EASO Country of Origin Information Report. Recruitement by armed groups

English

This report is an update of the European Asylum Support Office’s (EASO) COI report “Afghanistan, Taliban strategies, recruitment”, first published in 2012.

The report was co-drafted by an Afghanistan expert from Cedoca, the Centre for Documentation and Research of the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS), and by EASO. Prior to publication, this report was submitted for review to the COI units of the asylum departments of Hungary and Sweden and to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). A quality review was carried out by Kate Clark from the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), an independent non-profit policy research organisation. All comments made by the reviewers were taken into consideration and most of them were implemented in the final draft of this report.

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

It presents information on the situation until 19 August 2016. The information is a result of desk research of public, specialised paper-based and electronic sources. In addition, the Cedoca researcher conducted interviews with several experts on Afghanistan.

The report aims to provide information which is relevant for international protection status determination (refugee status and subsidiary protection).

It is composed of five parts:

  • Taliban organisation and modus operandi
  • Islamic State in Khorasan
  • Hezb-e Islami/Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
  • Pro-government militias
  • Child recruitment

Policy

The general security situation in Afghanistan is largely determined by a long-term, ongoing, internal armed conflict which has resulted in many Afghans being uprooted or seeking refuge in another country. In order to assess the need for international protection, the Commissioner General takes into account the fact that there are fundamental differences between the regions of Afghanistan when it comes to the security situation, the nature and intensity of the violence.

Land: 
Afghanistan

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