Introduction
Please note that the citation format has changed for all current National Documentation Packages. All archived packages are archived in their original formats.
The National Documentation Packages (NDPs) contain a selection of documents on issues that are relevant to the determination of refugee protection claims. They are regularly reviewed and updated according to the information needs of the Refugee Protection Division (RPD). NDPs are intended solely to support the refugee determination process, and should not be construed as necessarily implying recognition of a particular territory's sovereignty or political status.
The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada produces NDPs for every country when there is a claim for refugee protection. The NDP is a compilation of publicly available documents that report on country conditions such as political, social, cultural, economic, and human rights conditions. Each NDP includes full citations to help users locate the documents that are not available on the IRB website. In addition, where possible, links are provided to the documents available on the web site of the organization that published the document.
It is the responsibility of those participating in refugee protection proceedings to go to the IRB website to review the documents in the NDP for the claimant’s home country as the Refugee Protection Division may consider them when deciding the claim. Please note that NDPs are not, and do not purport to be, exhaustive with regard to conditions in the countries surveyed or conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or protection.
It is also the responsibility of those participating in the proceedings to check the IRB website for the newest version of the NDP for the claimant’s home country prior to the hearing.
National Documentation Package Update Cycle
The National Documentation Packages are updated each month according to the published schedule. The updated packages are published on the first business day of the month.
Documents not in the NDP
The RPD may decide to use other documents as well, for example, reports produced by the IRB Research Directorate, media articles or reports from human rights organizations. Copies of any additional documents which the RPD finds useful will be sent to the parties before the hearing.
Disclaimer
National Documentation Packages are prepared by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on the basis of publicly available information, analyses and comments. All sources are fully cited to facilitate location of the source documents. In addition, as a convenience to users, where possible, links are provided to referenced material available through public web sites. Although the IRB will attempt to ensure that these links are maintained for the most recent NDPs, please note that it cannot guarantee or be responsible for:
- the functionality of links to external sources;
- the content accessed by these links;
- the availability of external content in both English and French;
- any other part of a third party Web site.
Report a broken link by copying the non-functioning URL and sending it via email to the Knowledge and Information Management Unit. Please note that when a link does not function, the linked document can often be found on the publishers website by using an Internet search engine to look for the title of the document.
Citation
Given that NDPs are a compilation of sources, external users are requested to reference the underlying source document(s) when citing information contained in the NDP instead of the national documentation package itself.
Do you have a document to suggest?
Documents may be sent via email to NDP-CND.Consultation@irb-cisr.gc.ca at least one month before the published schedule. Submissions should be sent with the URL of the document being proposed for publication and must not be sent in PDF, Word, RTF or other formats. Submissions must comply with the Research Directorate's research methodology and mandate. For example, media reports are not generally included in NDPs and should not be sent. Updates to documents already included in an NDP do not need to be sent in as the Research Directorate systematically searches for these documents prior to updating an NDP. Please note that the Research Directorate reserves the right to include any suggested document. Suggestions, unfortunately, cannot be acknowledged.