Handbook on Quality in Asylum Decision-Making

These Guidelines were produced as the result of the Pilot Project 7 (PP7) - ‘Quality in Decision-making in the Asylum Process – Continuous Training Using Content of Jurisprudence’ was implemented in the framework of the Prague Process Targeted Initiative (PP TI). The topic of PP7 corresponded to the specific Action 2 of Chapter VI – ‘Strengthening capacities in the area of asylum and international protection’ of the Prague Process Action Plan 2012–2016. The topic was selected based on the answers provided by the Prague Process participating states to the questionnaire in preparation towards the Senior Officials Meeting in Berlin on 28-29 October 2014.

The objectives of PP7 were to focus on quality, to improve decision making in the asylum process and to create a methodology for organizing continuous national trainings. As such, PP7 drew on the previous experiences and results from the Pilot Project 4, ‘Quality and Training in the Asylum Process’, implemented between 2012 and 2014.

The Guidelines aim to assist decision makers and case workers in asylum procedures by giving practical guidance on how to develop continuous training using jurisprudence and multidisciplinary knowledge for training purposes. Meanwhile, the document does not entail detailed information regarding the overall asylum systems of the participating states.

This publication to a great extent builds on the rich experience of the four selected PP7 experts - Judith Gleeson, Gábor Gyulai, Jane Herlihy and Judith Putzer. The Leading States’ experts were Anna Bengtsson, Project leade(Sweden) and Thorsten Schroeder (Germany). The substantial inputs on behalf of the participating states and all other stakeholders engaged in the project (EASO, UNHCR and ECRE), as well as the support of the Prague Process Secretariat within ICMPD, should also be highlighted as key for the successful completion of the document.