Dear FMList subscribers,

I am writing with a request for information on behalf of the Immigration 
and Refugee Board of Canada. Please do feel free to call me should you 
need clarification on the questions below.

The IRB is an independent administrative tribunal responsible for 
refugee protection and immigration appeals in Canada. To function 
effectively, the IRB requires current, reliable and publicly available 
information on claimants’ countries of origin. This need is met by the 
Research Directorate, which provides information to those involved in 
the refugee protection process.

The Research Directorate would appreciate your assistance in obtaining 
answers to the following:

1. Can a village head, or Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member, find a 
Chinese citizen in another district, county or province? If so, can you 
elaborate on how this could be done? Are there certain citizens who 
would be easier to locate than others? Conversely, are there obstacles 
to finding citizens of interest who move to other districts, counties or 
provinces?

I am, unfortunately, working under tight time constraints and would need 
answers to question #1 by the 10th of June 2010.

2. Additionally, can you comment on the capacity of Chinese citizens to 
move without being perceived by authorities, given the need for hukou? 
Under what circumstances can a Chinese citizen obtain legal 
identification if they move to a different region? Can they utilize all 
of the social services in the new region? What happens to their former 
ID documents?

3. Are there reporting procedures between Public Security Bureau (PSB) 
offices in different regions and provinces regarding persons of interest 
in Guangdong, Fujian and Liaoning? Is there a reporting mechanism that 
would enable the PSB in the home region to notify the new region of the 
PSB’s interest? Is the PSB home office notified that a person has moved? 
Is there a PSB national computer network for information sharing?

It would be valuable to receive answers to #2 and #3 by the 18th of June 
2010.

Since, as indicated below, information you provide may be used as 
evidence in refugee protection hearings, we would appreciate it if you 
could indicate your title and briefly describe the activities and 
mandate of your organization. Please also indicate whether the 
information you provide reflects your own viewpoint or the position of 
your organization.

All reports produced by the Research Directorate may be used as 
documentary evidence during refugee protection hearings in Canada, are 
publicly available, and can be accessed on the IRB Internet Website at 
www.irb-cisr.gc.ca. As a matter of practice, the Research Directorate 
does not include the names of sources in its short reports but will cite 
professional titles and the institution with which sources are 
affiliated. If, in the hearing room, the IRB decision-maker requests the 
Research Directorate to name its sources, we will be legally obliged to 
do so. However, refugee protection hearings are closed to the public 
with only the participants at the hearing privy to the evidence and, 
therefore, to the name of the source.

You should also be aware that should a request for leave to appeal a 
decision of the IRB be granted by the Federal Court, the entire record 
of proceedings before the IRB becomes a matter of public record.

Thank you for your assistance in this regard.

Please send replies to: [log in to unmask]

Yours sincerely,

Emily Cameron

Acting Senior Research Officer / Agente principale de recherche par intérim
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Commission de l'immigration et du statut de réfugié du Canada
(613) 996-9792

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Note: The material contained in this communication comes to you from the 
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Online, Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), Oxford Department of International 
Development, University of Oxford. It does not necessarily reflect the 
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