Experts on countries of origin by country

Expert Witness skilled in advising the courts on cases involving Sri Lankan, Pakistan and the Maldive Islands asylum seekers.

The Expert is an analyst and researcher based in Istanbul since 1989. His special areas of interest are leftist, Kurdish and Islamist movements and organizations, religious and ethnic minorities, rightist organizations, political Islam, human rights, security issues and civil-military relations.

The Expert (PhD) is Full Professor of Social and Political Anthropology at the University of Bologna. Member of the Italian Ethnological Mission in Equatorial Africa, since 2001 he has carried out a field research on youth and war, childhood crisis, informal economies and the frontier in North Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo). He is currently carrying on a research on Eritrean refugees in Kampala and on the conflict between central government and traditional kingdoms in Kasese district.

Iranian Lawyer and PhD in Middle East international politics and law (Durham Univ) - with vast experience in producing expert reports on Iranian Law and the Judicial System; also available to comment on the authentication of legal and other official documents.

Lecturer in African studies at Edinburgh University with extensive experience researching, writing and teaching on the history, politics, and cultures of Southern Africa.

Roya Kashefi is a recognised Iran country expert who provides independent analysis and reports to international bodies, NGOs, and courts. Consulted by UN Special Rapporteurs and similar organisations, leveraging her skills in research, documentation, and advocacy, she has conducted extensive investigations into human rights violations in Iran. Her comprehensive reports and policy briefings have informed the EU Parliament’s subcommittee on Human Rights and EU Parliament’s delegation for relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. She actively raises awareness by presenting findings at conferences and fostering collaboration with human rights defenders through impactful advocacy campaigns.

The Expert served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali (1996-7) and conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Guinea (2002-03) for her doctorate in anthropology (2004, University of Kentucky). As a Fulbright Scholar in 2011-12, she taught Development Studies at Mzumbe University in Tanzania. She publishes on cultural topics of household, rites of passage, kinship, and gender and currently teaches at Missouri State University as an Associate.

The Expert is an assistant professor of anthropology at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi. She has been conducting research in Afghanistan since 2009. The Expert’s main research in Afghanistan concerned ethnic Hazara civil society movements and the transmission of cultural trauma. Her earlier research in Afghanistan concerned Pashtun women who were working with Western NGOs. She has a PhD from the University of Connecticut in anthropology, an MA from Georgetown University in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies with a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Crises, and a BS in Russian Language and Literature from Georgetown University. Since 2016, She has been conducting research on the political identity of Afghan, mainly Hazara, refugees in Greece and Italy. She has also started projects concerning the Hazara genocide of the late 1800s, and sexual violence historically and currently experienced by Hazara women.

Prior to working in academia, The Expert was a high school teacher in South Los Angeles. She also worked for United States exchange programs in Russia, was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and spent a summer teaching children at an organization in Nablus, West Bank.

The Expert is a practising Advocate and Barrister-at-Law in Pakistan. He is the Senior Partner of Khan & Co Barristers-at-Law and has repeatedly been appointed as an expert on Pakistani law in the UK court system. The Expert is counsel to foreign governments on Pakistani law and is a Registered Foreign Lawyer with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and practices law in the UK and in Pakistan. The Expert has provided more than 100 reports in immigration and family law cases funded by the Legal Aid Agency and the Scottish Legal Aid Board The reports provided by the Expert have addressed issues related to adultery, adoption, blasphemy, custody and abduction of children, divorce (talaq), divorce (khula), forced conversions, forced marriages, gender based violence, gender identity claims, honour killings, human trafficking, internal relocation, jirgas (tribal councils), law reform, legitimacy of children, Pakistani prisons, protection of witnesses, religious minorities and ethnic groups, statelessness, sexual orientation claims, terrorism offences and women’s protection legislation. The Expert is particularly well-versed in the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, judicial review in Pakistani courts, public law issues and national accountability cases. 

In GA v SSHD… Read more

Expert on Russia and Post-Soviet Countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Dr. Maria Khwaja's work spans many years conducting research in urban Pakistan across ethnic and political lines with a focus on the violence faced by children who inherit conflict political spaces. She is currently an assistant professor at Salem State University and holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Khwaja's areas of expertise include children's rights and children's agency, political violence by state and non-state actors, terrorism, stateless peoples and internally displaced refugees, schooling and education of children, gender, ethnic and religious discrimination, and military and political governance and violence. Dr. Khwaja is a published academic author with a chapter on her ethnographic work with adolescents published in 2013, a forthcoming article on research methodology in the Global South pending revisions, and several articles forthcoming.

Professor and Head of Research Group Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., Germany. 20 years of experience preparing expert reports concerning the issues mentioned under “Expertise: Areas of expertise”.

Dr. Muzong W. Kodi has more than 40 years of research, writing and lecturing on Africa as well as working and residing in several African countries. He has written more than 200 country expert reports for asylum seekers and other migrants from several African countries. He has also provided more than 100 authentication reports for official documents and several reports on nationality and adoption cases. As a consultant, he has been contracted by international organisations, regional African organisations, and multinational companies. He previously held senior management positions in Transparency International, Amnesty, International, and the African Centre for Monetary Studies. I also taught at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and the University of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He holds a PhD in African History from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and speaks fluent French, English, Lingala, and Kikongo, as well as intermediary Swahili.

Occupation: International Consultant in governance, anti-corruption, human rights, as well as political and investment risks in Africa.

Countries of expertise: the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo (ROC or Congo-Brazzaville), Angola, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Rwanda… Read more

International Lawyer (UK-based) and political scientist with comprehensive experience in research and Country of Origin reports. Research experience in international public law, international private law, terrorism, international human rights law, international relations, immigration law, OISC Accredited (2005-2012). Expertise in blood feuds, honour killing, human trafficking, modern slavery, forced labour, domestic violence, narcotics mafia, human and political rights abuse, opposition and political persecution, risk of return and brutal and degrading treatment and torture. Over two decades of experience working with migrants in the UK. Written over 250 expert reports for Immigration Tribunals, Extradition Courts and Criminal Courts (Crown Courts). Appeared as a witness expert in immigration tribunals, extradition, and criminal courts. Member of the Academy of Experts since 2020. Awarded by Acquisition International  ‘Best Southeast Europe Country of Origin Reports Specialist 2024’

The Expert worked for twelve years in the political science faculty at The John Hopkins University. Since then she has been an independent scholar with experience at USAID. UNDP, the World Bank, Human Rights Watch, and the International Rescue Committee. She is an expert on Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa

Experienced scholar and consultant combining theoretical and practical skills of analysis, intelligence and policy advise with expertise in informal networks, organized crime, corruption, illicit trade, crime-terror nexus, policing and public sector reform

Experienced country of origin expert for all nationals from Southeast Asia and China; specialist from one of the leading think-tanks in the world. Have provided expert witness reports for fifteen years for asylum cases in the UK, Europe, and US for nationals from across South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia – related to political issues, trafficking, slavery, gangs, religion, and many other issues. Also have provided expert witness reports for non-asylum immigration cases for nationals from South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia.

Extensive experience in expert reports on all the countries listed, and also in particular, Kurds in country of origin and diaspora

Intercultural and psychoanalytic psychotherapist, specialising in issues relevant to various Muslim countries, incl vendettas, honour killing, domestic violence, PTSD, Rape Trauma Syndrome, assault in detention and traumas of migration and exile.