Project duration: May 2022 - October 2023

In the first quarter of 2022, we conducted in-depth consultations with a range of stakeholders from those with lived experience of statelessness, to academics, lawyers and NGOs with expertise on statelessness. These consultations provided invaluable insight, helping us to identify information gaps and inadequacies in the available COI on statelessness. 

To supplement the consultations: 

• We also conducted a (unpublished) rapid desk review of literature on statelessness, and a review of which Home Office, Country Policy and Information Notes (CPINs) address statelessness.
• Through the consultations, we sought to identify a research focus that could serve as a ‘case-study’, that provides relevant and up to date COI on a particular group of stateless persons, but also creates the opportunity to distil broadly applicable best practice principles when conducting COI research on the issue of statelessness.

In response to the issues raised through these consultations and thanks to funding from Trust for London, Asylos developed a project to address information gaps about stateless persons who are seeking international protection, focusing initially on Stateless Palestinians in Lebanon as a case-study. 

As a consequence, we implemented the following activities: 

1. Produced a country report on the situation of stateless Palestinians in Lebanon, 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. UPDATE: We have now concluded our series of complementary training workshops co-delivered with Asylum Aid on Statelessness-focused Country of Origin Information (COI), and pleased to share our latest training handbook.

On 6th March, we launched the project with a roundtable event, where we presented the publications, our Country of Origin Information report Lebanon: Stateless Palestinians and Principles Document. We discussed the main findings on the situation of stateless Palestinians in Lebanon, and reflected on our Principles for conducting COI research on Statelessness. We also reviewed the legal background of claims for international protection and stateless status in the UK, and discussed what this means for conducting statelessness-focused COI.

"COI can help rebut the narrative by situating a person’s account in a factual context of what actually happens in a country concerned and therefore really help practitioners who are representing a stateless person to establish that their account is credible." - David Neale, Legal Researcher at Garden Court Chambers

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 Trust for London.