Experts on countries of origin by surname

Sergen Bahceci is a political anthropologist who examines violence and its role in constituting everyday life and lived experiences. He completed a PhD in Anthropology at LSE in 2023. For his doctoral research, he conducted 20 months of ethnographic fieldwork in northern Cyprus among elderly war veterans and younger generations of Cypriots who were born after the island’s civil war (1955 - 1974).

Following his PhD, he worked as a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Criminology where he was employed to conduct digital ethnographic fieldwork in Macclesfield, England, on everyday experiences of crime-related insecurity. He previously taught anthropology at Goldsmiths and University College London, and also worked for the UN Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus in 2020. He has also provided a COI expert witness report for a deportation order appeal tribunal. 

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. Adam Baird is a rare blend of academic depth and frontline experience, known for turning research into real-world change. Over the past 20+ years, he’s worked across Latin America and the Caribbean, shaping youth violence prevention programs, advising international agencies, and leading ground breaking studies on gangs and masculinities. His work with the UN, UNDP, and leading universities reflects not just his expertise but also the trust global institutions place in him. Adam brings clarity to complex problems, builds collaborative teams, and delivers solutions that resonate both in policy and in practice. If you're seeking someone who understands violence from the inside out and knows how to reduce it, he’s exactly who you want leading the charge.

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.

Kaitlin Banfill is a trained cultural anthropologist and China expert with over 15 years of experience researching modern Chinese society and culture. Her doctoral research focused on ethnicity, kinship, and higher education in Sichuan Province. She has also studied rural-urban migration, rural development, and urbanization in Shanghai and Anhui Province.

As a third-generation Chinese American, she is particularly interested in advocating for immigrants and fostering belonging and inclusion for Asians in America. Her recent career has included work with the Asian American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) at South Seattle College, as well as activism and social services for immigrant communities.

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.

Susan Banki studies the political, institutional, and social contexts that explain the roots of and solutions to human rights violations and social justice abuses. In particular, she is interested in the ways that questions of sovereignty, transnationalism, and citizenship/membership have shaped our responses to conflict and injustice, particularly examining institutions such as the international refugee regime, diasporas, and the humanitarian system. Susan's focus is in the Asia-Pacific region, where she has conducted extensive field research in Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Japan on refugee/migrant protection, statelessness and border control. Her current projects include: the work of diasporas in responding to acute crises at home; humanitarian responses to complex displacement contexts; and the role of creative arts in transnational activism.

Dr. Astrid Barrondo is a globally recognized expert in international human rights law and justice reform. With a Ph.D. and multiple postgraduate degrees from top European universities, she has led impactful legal, research, and advocacy initiatives across Latin America, Europe, and North America. From litigating landmark cases before the Inter-American Court to training government officials on anti-corruption strategies, Astrid has remained at the forefront of global justice advocacy. Her extensive publications and advisory work reflect her commitment to defending the rights of the most vulnerable, especially Indigenous peoples, women, and laborers. Fluent in Spanish and English, she is a powerhouse of legal intellect, human rights dedication, and cross-border collaboration.

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

Anita Natascia Bernacchia is a highly accomplished European affairs journalist, multilingual communicator, and regional political analyst whose work spans the intersection of EU policy, Eastern European politics, and public diplomacy. Based in Brussels and fluent in six languages, she has built a career that blends institutional communications at the highest levels of European Commission, Council of the EU, and Committee of the Regions with frontline journalism focused on Romania, Moldova, and minority politics in post-socialist Europe. Her ability to translate complex political developments into accessible narratives, both for general audiences and institutional stakeholders, makes her a rare and valuable contributor to public discourse. Anita’s journalism is marked by clarity, precision, and cultural depth, while her translation and interpretation work with EU institutions reflects a high level of technical and linguistic expertise. Her cross-sector career makes her an ideal candidate for any role requiring deep regional knowledge, media fluency, and European institutional experience.

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.  

Barrister and academic, with extensive research, publishing and advisory experience in former Soviet Union and other countries, fluent in Russian