Higher Legal Expert specialising in human rights, political persecution, and refugee protection East Africa, with experience preparing expert reports, conducting nationality assessments, and providing testimony before UK and US courts and tribunals.
Expertise on religion and politics in a number of African, Asian and Latin American countries - and in a number of languages. Current research includes China (Tibet), Chile, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Argentina, DRC, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe; Libya and Syria
The Expert is a Sub-Saharan Africa specialist with extensive experience in Country Operations Management, Resource Mobilization, Business Development, Communications and Advocacy across multiple countries with leading international NGOs.
Luke Freeman, PhD, is a leading expert on the culture and politics of Madagascar. He has brought this expertise to roles as a tenured professor at the University of London (LSE & UCL), as a special advisor to former president Marc Ravalomanana, and as a social and political risk analyst to the Madagascar extractive sector. He has also filled leading roles in the development and humanitarian sector, notably as a pioneer of the application of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for indigenous peoples in the tropical timber sector. Luke's recent responsibilities include Director of Social Performance at Rio Tinto Madagascar, Director of Social Policy at UNICEF Madagascar and Head of Social Behaviour Change at CRS Madagascar. He has also worked as an advertising strategist for the WPP group and a leadership coach in the university sector.
Will Jones is a British academic who has been working on Central and Southern Africa, with a specialization in asylum, since 2007. He received his doctorate on refugees in Central Africa, particularly Rwanda, from the University of Oxford, where he later became a Departmental Lecturer in the Politics of Asylum at Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre. He has also served as an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for Excellence in Global Mobility Law and is currently an Associate Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Dr. Muzong W. Kodi has more than 40 years of research, writing and lecturing on Africa as well as working and residing in several African countries. He has written more than 200 country expert reports for asylum seekers and other migrants from several African countries. He has also provided more than 100 authentication reports for official documents and several reports on nationality and adoption cases. As a consultant, he has been contracted by international organisations, regional African organisations, and multinational companies. He previously held senior management positions in Transparency International, Amnesty, International, and the African Centre for Monetary Studies. I also taught at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and the University of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He holds a PhD in African History from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and speaks fluent French, English, Lingala, and Kikongo, as well as intermediary Swahili.
Occupation: International Consultant in governance, anti-corruption, human rights, as well as political and investment risks in Africa.
Countries of expertise: the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo (ROC or Congo-Brazzaville), Angola, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Rwanda… Read more
I am an international practitioner working across Africa and the Middle East, supporting complex cross-border and regional matters. My work is grounded in practical experience, cultural awareness, and careful judgment in sensitive situations.
I am a French citizen of Cameroonian origin, shaped by dual Francophone and Anglophone cultural roots, within my African cultural heritage. I hold a master’s degree in mass communication and journalism alongside several postgraduate qualifications in audiovisual communication, corporate governance, and other studies in applied anthropology, and in economics.
My academic training in journalism— particularly the theory of "Information and Evidence" — underpins my methodological approach as a country conditions expert witness, combining the rigour of investigative journalism with the independence and scepticism required to assess credibility and weigh sources at the standard demanded by courts and tribunals.
As a permanent press correspondent based in the Geneva area since 1993 and accredited as a permanent press correspondent at UN Headquarters (1995–2005), I have built an extensive network across UN agencies (OHCHR, UNHCR, IOM, WHO, UNAIDS, and others) and I maintain direct contacts with journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, and officials across Africa.
I combine published documentary research with original interviews — both with asylum claimants and with in-country sources — to… Read more
Dr. Gospel Obele – Research and Development Economist with 11+ years of senior-level experience in economic strategy, market intelligence, and policy innovation.
Write over 25 articles, reports and publication, advising 50+ high-profile institutions with combined $850m in earnings, across 30+ sectors and 10+ countries.
Delivered 350+ expert media appearances (BBC, Al Jazeera, CGTN, Arise TV, Africa News) as a recognized voice on markets, economy, and social development.
Karen O’Reilly is a country expert who has produced over 300 reports for asylum, criminal, deportation, high profile and country guidance cases in the UK, US, and Canada. Her expertise derives in large part from her extensive experience as a Refugee Resettlement Expert and Protection Officer for UNHCR, beginning in 2006. She is also a writer who has published extensively on refugee-related issues.
Experienced in working with diverse populations, including women and girls, children and youth, refugees, internally displaced persons returnees, migrants, persons with disabilities, minority groups, rural communities, and marginalized populations. Strong commitment to inclusive development approaches, gender equality, social protection, human rights, accountability to affected populations, and sustainable solutions that strengthen community resilience.
Fluent in English with professional experience working in multilingual and multicultural settings, including collaboration with French, Arabic, and local-language-speaking communities through direct communication and interpretation support where required. Experienced in navigating complex cultural and political environments while building trust and effective partnerships with national and international stakeholders.
Dr. Maggie Zraly is a medical and psychological anthropologist with extensive training in public health and mental health. Her research and practice have focused on conflict-affected populations, including survivors of conflict-related sexual violence/genocide-rape and GBV, youth heads of household, and children associated with armed forces and armed groups. Dr. Zraly conducted five years of in-depth fieldwork on the ground in Rwanda between 2003 and 2024. In 2016, she conducted short-term research in Afghanistan on human trafficking, and in 2017, she directed a center for mental health in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She has completed short deployments for child protection and mental health support in emergency response, the longest of which was for 3 weeks in 2016 across Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, and Serbia to assess the protection situation of forcibly displaced Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi children seeking asylum.