EASO COI Report. Country Focus

English

In a ‘Country Focus’ report, EASO aims to provide information focusing on ‘selected topics’ of particular relevance for international protection status determination (Refugee Status and Subsidiary Protection) for Gambian applicants. It is not meant to be a general description of the human rights situation in the country, nor a comprehensive overview of all topics at stake in international protection status determination.

This country focus is largely based on academic publications relating to The Gambia. Research work from various fields such as anthropology and politics, as well as handbooks and overviews, are the most important sources of information for the General information and State structure and politics sections.

The drafting of this report was finalised in 27 July 2017. Any event taking place after this date is not included in this report. The exceptions to this cut-off date were made during the peer-reviewing process completed on 30 November 2017, and are clearly identified in Bibliography.

This report was drafted by the Country of Origin Information (COI) unit of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM, Switzerland) and provides a summary of the SEM’s findings on selected topics regarding The Gambia.

The following national asylum and migration departments have reviewed the report:

Belgium, Cedoca - Documentation and Research centre, Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless persons

Norway - Landinfo

The Netherlands – Office for Country Information and Language Analysis, Immigration and Naturalisation Service

 

David Perfect, Visiting Professor at the University of Chester-UK, researcher on The Gambia’s politics and history since the 1980s, and author of numerous publications on the country -, reviewed this report.

This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology.

Policy

The policy implemented by the Commissioner General is based on a thorough analysis of accurate and up-to-date information on the general situation in the country of origin. This information is collated in a professional manner from various, objective sources, including the EASO, the UNHCR, relevant international human rights organisations, non-governmental organisations, professional literature and coverage in the media. When determining policy, the Commissioner General does not only examine the COI Focuses written by Cedoca and published on this website, as these deal with just one aspect of the general situation in the country of origin. The fact that a COI Focus could be out-of-date does not mean that the policy that is being implemented by the Commissioner General is no longer up-to-date.

When assessing an application for asylum, the Commissioner General not only considers the actual situation in the country of origin at the moment of decision-making, he also takes into account the individual situation and personal circumstances of the applicant for international protection. Every asylum application is examined individually. An applicant must comprehensively demonstrate that he has a well-founded fear of persecution or that there is a clear personal risk of serious harm. He cannot, therefore, simply refer back to the general conditions in his country, but must also present concrete, credible and personal facts.

There is no policy paper for this country available on the website.

Land: 
The Gambia

Information about the asylum procedure, tailored to the asylum seeker, can be found at : asyluminbelgium.be.