Experts on countries of origin by country

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.

Barrister and academic, with vast research, publishing and advisory experience across Russian and CIS affairs; fluent in Russian

The Expert is a Country Expert and academic with extensive fieldwork expeirience and providing expert reports (100+) for more than 40 firms in the UK, US, Netherlands, and Canada with areas of expertise such as but not limited to:
- Authentication documents originating from countries of expertise
- Country reports on the indicated countries of expertise
- Minority groups, religious groups
- Political, social and cultural groups: LGBT
- Organized crime and mafia, state crime
- Extremist and violent groups, including religious groups
- Human rights violations
- Women issues: honor killing
- Human trafficking
- Psychiatry and prison conditions
- Disadvantaged groups e.g. children, minorities, mentally ill, disabled, terminally ill
- Availability of medical services
- State structure, military and security services
- Drug dealing and trafficking

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.

I’ve Granted Refugee Status in the UK based on Political Opinion and have done 100+ client case reports in the US and UK. Famous Russian Blogger in London.

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

The Expert, Olga S. Levina, PhD, graduated St.Petersburg State University (Russia), faculties of psychology and management. In 1996 – 2008 was working as an organizational consultant for small and medium businesses, contributed to in-country and international programs aimed at socio-economic development in post-soviet Russia. In 1998 - 2015 as a social psychologist, a Co-founder and Development Director of the NGO Stellit she was part of a wide range of health research and prevention initiatives, working in collaboration with stakeholders and scientists from Russian regions, European countries and the U.S. Many of those projects were focused on injection drug users and their sex partners; imprisoned women; socially excluded, abused and neglected children; female sex workers and their sex partners; STI clinic patients; and law enforcement, health, and other professionals and structures across Russia and other post-soviet countries. Olga Levina has experience in development and evaluation of regional and institutional level projects and programs, contributed to over 70 scientific publications in Russia and internationally. In 2013-2014 she received post doctorate training at Yale School of Public Health. In 2015 immigrated to the U.S. and working as an independent consultant/… Read more

The Expert is an expert in autocratization, democracy, and rule-of-law institutions. He is a tenured Associate Professor of Diplomacy & World Affairs at Occidental College. His research and commentary have been published in highly regarded academic journals such as Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Democratization, European Journal of Politics and Gender, Europe-Asia Studies, and Russian Politics, among others. I have also contributed to popular publications such as The Washington Post.

His first book, Global Finance and Local Control: Corruption and Wealth in Contemporary Russia, was published by Cornell University Press in 2021 and received the co-winner of the 2023 Best Book Award given by the International Political Economy section of the International Studies Association. He holds a doctorate in Government from Cornell University and has taught at Wellesley College, the Cornell-in-Washington Program, the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, and the Monterey Institute for International Studies. As a native of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, he studied Physics and Mathematics at Lyceum #61.

After almost 30 years of studies, research, and professional experience, The Expert is a recognized expert on Post-Soviet States, in particular the Republic of Georgia, the Republic of Armenia, and the Russian Federation. Their fields of research are democracy, human rights, rule of law and State capacity, sub-state actors, informal networks and corruption, elections and political violence.

The Expert is an academic, consultant and policy analyst, specializing in EU, Balkan and East European political and socioeconomic developments. He has a BA from the University of Rome La Sapienza, two MA degrees from the Free University of Brussels, and a PhD from the University of London. He lectured for many years in the United Kingdom and, more recently, he has held professorships in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, he has held visiting appointments at Antonio de Nebrija University in Madrid, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Michigan and the University of Pittsburgh.

The Expert is the author of Europe and the Collapse of Yugoslavia: The Role of Non-State Actors and European Diplomacy (2012), editor of Europe and the post-Yugoslav Space (2013), Debating European Identity: Bright Ideas, Dim Prospects (2014), European Community-Yugoslav Relations: Debates and Documents that Mattered (1968–1992) (2017), and The Unwanted Europeanness: Understanding Division and Inclusion in Contemporary Europe (2021), and co-editor of Religion in the post-Yugoslav Context (2015), Kosovo and Serbia: Contested Options and Shared Consequences (… Read more

BBC journalist, film-maker and broadcaster with extensive experience of travelling to and investigating human rights abuses in Russia, including Chechnya, Belarus and other parts of the former USSR. Also considerable experience working with victims of human rights abuses in location in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Israel / Palestine, China, Turkey and Cuba.