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Experts on countries of origin by country

Aguilar, Professor M.I.

Expertise on religion and politics in a number of African, Asian and Latin American countries - and in a number of languages. Current research includes China (Tibet), Chile, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Argentina, DRC, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe; Libya and Syria

Occupation: Chair in Religion and Politics & Director, Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics (CSRP), University of St. Andrews
Countries of expertise: Brazil, Burundi, China, Colombia, Cote d`Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Ahmed, Omer

Omer is a Somali speaking solicitor (presently non-practicing), with expertise on all aspects of irregular migration from Africa and Yemen. He is based in the region with offices in the UK, and with extensive experience of delivering clear concise and cogent subject matter expertise to UK courts.

Occupation: Lawyer
Countries of expertise: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen

Allo, Dr. Awol

Dr. Allo is a senior legal scholar specializing in human rights, political repression, conflict sensitivity, social movements, political parties, post-conflict reconstruction, peace-building, and transitional justice. A native of the Horn of Africa, Dr. Allo possesses extensive knowledge and experience in the region.

Over the past five years, Dr. Allo has been commissioned by law firms, public bodies, and NGOs to prepare country expert reports on various issues, including political repression, political parties, social movements, protests, nationality laws, healthcare provisions, national service, trafficking, and other cultural and social matters.

Dr. Allo has authored over 100 country expert reports for solicitors and attorneys in the UK, USA, and Europe.

Occupation: Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Sheffield.
Countries of expertise: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan

Anyangwe, Carlson

Occupation: Professor emeritus of Law, former Rector of Walter Sisulu University, and COI expert
Countries of expertise: Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan

Bekalo (MEd, PhD), Dr Samuel Ayele

Freelance Horn of Africa advisor/consultant.  Produced over 100 country reports (on Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, The Sudan) for various organisations and legal firms.

Occupation: Freelance Horn of Africa Countries Advisor / Consultant
Countries of expertise: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, United Kingdom

Birchall, John

The Expert reads all relevant papers relating to a client free of charge and produces a short report on the case details. He relates these to the evidence already given and how he considers the subsequent hearing will be influenced by these. He rejects requests, if he feels there is very little chance of the client being offered permission to remain. He accepts payment in instalments.

Occupation: Lecturer in Development Economics
Countries of expertise: Cameroon, Congo (Republic of), Cote d`Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Cameron, Dr Hazel

Dr Hazel CameronExperienced expert witness and author of country reports for courts and tribunals nationally and internationally.Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Africa, BotswanaArbitrary Arrest And Detention; Child Trafficking; Country Case Law; Criminal Justice System; Criminal Justice System; Domestic Violence, Forced Marriage; Economy; Education; Employment; Ethnic Groups; Food Security Identification On Return; Gender Based Violence; Gender Based Violence; Gross Violations Of Human Rights Perpetrated By State Security Forces; Health Care; Health Insurance; Housing; Human Trafficking; Internal Relocation; LGBTIQ+; Mental Health Services; Opposition Politics And Election Violence; Organ Trafficking; Policing; Political Violence; Prison Conditions; Rape; Risks Of Re-Trafficking; Social Groups; State Sponsored Violence; Sufficiency Of Protection; Torture And Sexual Violence; Trafficking For Ransom; Trafficking Routes; Witness Protection; Risks On Return.RwandaLGBTIQ+; Human Trafficking; Organ Trafficking; Risks of Re-Trafficking; Sufficiency of Protection; Trafficking for Ransom; Trafficking Routes.Africa Human Trafficking; Organ Trafficking; Risks of Re-Trafficking; Sufficiency of Protection; Trafficking for Ransom; Trafficking Routes.
Occupation: Academic Consultant
Countries of expertise: Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo (Republic of), Cote d`Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Carruth, Lauren

The Expert is an Assistant Professor at the School of International Service at American University who provides testimony regularly on country conditions in the Horn of Africa. She is a medical anthropologist, gender specialist, and migration specialist with expertise in Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Haiti.

Occupation: Associate Professor, School of International Service, American
University
Countries of expertise: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Haiti, Somalia

Chaudhary, Dr. Nishu

The Expert is a Sub-Saharan Africa specialist with extensive experience in Country Operations Management, Resource Mobilization, Business Development, Communications and Advocacy across multiple countries with leading international NGOs.

Occupation: The Expert is a Sub-Saharan Africa specialist with extensive experience in Country Operations Management, Resource Mobilization, Business Development, Communications and Advocacy across multiple countries with leading international NGOs. She holds a Ph.D. in Grief Counseling, American International Theism University, Florida, The United States (2020- 2023).
Countries of expertise: Djibouti, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia

Christian, Dr. Patrick James

The Expert is a psychoanalytical anthropologist of violent ethnic & cultural conflict in Eurasia, South Asia, Middle East, Central and South America, West Africa, North Africa and the Horn of Africa with experience working in military, diplomatic, and humanitarian interventions in intra-state violent conflicts.

Occupation: Psychoanalytical Anthropologist
Countries of expertise: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Colombia, Djibouti, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Western Sahara, Yemen

Dupuy, Kendra

The Expert is a social science researcher and Assistant Professor of African politics. She has expertise with quantitative & qualitative research on energy, climate change, environment, natural resource management, democracy, human rights, civil society, education, and forced migration. She is a certified project manager, technical writer, and program & project evaluator. She has has deep expertise in the African region and specifically on countries in West Africa, East Africa, southern Africa, and the DR Congo.

Occupation: Senior Researcher and Assistant Professor
Countries of expertise: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo (Republic of), Cote d`Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Norway, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, United States of America, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Imam, Amna

Dr Imam brings more than two decades of experience in mixed methods international social science practice, research, and teaching around the world, focusing on East and West Africa, South Asia, USA, and Central Asia. Her interests involve research, development, and instruction on advanced issues of human rights, international conventions on human, civil, and political rights, and against torture; police service, judicial and quasi-judicial institutions, and persecution; grievance redressal arrangements; gender analysis, gender equality, gender-based violence, forced marriages, and sexual abuse; child abuse, child marriages, and violence against children; climate-related issues; and more. She has written books and scholarly articles about public administration, employing quantitative data and qualitative streams of historical changes in socioeconomic, judicial, political, and administrative institutions.

Her work employs innovative research methodologies, focusing on getting to the crux of socio-cultural and institutional situations to deliver efficient solutions that take into account complex dynamics involving human rights, child rights, gender equality, sustainability, and other such standards, in diverse socio-political contexts.

Occupation:
Countries of expertise: Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, Uganda, United States of America

Iwilade, Dr Akin

Lecturer in African Studies at the University of Edinburgh with extensive experience researching and writing about violent social groups and discrimination in selected African countries.  

Occupation: Lecturer in African Studies, University of Edinburgh; Editorial Board Member of Critical African Studies, Review of African Political Economy and Canadian Journal of African Studies; Book Reviews Editor African Affairs
Countries of expertise: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Reed, Christian

The Expert is a Medical Anthropologist and Epidemiologist who specializes in sub-Saharan and East Africa. He has extensive research experience in Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia and speaks Portuguese, Swahili, Lunda-Ndembu, and Bemba. His single-authored book "Landscapes of Activism" pertains to pharmaceutical treatment access and HIV/AIDS activism with the matrilineal and Muslim tribes of northern Mozambique. He specializes in the social ramifications of infectious and communicable disease and rural and urban global health. Christian also studies religion with interests in traditional religion and healing, Pentecostalism, Catholicism, Santaria, Voodoo, and spirit possession.

Occupation: Medical Anthropologist
Countries of expertise: Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Malawi, Mozambique, Portugal, South Africa, Tanzania, United States of America, Zambia

Seddon, Dr John David

Dr David Seddon is a social scientist with more than 40 years experience in Africa and the Middle East, and Nepal, who has produced around 500 country expert witness reports 

Occupation: Consultant
Countries of expertise: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nepal, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Senegal, Western Sahara

Smith, Lahra

The Expert is an Associate Professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of Government at Georgetown University and the Director of the African Studies Program. She is a Political Scientist with a particular interest in citizenship, migration and political development in Africa. She is the author of Making Citizens in Africa: Ethnicity, Gender and National Identity in Ethiopia (Cambridge University Press, 2013), and her other publications have focused on the role of political institutions in addressing conflict based largely on ethnic and language identities.

Occupation: Associate Professor, African Studies, Georgetown University
Countries of expertise: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Tesfaye, Yihenew

Yihenew Alemu Tesfaye holds a PhD in Applied Anthropology, specialization in Medical Anthropology, from Oregon State University, USA. Since 2019, Yihenew has been working as a visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Gondar (UoG) and Bahir Dar University (BDU), Ethiopia. From 2022 to 2024, Yihenew worked as Professor of Anthropology in the U.S. Ambassador’s Distinguished Scholars Program (ADSP) in Ethiopia based at BDU and Dire Dawa University (DDU). For the last fifteen years Yihenew has been engaged in several multidisciplinary research projects including bio-cultural and medical anthropology, public health, water satiation and hygiene (WASH), food and water insecurity, community health workers, and inter-communal conflicts in Ethiopia and Kenya. Yihenew co-authored well over twenty-five journal articles and two book chapters. Yihenew’s research interests include anthropology, public health, inter-communal conflicts, implementation science, social determinants of health, maternal and child health, food and water insecurity, community health workers, political economy, political ecology, sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia and Kenya) and the USA.   

Occupation:
Countries of expertise: Ethiopia