CELIA – Common European Language Indication and Analysis

Language analyses are used in the asylum procedure to investigate the origin claimed by asylum seekers. The EU project CELIA aspires innovation and optimisation of language analysis methods so that authorities of the EU+ countries (the 27 countries of the EU plus Norway and Switzerland) can use them more often and more effectively in migration procedures. In the ongoing first phase (1 January 2024 to 31 December 2027 inclusive), the development of methods is at the forefront.

Why the CELIA project?

It will benefit Europe to be able to use available instruments – such as language analysis – uniformly as much as possible, also at Europe’s external borders. Migration authorities are spending a lot of time and energy on investigating asylum seekers’ identities and countries of origin. Innovation and optimisation of language analysis methods can improve and accelerate the identification process.

What does CELIA do?

The project focuses on:
1. development of new language analysis methods using artificial intelligence, observing the AI Act;
2. optimisation and standardisation of language analyses by human experts.

In addition, work is being done to prepare for implementation in the migration procedure in the Netherlands, and subsequently in other EU+ countries.

What is the eventual objective of CELIA?

The objective of CELIA is to be able to offer reliable and validated language analysis methods to migration authorities within the EU. The methodological development and validation takes place in cooperation with external experts and is being recorded meticulously.

CELIA must make it possible to use combinations of different language analysis methods to support the assessment of asylum applications. A fast-track indication of an asylum seeker’s language variant (by a human and/or machine) can, for example, be carried out on a large scale. Where necessary, it can be followed up by a full-track analysis by an expert.

What is being done to achieve the objective?

• Methodological development through innovation: development and validation of automatic and semi-automatic language indications for Arabic language variants
• Optimisation of existing human language analysis methods: further development of existing standards, and training and information material
• Certification of language experts: standardisation of the selection and training procedure for human language analysts, including peer review by external language experts
• Preconditions for European roll-out: preparations for application in other EU+ countries

Sources of knowledge

• Years of experience in carrying out language analyses in the asylum procedure
• Contact with other language analysis agencies across the globe
• Contact with migration authorities and EUAA (European Union Agency for Asylum)
• Academic research in the field of automatic dialect recognition
• Network of experts and forensic speech investigators
• Standards applicable to forensic expert evidence

Would you like to find out more about the project or get in touch with the CELIA project group within the IND? Then send us a message at celia@ind.nl.