Experts on countries of origin by country

Dr Sara Arapiles is a Postdoctoral Fellow in international human rights law and refugee law at the Faculty of Law of Lund University. She completed her PhD research on ‘Slavery in Refugee Status Determination Procedures in Europe: A Comparative Socio-Legal Study of Approaches to Eritrean Protection Claims’ at the University of Nottingham. Dr Arapiles has extensive knowledge of and experience in researching and writing about refugee rights, with an emphasis on the human rights situation in Eritrea and matters relating to the persecution of Eritreans and their international protection needs. She is also engaged with exiled Eritrean human rights organisations and supports their capacity building. Dr Arapiles earned her PhD and MA in Socio-Legal Studies from the University of Nottingham, her LLM in International and European Law from the Institute for European Studies of the Free University of Brussels, and her Law Degree from the University of Salamanca, and is a member of the Spanish Bar Association.

Dr. Ashforth is currently Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan, having previously held teaching and research posts at, amongst other places, Northwestern University, City University of New York, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In 2019 he was appointed the Nelson Mandela Visiting Professor in the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa.

Dr. Ashforth holds the degrees of Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy in Politics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar (Australia-at-Large, 1979). Since 1981 he has conducted extensive research in South Africa, as well as in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. His primary research field has been South Africa, where he has conducted extensive research into issues of insecurity in everyday life contexts. In the 1990s, Dr. Ashforth conducted many years of ethnographic fieldwork in the black township of Soweto studying the social dynamics of the transition to democracy. He has published four books, three on South Africa and one on Malawi. In 2005 my book Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa won the Herskovits Prize for the best book on Africa published in that year… Read more

The expert is an analyst specializing in public affairs and political risk, currently working as a consultant in Mexico City. With a proven track record in anticipating policy developments, they design advocacy strategies for foreign embassies and develop risk scenarios for private sector clients. Their previous experience includes roles as Director of Political Risk Analysis at Integralia Consultores and Associate Director at Control Risks, where they produced influential reports and high-level speeches. The expert holds an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and has contributed to various reputable publications. Known for their insightful analyses of Mexico's political and security landscape, they are a respected voice in the field.

Salih Tarhan has ten years of experience in criminal law, with a focus on European Court of Human Rights practices. He earned his LLM in U.S. Legal Studies from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has worked on both affirmative and defensive asylum cases. Currently, he is involved in legal tech projects that automate the filling out of governmental forms and the authentication of documents.

Mr. Bahiss is a senior analyst with International Crisis Group’s Asia Program. He specialises on armed groups, security and governance in Afghanistan, and his work has been published by various international media and research organisations. 

Harina is an accomplished lawyer with an LL.M. in Criminal Law, graduating with first-class honours. Her academic journey includes a distinguished dissertation exploring the socio-legal dimensions of live-in relationships in India. With a strong foundation in law and a keen interest in addressing socio-legal complexities, Harina has built a diverse and impactful legal career.

Her professional experience spans multiple areas of law, including Indian Family Law and Society, Civil and Criminal Laws, Child Custody and Abduction, Indian Citizenship and Nationality Laws, and Indian Employment Law, among various others. She has worked on a diverse array of legal matters, showcasing her expertise in drafting legal documents, including agreements, employment contracts, and mandates, with a strong emphasis on ensuring compliance with applicable laws and addressing client-specific requirements. She also provided comprehensive legal opinions on a wide range of matters involving Indian Family Law, Contract Law, Indian Employment Law(s), etc., to foreign missions in India.  

Harina further prepared detailed Expert Reports and Expert Witness Statements on Indian law and Society, which were submitted in foreign courts that addressed… Read more

Dr. Baird is a Professor of Geography and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also the coordinator of the Hmong Studies Consortium at UW-Madison, and the PI for the Lao American Archive Project at UW-Madison. Dr Baird was previously the Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UW-Madison, and remains on the Center's Steering Committee. He is also affiliated with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW-Madison.

Dr. Baird has been living, working and conducting research in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia since the late 1980s. He’s lived in Laos for 15 years, and in Thailand for 10 years. He remains active in conducting research in all three countries. Dr. Baird’s areas of interest include, but are not limited to, environmental issues, Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities, politics, development studies, marginalization, poverty, cross-border issues, insurgency, social services, and immigration.

Vast experience of civil and criminal expert reports in addition to reports for immigration proceedings: frequently involved in cases where the internal dynamics of unfamiliar family structures are the central source of contention and/or confusion

Ibrahim Bangura has worked extensively in the fields of Transitional Justice, Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants, Security Sector Reform, Sustainable Livelihoods, Gender and Conflict Resolution in Africa.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History and a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from University of Sierra Leone; another Master’s degree in International Development Studies from the University of Amsterdam; and a Doctorate degree in Economics from the Leipzig Graduate School of Management in Germany.

He currently lectures at the Peace and Conflict Studies Programme, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, and he is also a senior partner at Transition International, a consultancy firm based in the Netherlands.

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

Writer on Pakistan with world-respected knowledge of the country's militants, military, intelligence services, ethnic groups and political parties, including the MQM. He has worked for the BBC and was a visiting Professor at Princeton University and USC

The Expert is a Full Professor of Social and Political Anthropology at the University of Konstanz in Germany.

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.

Professor of International Studies at the University of Leeds with extensive knowledge of the human rights situation and asylum matters relating to political persecution and trafficking. Particular experience and expertise in relation to Vietnamese refugees (political activists, victims of trafficking and persons persecuted for religious activities, Chinese asylum seekers (adherents of persecuted religious groups, political activists and victims of trafficking), and applicants from Pakistan (applicants facing threats in relation to family honour,  issues relating to the blasphemy laws, sexual orientation, applicants facing threats from terrorists and due to their political activities such as members of the UKPNP). I am acknowledged as a leading expert on the Korean peninsula (North Korea and South Korea).  I also have considerable expertise in matters relating to asylum seekers from Iraq and Iran in relation to family honour, political activism and religious persecution. Among numerous publications, reference can be made to the book Security, Culture and Human Rights in South Asia and the Middle East, Global Research Publications 2019, a guide for country experts on the regions.

Jelke Boesten is an interdisciplinary social scientist trained as a historian. She has 25 years of research experience in Peru, focusing on gender-based violence, women and the state/state policy, conflict-related sexual violence, and the internal armed conflict of the 1980s and 1990s.

I am a Latin Americanist geographer and an expert on Honduras, where I have lived and worked off and on since 1991. My PhD is from Louisiana State University (2001), Master's from University of Texas, and B.A. from Penn State. I have taught in several universities in the US and China, and am currently an independent consultant. I am an an author on over 50 professional publications and have given around 100 presentations, many related to Honduras. My main contributions to the academic literature include the historical and spatial dimensions of land- and identity-based conflicts in Honduras, relationships between people and the environment (particularly ethno-ornithology and ethnobotany), and the development of theory for applying the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari to research in the social sciences. In addition to publishing, I consult to community groups in Honduras and Mexico on a range of topics related to environmental and social struggles.

I have served as a country of origin expert for Honduras since 2001 in a total of 13 cases, for all of which I have prepared reports based on original ethnographic research. All of the cases I have worked on involved Hondurans in the US seeking asylum, withholding of removal, or relief under the Convention Against Torture.… Read more

Rose (Rosabelle) Boswell is an anthropologist. From 2021 she has served as the South African Research Chair in Ocean Cultures and Heritage. She has an MA Anthropology from the University of Cape Town and a PhD from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. She is author of several books and anthologies. She has conducted anthropological research in Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles, Zanzibar, South Africa, Kenya and Namibia. Since 2008, she has assisted in immigration asylum cases by drafting Country of Origin expert reports. She is currently writing a new book entitled Humanizing the Blue Era in Africa. She also conceived a science-to-business project to mainstream cultural heritage in ocean management, called The Blue Values Journey Project. Her research tackles a diversity of issues (i.e., inequality, gender discrimination, race, socioeconomic change) arising from the emerging social worlds of southern Africa and the southwest Indian Ocean.