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.
University
LGBTQI issues; child abuse; sexual abuse/assault; gender-based violence/domestic violence; child soldiers; forced marriage; human trafficking; FGM/FGC; Likelihood of destitution or homelessness; ethnic, religious, or tribal discrimination or persecution; forced conscription/refoulment; ex-combatant reintegration; land issues; criminal deportees; risk of torture or political persecution; risk from state actors, risk from non-state actors; risk of retaliation; sufficiency of protection; possibility of safe internal relocation; healthcare access; health systems capacity; mental illness; HIV/AIDS; specialized medical services.
Experience with oral testimony and written reports in US and UK immigration and asylum proceedings.
Carruth, Lauren. Love and Liberation: Humanitarian Work in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Cornell University Press. (2021)
Carruth, Lauren. "Kinship, nomadism, and humanitarian aid among Somalis in Ethiopia." Disasters 42, no. 1 (2018): 149-168.
Carruth, Lauren, and Emily Mendenhall. "“Wasting away”: Diabetes, food insecurity, and medical insecurity in the Somali Region of Ethiopia." Social Science & Medicine 228 (2019): 155-163.