In line with UNHCR's supervisory role (as set out in Article 35 of the 1951 Convention), the previous UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, during his visit to the UK in October 2003, offered UNHCR's expertise to work with the Home Office on improving the quality of first instance asylum decision-making. Following this offer, and further discussions with the Home Office exploring how best to structure and implement a UNHCR contribution, the Quality Initiative project was established.

The Quality Initiative project ran from 2004 to 2009 and aimed to positively influence the quality of first instance decision-making and related asylum procedures in the UK and more specifically, in the UK Border Agency (UKBA) - the agency responsible for this area of work.  UNHCR’s contribution has always intended to be complementary to other mechanisms that ensure due process and fairness in asylum procedures.

Over the course of the project, six reports setting out UNHCR’s findings under the remit of the project and detailing specific recommendations were supplied to the Minister for Borders and Immigration on a confidential basis. Findings highlighted a number of causes for concern, focusing in particular on the application of the refugee definition, the approach to establishing the facts ("credibility") and the conduct of interviews. Recommendations covered areas including child asylum cases, the detained fast-track (DFT), recruitment, training & accreditation, identification and management of stress, interviews, use of interpreters, provision of COI and guidance, targets, assessment and monitoring of decisions and interviews.

The Minister has published the six UNHCR reports on the Quality Initiative project.  Our own key findings and observations can be found below:

Key Observations and Recommendations: Report 1

Key Observations and Recommendations: Report 2

Key Observations and Recommendations: Report 3

Key Observations and Recommendations: Report 4

Key Observations and Recommendations: Report 5

Key Observations and Recommendations: Report 6

As of 2010, UNHCR continues to work with the UKBA to implement recommendations stemming from collaborative work under the Quality Initiative.  Recognising the UKBA's significant progress in developing the area of Quality Assurance in asylum, the project has now moved into a phase of supporting the UKBA's continued development and integration of quality assurance mechanisms into the various areas of the Agency's work that go towards addressing international protection concerns.  This new phase and the related joint project between the UNHCR and UKBA is known as the Quality Integration project.

Key Observations and Recommendations: First report of the Quality Integration project

For more information about UNHCR's Quality Initiative and Integration projects please contact us