COI-Report-Somalia

12 — EASO Country of Origin Information report — South and Central Somalia — Country overview
Introduction
This report was drafted by Country of Origin Information (COI) specialists from the COI units or asylum offices
listed as co‐authors under the Acknowledgements section, together with the European Asylum Support Office
(EASO), according to its mandate. It aims to provide information to support COI researchers, decision makers and
policymakers active in the national procedures for the assessment of asylum applications from Somali nationals.
Methodology
• Defining the terms of reference
On 15 April 2014, a request for input for the terms of reference was sent to COI representatives of all EU+ countries ( 2 )
and UNHCR. On 25 April 2014, during a preparatory meeting, the terms of reference were defined by the writers,
based on the input received from 12 countries plus UNHCR.
Detailed descriptions of the situation in Somaliland and Puntland are excluded from the scope of this report. Both
regions are mentioned in chapters where deemed necessary.
Also excluded are descriptions of the situation of the Somali diaspora or refugees in neighbouring countries. These
topics are very complex, require an exhaustive study of the situation in these countries and do not fall within the
scope of this report.
The armed opposition groups (including Al‐Shabaab) are dealt with in the respective chapters where mentioning
them is relevant (e.g. security situation, human rights situation etc.). The same applies to the African Union Mission
in Somalia (AMISOM), which is also mentioned under security services in the first chapter.
• Collecting information
The report presents information collected between 25 April and 11 June 2014. After this, some additional research
was done in the review phase on selected topics only. A limited number of specialised paper‐based and electronic
sources were consulted within the time frame and the scope of the research. Furthermore, a number of contact
persons were interviewed. For security reasons, not all contacts were named; the choice had to be made between
not interviewing them at all and referring to them as ‘anonymous sources’. Considering the value of the information
provided, the latter approach was preferred.
• Quality control
In order to verify whether the writers respected the EASO COI Report Methodology, a review was carried out by
COI specialists from the countries listed as reviewers in the Acknowledgements section. All comments made by
the reviewers were taken into consideration and most of them were implemented in the final draft of this report.
( 2 ) EU Member States plus Norway and Switzerland.