Project duration: April 2021 - March 2022. The next project of this format focusing on statelessness is currently ongoing. 

Through consultations with legal representatives in the UK, we became aware of the absence of relevant Country of Origin Information about persons with disabilities and the simultaneous prevalence of widespread misconceptions about disability issues in the international protection legal sector, which contributed to the rejection of meritorious claims of persons with disabilities. As a consequence, we implemented the following activities: 

1. Produced a country report on the situation of children and young people with disabilities in Nigeria, combining interviews with individuals with authoritative knowledge on the topic alongside excerpts from country information available in the public domain;
2. Developed a principles document to share key research insights 
3. Developed a training handbook and delivered a series of complementary training webinars to guide those conducting Country of Origin Information research on disability related issues.

“Gaining insight into the breadth of issues in asylum claims by people with disabilities or family members with disabilities and breaking down the various aspects of a claim to research [was the most helpful aspect of the training]; the overview of different models of disability and terminology were also very helpful.” - A training participant

We collaborated with Garden Court Chambers' Immigration Team to launch the project through a webinar in February 2022, during which we presented the country report, Nigeria: Children and Young people with disabilities, as well as findings from a rapid review of COI sources. We introduced models and understandings of disability, and our Principles for Conducting COI research on Disability and presented a review of the legal context for international protection claims for persons with disabilities, and what this means for conducting disability-focused COI.

To learn more about key disability research principles, refer to our blog post Five Tips for Disability-Focused COI Research

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Do you have any comments or feedback on our project? We would love to hear it! Send us an email at [email protected].

The project is part of a series of initiatives that address critical gaps in country of origin information. It was made possible with the kind support of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.