Experts on countries of origin by country

Fowzia Abdi is a qualified Immigration Solicitor and Somalia Country Expert who combines active legal practice with deep country-level knowledge. As a practising solicitor, she brings first-hand understanding of the evidential requirements and procedural standards of UK tribunals, ensuring her expert reports are directly responsive to the legal questions at issue.

As Director of a UK-based immigration law firm, Fowzia has extensive professional experience spanning governance, justice and security sector reform, migration, and socio-political dynamics within the Federal Republic of Somalia. Her professional portfolio encompasses legal practice, academic teaching, policy consultancy, and in-country field research across both urban and remote areas. She has advised government institutions, NGOs, international organisations, and private sector partners on policy analysis, due diligence, and justice and security sector reform.

She maintains active professional networks with Somali human rights lawyers, civil society actors, and law firms, enabling her to secure verified, up-to-date information that ensures her reports accurately reflect current conditions on the ground. Fowzia previously lectured on the LLM programme at Somali National… Read more

Fahim Abrar Abid is a legal researcher specialising in international law, human rights, and international protection. He has provided expert opinions in UK First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal proceedings, advised the University of London Refugee Law Clinic, and prepared materials for U.S. immigration matters (USCIS). His work focuses on country conditions, risk on return, political opinion (actual and imputed), minority protection, non-state actor threats, and the treatment of activists, journalists, detainees, and other at-risk groups. He is an Erasmus Mundus Scholar in International Law and Security, Founder of the Bangladesh Society of International Law, and has authored over 20 expert reports across multiple jurisdictions.

Reports delivery: Within 2 weeks (For emergency cases: 1 week)

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

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.

Freelance Horn of Africa advisor/consultant.  Produced over 100 country reports (on Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, The Sudan) for various organisations and legal firms.

Dr. Merga Yonas Bula is a doctoral graduate of Leipzig University's Institute for Media and Communications Science. He is the author of the 2023 book, "Transnational Communication and Identity Construction in Diaspora: A Comparative Analysis of Four Diaspora Communities from the Horn of Africa" (Springer VS).

He currently lectures in Political Communication at the DW Akademie, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, and conducts research at the Research Center Development Communication (EC4SC) at Leipzig University.

My primary regional expertise lies in the Horn of Africa, particularly Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and broader Sahel region (specifically Niger, Northern Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, and Mali). I also have thematic expertise on trafficking along Gulf of Aden and Red Sea transit routes, including Yemen. 

I specialise in, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) claims, trafficking-related protection claims, child asylum cases, statelessness (including Rohingya claims), and Article 1F exclusion analysis under the 1951 Refugee Convention. 

My reports are prepared in accordance with expert witness duties to the Tribunal as set out in the Practice Directive and are designed to assist the court with independent, evidence-based analysis. I have undertaken specialist expert witness training at the Refugee Law Initiative. 

I am an international refugee law expert with over a decade of frontline experience in refugee status determination with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

I have served with UNHCR across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, including Somalia (2023–2024), Niger (2024), Ethiopia (2019–2020), Tunisia (2024–2025), Egypt (2016–2017), and India (2018–2019), conducting over 2,000 assessments.… Read more

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.

I am a Consultant Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience specializing in complex trauma/C-PTSD. I have completed a doctorate degree in Psychology from Wolverhampton University and a clinical supervision training from Oxford University. My background includes senior NHS leadership roles, clinical team management, and policy development, alongside extensive experience in teaching, research and clinical supervision. 

As an Expert Court Witness, I have extensive experience assessing individuals and families for the Immigration & Asylum Chamber and Family Court, with a particular focus on high-stakes asylum cases involving risk of persecution, apostasy, and victims of trafficking, torture, sexual exploitation, and abuse. Utilizing a trauma-informed forensic framework, I address critical issues of credibility, memory inconsistencies, and sur place activities, providing the Tribunal with robust clinical evidence that bridges the gap between psychological vulnerability and legal disclosure hurdles. 

My expertise extends to comprehensive family and child assessments, focusing on attachment, transgenerational trauma, and the "best interests of the child" in deportation or care proceedings. I offer deep clinical insight into Muslim and… Read more

Dr. Shaul Gabbay completed a BA at Bar Ilan University and an MA at Tel-Aviv University. In 1991 he received a Presidential Fellowship from the U.S. to continue his studies. In 1995 he completed the PhD program at Columbia University in New York and received an invitation from the University of Chicago for a Post Doctoral program. In 1998 Dr. Gabbay returned to Israel to join the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Professor Gabbay joined the University of Denver as the Director of the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies in 2001- 2010.  He continued his research at DU as a Senior Scholar until 2015 when he was appointed Director of the Global Research Institute.

His areas of expertise include Middle East cultures and societal norms,   Middle East conflicts, and human rights issues existing in Muslim societies.  He is regularly cited and acts as a commentator in national and international media such as the Associated Press, CBS, NBC, FOX and MSNBC.

Audra Grant works at the intersection of conflict, human rights, and governance in fragile, conflict-affected settings in the Middle East and Africa. As an international development professional and subject matter expert at NORC, her projects addressed diverse issues affecting vulnerable populations, from human rights, illicit trade, extremism, and organized crime to child labor and youth recruitment into violence. Audra has over 20 years of experience as a practitioner, security and policy professional and academic and has worked in nearly every country in the Middle East and North Africa and also in over 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, providing policy and program advice to the USG, private sector, and international donors. She held senior positions at RAND and was a career analyst at the U.S. Department of State / INR. A former assistant professor at University Al-Akhawayn, Ifrane, Morocco, she is a Senior Lecturer at The George Washington University. Audra is also an advisor for the Women’s Ambassador Foundation, Howard University, and reviewer for the Journal of Peace and Development and Contemporary Review of the Middle East. 

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.

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. 

Karen S. Rotabi-Caseres is Professor of Social Work at California State University- Monterey Bay. She has extensive international experience, with an emphasis on Guatemala, El Salvador and Somalia. Her practice in these countries is oriented to child protection as well as violence against women. She has worked as an expert witness, mainly for Guatemala, but recent work in Somalia has expanded her area of expertise.  She has an extensive publication history, with an orientation to human rights.

Dr. Abduslam Zagud is a British-Libyan expert witness specialising in Arab socio-political affairs, Islamic law, tribal and community dynamics, and international human rights. He holds a doctorate in General International Law and brings over 17 years of combined academic, professional, and lived experience across the Arab world to his expert practice. Dr Zagud holds an intensive research experience on international public law, international human rights law, international relations and immigration law. 

As a Libyan national who has lived, studied, and worked across multiple Arab countries, and who maintains active community ties in the United Kingdom, Dr. Zagud occupies an unusual position among country experts: he shares the language, culture, religious traditions, and social frameworks of the people he writes about. This enables a depth of insight that goes beyond conventional desk research. Arab nationals speak candidly with him, update him on conditions on the ground, and provide the kind of nuanced, lived detail that is rarely accessible to an outside observer.

He is a Full Member of the SOAS Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Centre and holds Law Society accreditation as a Supervising Senior Caseworker in Immigration and Asylum Law. He works… Read more