources may be needed to assess whether those laws are actually enforced.

FORWARD — Provides specialist information and advocacy on FGM, particularly in relation to African communities and the UK. Useful for understanding prevalence, cultural practices and the experiences of women and girls at risk.

Orchid Project: FGM Research Initiative — Focuses specifically on ending FGM and provides country and thematic information on prevalence, social norms and efforts to eliminate the practice. Particularly useful for assessing the actual prevalence and social context, rather than just what the law says.

Recap: Some final questions to ask yourself

Good country research is not about finding the most information, it is about finding the right information. This means checking it carefully, being able to show where it came from, and why it is important for your case. 

If you have found some COI then you can use this checklist of questions as a guide for checking the information as you prepare your case:

What do I need to prove or challenge? 

You can read other pages in our toolkit to understand different legal tests and processes:

• If you are at the start of an asylum claim
• If you are preparing for an appeal
• If you are making further submissions
• If you are making an immigration application

Does the information help me establish my story or argument?

Is it directly relevant to my case?

Is the information from a reliable source?

• What do I know about the source? What type of source is it? 
• Why did they produce the information?
• How did they find the information? Is it an original source?

Is the information accurate and up-to-date?

Have I understood the information properly?

Have I checked important information against other sources?

If the information is from social media or a less-established source, have I explained why I am relying on it?

Have I highlighted the most relevant information in a report or document, and explained why it is important?

If I used AI:

• have I independently checked the original sources it used?
• have I checked any AI summaries for accuracy?
• have I checked anything written by AI that is being submitted?

Read our evidence Key Guide for information about other types of evidence