Experts on countries of origin by surname

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

Leon Boyer is an expert in Mexico security conditions with over 24 years of service in the United States Border Patrol. Throughout his career, he held various leadership roles, including at the U.S. Border Patrol Headquarters’ Intelligence Division, where he contributed to national security efforts and intelligence operations. As the Director of United Voices Interpreting and Consulting, LLC, Mr. Boyer provides expert consultation and witness services on topics such as transnational criminal organizations, narcotics and human trafficking, alien smuggling, migration trends, and security conditions, with a specialized focus on Mexico. Mr. Boyer serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Social Science Division at St. Clair County Community College in Port Huron, Michigan, and in the Public Service Institute at Macomb Community College in Clinton Township, Michigan. He develops and lectures courses in Political Science, Homeland Security, Intelligence Analysis and Security Management, and Border Security, shaping the next generation of security professionals. Mr. Boyer holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from the University of Arizona, a Master of Arts in International Relations and Conflict Resolution from American Military University, and a Master of Science… Read more

Dr. Nicole Bromfield is a professor of social work with over 20 years of international experience. Her PhD is in public policy with a health policy specialization and her dissertation was on the making of the trafficking victims protection act (TVPA), in which she interviewed 21 key policy players involved in the making of the TVPA. Nicole’s international experience, includes working in an educational capacity building program at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, working as an assistant professor at United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ain, UAE, for six years and spending nearly two years as a Fulbright Research and Teaching Scholar at the University of Namibia, underscores her global perspective. Her scholarly pursuits are inherently interdisciplinary, utilizing perspectives from multiple related disciplines. Dr. Bromfield’s research program focuses on the social well-being of those who are vulnerable and at risk for exploitation, especially women and children, in a global context. Her research is deeply rooted in local capacity building and addresses critical issues such as the well-being of street-connected children and health policy recommendations related to child injury epidemiology. Currently, she is the principal investigator on a community-based… Read more

Cate Buchanan specializes in mediation and process design, and inclusive conflict analysis. Country foci in 2025 are Burma/Myanmar and Thailand. Previously, from 2015-17, she was Senior Adviser to the Nyein (Shalom) Foundation Myanmar supporting national dialogues and peace negotiation approaches. In 2018/19 she was a member of the UN Mediation Support Unit’s Standby Team of Experts. In 2020/21 she was a Senior Adviser to the Office of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen. Over 2021-2024, along with other consultancy works, Cate was Conflict Adviser to the Myanmar Livelihoods and Food Security Fund. From 2001-2013, she was a Programme Manager and Senior Adviser with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. In 2025, Cate manages an initiative to eliminate conflict-related sexual violence in Myanmar as well as a peace coaching process. She also provides advice to the European Institute for Peace; UN Women Afghanistan; the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Support Unit for Gender Equality and others. 

Nicola Bulled is a public health anthropologist. Her scholarship interrogates health inequalities, using mixed methods to examine the intersection of biology with the social to offer multi-level perspectives on public health programming, service delivery, and policy. Her specific fields of interest include HIV, infectious diseases, disease prevention technologies, health communication, and community collaboration.  She has engaged in research and public health programming in South Africa, Lesotho, Liberia, Greece, and the United States. Her research has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Fulbright IIE. 

Kateryna Burbak is an experienced rule of law and governance expert with a proven track record supporting access to justice, human rights, and democratic institution building in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Her combination of legal research, field delivery, and policy advocacy enables her to deliver practical solutions in complex reform environments. Kateryna’s commitment to inclusive governance and stakeholder collaboration makes her an invaluable resource for donors and partners promoting democratic change. Her dedication to strengthening the rule of law, even in fragile and rapidly changing contexts, sets her apart as a trusted, impactful development professional.

I am a Law and DEI expert with 15+ years of experience and intersectional background. I have presence on: Walpole, GQ Heroes, MBS & British Council of Fashion, Attitude Magazine, quoted by Vogue Business and Boston Consultancy Group. I teach at Instituto Marangoni and have extensive experience in: LGBTQ+ Rights, Human Rights in Latin America, Political Landscape of Brazil and Latin American Countries, Law and Politics. 

Inge Butter holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology and is a specialist on Chad and aspects of the Central African Republic (CAR). She has spent most of her professional career working for and affiliated with the African Studies Centre in Leiden, the Netherlands. She has 10 years of experience setting up research projects, carrying out fieldwork, analyzing results, monitoring and evaluating the process, as well as putting together reports for a variety of audiences. For the PhD, a total of 12 months of fieldwork were carried out over a period of three years, in both urban and rural locations in Chad and CAR. In that time, she became part of a strong network of local Chadian professionals. Inge’s areas of interest include (post)conflict dynamics and how these play out in an everyday setting, understanding local and trans-national socio-economic networks, and the interplay of insecurity and belonging. Her past research in Chad and CAR focussed on Arab nomads. While currently based in the USA, she is working on proposals for projects in Anglophone Cameroon, and publishing her PhD thesis as a book with De Gruyter.

Historian, specialised in the history, politics and cultures of Iran and the Kurds.