CORI report outdated and no basis for Guidelines
The country report on Sri Lanka produced by UK based research
organization Country of Origin Research and Information (CORI) in April
this year is outdated and should not be used as a basis for designing
the guidelines for determining the status of Sri Lankan refugees, UNHCR
Colombo Head has informed UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.
This was revealed when the reply of External Affairs Minister to a
question asked by Rajiva Wijesinha MP on the CORI Report was tabled in
Parliament yesterday. The report was a sequel to CORI being commissioned
by the UNHCR to produce a report on Sri Lanka. The Country
Representative of the UNHCR has also informed the Government that such
reports are not, and do not purport to be, either exhaustive with regard
to conditions in the country surveyed, or conclusive as to the merits of
any particular claim to refugee status of asylum.
The external Affairs Minister has also said that 'no officials of
CORI visited Sri Lanka to conduct research for the report.
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