Dr. Daryn is a social anthropologist (Ph.D. Cambridge 2002), with expertise on the culture, society, history, and politics of South Asia. His acquaintance with South Asia spans over 36 years, including 18 years of living in Nepal and India. Dr. Daryn’s experience includes prolonged spells of fieldwork and research in Nepal, as well as work in various international organisations there. As a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies (The University of London, 2003-6) Dr. Daryn also taught the MA course: “The Anthropology of South Asia”. He became closely acquainted with asylum seekers, including Bangladeshis, Burmese, Tibetans, Sri Lankan and Pakistanis, while working in UNHCR’s Kathmandu office (Nepal) during 2008-9 as an Associate Durable Solutions Officer. In this capacity Dr. Daryn went through UNHCR’s Country of Origin information on south asian countries, read in detail many private refugee files, and became familiar with the RSD process. Furthermore, Dr. Daryn also conducted focus group discussions and interviews with many refugees, and held detailed discussions with them. Since then, he has been focusing on the study of human rights in South Asian countries. From 2005 onwards, Dr. Daryn has served as an Expert Witness in asylum appeal cases and has written over 230 Expert Reports, for court cases mainly in the UK, but also in the USA, Netherlands and Hong Kong. In appeal number AA/11534/2014, J. Eames, the Judge of the First-Tier Tribunal commented on my work and among others, observed that “He [Dr Gil Daryn] plainly understands his duty of truth to the tribunal” adding that my report has a considerable authority, one that “I can properly place very considerable weight” upon
Caste discrimination or persecution, Child soldiers, Coercive population control, Disability, Ethnic discrimination or persecution, Ex-combatant reintegration, Forced conscription, Forced marriage, Gang-related violence/non-state actors, Gender-based violence/domestic violence, Healthcare access/health systems capacity, HIV/AIDS, Journalist persecution, Land tenure disputes, LGBTQ, Likelihood of destitution or homelessness, Mental illness, Military/police service, Political persecution, Prison conditions, Religious discrimination or persecution, Government/state actor persecution, Risk of retaliation, Safe internal relocation, Sexual abuse/assault, Specialized medical services, Sufficiency of protection, Torture, Trafficking, Tribal discrimination or persecution, Violence against children/child abuse
From 2005 onwards, I have served as an Expert Witness in asylum appeal cases and have written over 230 Expert Reports for UK, Hong Kong, Dutch and USA courts.
Partial list of Publications
2010. Book Review of “Hindu Kingship, Ethnic Revival, and Maoist Rebellion in Nepal”, by Marie Lecomte-Tillouine. HYPERLINK "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/jrai;jsessionid=7u3r0o7fduk35…" \o "The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute" The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.). 16:2, 452-453.
2008. Book Review of “Domestic Mandala: architecture of lifeworlds in Nepal”, by John Gray. HYPERLINK "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/jrai;jsessionid=7u3r0o7fduk35…" \o "The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute" The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, (N.S.) 14: 1, 202-203.
2007. Inversion revisited: dai halne – a Himalayan inversion of hierarchy and trust. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.) 13, 845-861.
2007. The End of Shangri-La: Self-Perpetuating Tendencies and Invisible Displacement in the Nepalese Maoist ‘People’s War’, in Crisis of State and Nation – South Asian States Between Nation Building and Fragmentation. D. Malik and J. P. Neelsen eds., Manohar Publishers, New Delhi.
2006. Encompassing a Fractal World, The Energetic Female Core in Myth and Everyday Life – a Few Lessons Drawn from the Nepalese Himalaya. Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield), USA.
2003. Bahuns – Ethnicity without an ‘Ethnic Group’, in Ethnic Revival and Religious Turmoil, Identities and Representation in the Himalayas, M. Lecomte-Tilouine & P. Dollfus (eds.), Oxford University Press.
1998. Moroccan Hassidism: The Chavrei Habakuk Community and its Veneration of Saints, Ethnology - An International Journal of Cultural and Social Anthropology Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 351-372.
1996. The Organisation of Space and the Symbolism of the Indo-Nepalese House in Central Nepal – Preliminary observations during fieldwork. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, No. 11, CNRS – Paris, SOAS – London, SAI – Heidelberg