UNHCR asylum decisions
unhcr_get_asylum_decisionsRead-onlyIdempotent
Get asylum decisions per year (2000 to the latest year) by country of origin and/or asylum: recognized as refugees, complementary protection, rejected, and otherwise closed, with UNHCR's Refugee Recognition Rate and Total Protection Rate computed over substantive decisions (otherwise-closed cases excluded). By default all decision levels are summed and each row lists the levels it includes; appeal-stage decisions can concern people already decided at first instance, so split_by decision_level or filter decision_levels to FI for first-instance rates. Cases and persons are never added together.
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| limit | No | Rows returned inline, 1–500 (default 100). Sorting runs over the full result first; a larger result is staged as a dataframe where dataframes are enabled. | |
| stage | No | Stage the full result as a dataframe even when it fits inline, e.g. to join it with another unhcr_get_* result in unhcr_dataframe_query. Where dataframes are unavailable it is ignored, and the notice says so. | |
| asylum | No | Country of asylum — where people sought or hold protection; for returns, the country they returned from — as ISO3 codes (DEU, TUR), case-insensitive, same rules as origin. At most 50 codes. Omit to sum every asylum country into one row, or set expand to list each. | |
| expand | No | List every country, one row each, for a dimension that origin or asylum leaves unfiltered: origin, asylum, or both. Default none, where an unfiltered dimension is summed into one row. Expanding a dimension that origin or asylum already filters is rejected. | none |
| origin | No | Country of origin — where people fled from — as ISO3 codes (SYR, AFG), case-insensitive. ISO 3166 alpha-2 codes (SY) are rewritten to ISO3 and echoed in applied_scope. UNHCR's own codes (GFR) are rejected with the ISO3 to pass instead, and country names are rejected: resolve a name with unhcr_list_reference (topic countries, name_contains). Each listed code returns its own rows; codes are never summed together. At most 50 codes. Omit to sum every origin into one row, or set expand to list each. | |
| sort_by | No | Order of the full result before the inline cut. year (default) orders by year, then origin ISO3, then asylum ISO3; a count field orders largest first, nulls last. Rates are not sortable, since rates on small rounded counts would crowd the top. | year |
| year_to | No | Last year of the window. When omitted, the window runs to the latest published year (latest_year in the result). A year past the latest published year is clamped to it and the clamp is reported. | |
| split_by | No | Procedure dimensions kept as separate rows: authority (government, UNHCR, or joint) and decision_level (first instance, administrative review, …). Every dimension left out is summed. Default [] sums all authorities and levels, as UNHCR does for its rates. Unit is always kept separate. | |
| year_from | No | First year of the window. When omitted, the window starts at the dataset's first year. A year before the dataset's first year is clamped to it and the clamp is reported; a window entirely outside the dataset's years is rejected. | |
| decision_levels | No | Keep only these decision levels before summing, case-insensitive: NA new applications, FI first instance, AR administrative review, RA repeat/reopened, IN US Citizenship and Immigration Services, EO US Executive Office for Immigration Review, JR judicial review, SP subsidiary protection, FA first instance and appeal, TP temporary protection, TA temporary asylum, BL backlog, TR temporary leave to remain, CA cantonal regulations (Switzerland). ["FI"] gives first-instance decisions. Omit for every level. |
Output Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| cap | No | The limit that was applied. | |
| rows | No | Inline rows, sorted, up to limit. | |
| error | No | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. | |
| shown | No | Rows returned inline. | |
| notice | No | Guidance for this result: empty-result hints, year clamps, where the full set was staged, or how to narrow. | |
| dataset | No | Present when the full result was staged as a dataframe; read its columns with unhcr_dataframe_describe, then query it with unhcr_dataframe_query. | |
| measure | No | stock: people in a situation on 31 December; flow: events during the year. | |
| complete | No | False when the server row cap stopped the upstream fetch; the notice says how many upstream rows were fetched and how to narrow. | |
| truncated | No | True when rows were cut at limit. | |
| data_notes | No | How to read the counts: stock or flow, rounding, the meaning of null, caveats. | |
| total_rows | No | Rows in the full result before the inline cut. When complete is false, the result is built from only the upstream rows fetched before the cap, so rows and summed counts can fall short of the complete result. | |
| attribution | No | Attribution UNHCR requires when these figures are reused. | |
| latest_year | No | Newest year this dataset publishes. | |
| applied_scope | No | The scope actually sent upstream, including clamped years and code rewrites. |