Country Conditions Evidence Organizer
When you have collected country-conditions reports, articles and expert material and need them organized by claim element, with pinpoint quotes, before drafting the brief or exhibit index.
Country-conditions evidence often carries the parts of an asylum claim the applicant cannot prove alone: that the persecutor exists and acts as described, that the government will not or cannot protect, and that relocating within the country is not a safe answer. Attorneys gather dozens of reports and articles, and the hard work is finding the specific passages that match the client's facts and organizing them so the adjudicator can find them too.
This prompt works only from sources you paste, each in a tag with its title, author and date. It sorts quoted excerpts under the elements of the claim (protected ground, the persecutor, failure of state protection and internal relocation) with a page cite, a one-line relevance note and a strength rating. It also flags sources that may be dated, quotes in full any passage that cuts against the claim, and lists elements that need more support.
Because Claude is limited to the supplied sources, the organizer's quality depends on what you gather. Verify every quote and page number against the original, and confirm that sources are current enough for your forum. Which elements must be proved, and how, depends on the applicable law, which the attorney must research and cite; the element headings are an organizing frame, not a statement of the legal standard.
The Prompt
I represent an asylum applicant from [COUNTRY]. The claim: [ONE-PARAGRAPH SUMMARY, INCLUDING PROTECTED GROUND(S), THE PERSECUTOR, AND WHERE THE HARM OCCURRED]. I have gathered the country-conditions sources below. Use only these sources; do not add outside information. <source id="1" title="[TITLE]" author="[ISSUING BODY OR AUTHOR]" date="[PUBLICATION DATE]"> [PASTE TEXT WITH PAGE NUMBERS PRESERVED] </source> <source id="2" title="[TITLE]" author="[ISSUING BODY OR AUTHOR]" date="[PUBLICATION DATE]"> [PASTE TEXT] </source> [ADD MORE SOURCES AS NEEDED] Organize the evidence by these elements: A. Protected ground: treatment of [GROUP / POLITICAL OPINION / RELIGION / ETC.] B. The persecutor: who [PERSECUTOR] is, what it does, its reach C. Government unwillingness or inability to protect (if the persecutor is not the government): police response, corruption, impunity, legal framework in practice D. Internal relocation: whether the persecutor can reach the applicant elsewhere in the country, and conditions in other regions E. Other: [ANY ADDITIONAL ELEMENT, e.g., particular social group definition, nexus] For each element, output entries in this form: - Excerpt: exact quote - Source: id, title, page - Relevance: one line tying it to the client's facts - Strength: Strong / Moderate / Weak Then flag: 1. Sources more than [NUMBER] years old or describing conditions that may have changed 2. Any excerpt that cuts against the claim (for example, describing improvements, effective protection, or safe regions), quoted in full 3. Elements with thin or no support, and the type of source that would fill the gap Do not paraphrase in the excerpt field. If a page number is missing, say so. This is a draft for my review; I will verify every quote against the source before filing.
Example Output
Element-by-element excerpt lists with source and page, strength ratings, a flagged list of dated or adverse material, and a gap list for thinly supported elements.
Illustrative example — names, figures, and facts are fictional.
COUNTRY CONDITIONS EVIDENCE BY ELEMENT Applicant: "A.T." (fictional) | Country: [COUNTRY] | Persecutor: regional armed group "Frente Sur" (fictional) C. GOVERNMENT UNWILLINGNESS OR INABILITY TO PROTECT - Excerpt: "Local police in the southern provinces rarely investigate complaints against armed groups, and several officers have been reported to share information with them." Source: 2, Regional Human Rights Monitor Annual Report, p. 14 Relevance: Client reported to local police in a southern province; no follow-up. Strength: Strong - Excerpt: "The national government created a special prosecutor's office for organized crime in 2019." Source: 3, Policy Institute brief, p. 2 Relevance: Government may cite this as protective effort. Strength: (adverse, see flags) D. INTERNAL RELOCATION - Excerpt: "Frente Sur maintains informant networks in at least four major cities outside the south." Source: 1, Journalist Network investigation, p. 7 Relevance: Client's persecutor may reach the capital. Strength: Moderate (does not name the capital) FLAGS 1. Dated: Source 4 (published 2017) predates the group's reported expansion. 2. Adverse: Source 3, p. 2, quoted above; Source 3, p. 5: "Homicide rates in the capital have declined for three consecutive years." Plan a response. 3. Thin support: Element A has one general excerpt on treatment of community organizers. Look for reports specific to organizers targeted by armed groups. 4. Missing page numbers: Source 5 pasted without pagination. Draft for attorney review. Verify every quote against the source before filing.
Tips
- •Preserve page numbers when you paste sources; pinpoint cites are what make the organized evidence usable in a brief.
- •Include the publication date in each source tag so Claude can flag material that may be out of date.
- •Read the adverse-excerpt list carefully and plan how to address it; the government may rely on the same reports.
- •Run the gap list into your research plan, and add new sources in a second pass rather than letting Claude fill gaps from memory.
- •Any foreign-language source you file will need a complete English translation with a translator's certification; confirm the filing requirements under [APPLICABLE RULE / PRACTICE MANUAL] for your forum.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not let Claude find country-conditions sources itself?
Because you must be able to cite and file every source, and AI models can misremember reports, attribute quotes to the wrong document or describe outdated conditions. Limiting Claude to sources you supply keeps every excerpt traceable. Use your own research to gather material, then use this prompt to organize it. Fill gaps with new sources you locate and verify.
Are the element headings the legal test I must meet?
They are an organizing frame drawn from the elements typically at issue in asylum claims, not a statement of the controlling law. The precise standard, including burdens on internal relocation, depends on the applicable statute, regulations and case law in your forum. Research and cite those yourself, and adjust the headings to match.
What should I do with adverse excerpts?
Read them in context and plan a response, because the government may rely on the same reports. Often an adverse passage is general while your client's situation is specific, or it describes a policy that is not enforced in practice. Address significant adverse material directly in the brief rather than ignoring it.
How many sources can I paste at once?
Long reports work better trimmed to the relevant chapters with page numbers preserved. If you have many sources, run them in batches by element or by source, then ask Claude to merge the results. Keep each source in its own tag with its metadata so attribution survives the merge.
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