Experts on countries of origin by country

Associate Professor at King’s College London with over two decades of internationally recognised expertise on crime, corruption, policing, prisons and criminal justice reform across the former Soviet Union. Known for combining rigorous academic research with high-level policy advisory roles for international organisations as well as UK and US government departments.

I am available to produce general country expert evidence reports on political, social, and economic conditions, corruption and crime environments, state protection capacity, and risks faced by specific social groups in my countries of expertise. I also provide expert reports and testimony for cases involving risks from political activism, exposure of corruption or organised crime, trafficking and exploitation, state collusion with criminal groups, police corruption, and inhumane detention conditions in former Soviet Union countries.

I have extensively travelled and conducted field research across former Soviet Union countries, gaining a deep understanding of how informal networks, weak rule of law, and criminal-state nexus structures create specific vulnerabilities for asylum claimants. My research has been published in leading academic journals and briefed to senior policymakers and officials… Read more

Joshua Kurlantzick is Senior Fellow for South Asia and Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he studies South Asian and Southeast Asian politics and economics, with a particular focus on democracy, authoritarianism, human rights, and political transitions. Experienced country of origin expert for all nationals from Southeast Asia and China; specialist from one of the leading think-tanks in the world. Have provided expert witness reports for fifteen years for asylum cases in the UK, Europe, and US for nationals from across South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia – related to political issues, trafficking, slavery, gangs, religion, and many other issues. Also have provided expert witness reports for non-asylum immigration cases for nationals from South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia.

Extensive experience in expert reports on all the countries listed, and also in particular, Kurds in country of origin and diaspora

Dr. Laker is a seasoned conflict, security and development practitioner with 15 years of experience with a specialized focus on forced displacement, gender, security sector reform, international humanitarian law, and transitional justice. Dr. Laker's consulting, research, and academic interests are grounded in the field of defence, strategic studies and international relations. He is currently Assistant Professor in international humanitarian law, conflict, security, military ethics, humanitarianism, and air, land, and sea operations to both junior and senior military officers, at Zayed Military University in Abu Dhabi, UAE. His book manuscript, Rethinking Internal Displacement: Geo-Political Games, Fragile States, & the Relief Industry was published in 2021. 

Intercultural and psychoanalytic psychotherapist, specialising in issues relevant to various Muslim countries, incl vendettas, honour killing, domestic violence, PTSD, Rape Trauma Syndrome, assault in detention and traumas of migration and exile.

Gideon Lasco, MD, PhD is a physician and medical anthropologist. He is senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines Diliman's Department of Anthropology, affiliate faculty at the UP College of Medicine’s Social Medicine Unit, research fellow at the Ateneo de Manila University's Development Studies Program, and honorary fellow at Hong Kong University's Centre for Criminology. 

Academic and practicing attorney, based in USA (admitted to AZ bar), experienced in written and oral expert reports in variety of national formats, on many social groups and diverse matters in West Africa and Africa broadly.

Depending on issue/claim basis, I may be able to provide expertise on any country in West Africa. I have testified and provided expertise for cases from: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

Professor Leclerc-Madlala is an anthropologist whose research and publications since 1995 have focused on the intersections of culture, sexuality, gender and HIV in Africa, especially in South Africa and in relation to young women’s vulnerability. Her academic work as former Professor and Head of the Anthropology Department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal was complimented by active involvement in the design, implementation and evaluation of HIV programs in South Africa and its neighboring countries. Currently working as a Senior Advisor for HIV and health with the US Agency for International Development, Professor Leclerc-Madlala got her start in development as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gabon. 

Prof Leclerc-Madlala has worked as a consultant to UNAIDS, SADC, the World Bank, and WHO, as well as to several regional non-government organizations and community-based organizations. She helped to draft South Africa’s Sexual Offences Act and the Children’s Bill and authored UNAIDS’ 2009 Action Brief on Inter-generational and Transactional sex in Southern Africa. She worked with the Commission on Gender Equality, the South African Law Commission and other legal bodies to assess various cultural and medical practices for human rights violations.… Read more

Dr. Elena Lesley is an anthropologist who has been working in Cambodia since the early 2000s. Much of her research has focused on mental illness and access to health services. She is particularly interested in cases related to mental illness or disability, addiction, healthcare systems and torture.

Jordan Levy is a sociocultural anthropologist with a research program focused on state formation, political culture, and out-migration in Honduras. He has been studying Honduras and conducting non-governmental (NGO) work in the country since 2001. He was present during the 2009 military coup, and has since studied how these events polarized Honduran society and have increased different forms of violence. 

Dr. Levy's doctoral dissertation focused on the political activism of schoolteachers and post-coup policies of governance. During the course of conducting ethnographic research inside Honduran schools he learned a great deal about Hondurans' experiences with violence – including gang violence and gender-based violence. At the University of Connecticut he teaches courses on contemporary Latin America, and the Anthropology of Migration.

Carl Lijong is a distinguished diplomat with robust experience in regional diplomacy and strategic planning within Suriname’s Foreign Ministry. His leadership in Brazil and within Surinamese national development frameworks reflects his ability to harmonize policy with implementation. A trained expert in resultsbased management and international cooperation, Carl’s multilingual and multicultural expertise makes him a powerful asset in diplomatic and policy coordination arenas.

Robin Llewellyn is a natural communicator with a gift for amplifying marginalized voices. With over a decade of experience as a journalist and media strategist, he has not only reported on human rights abuses but actively helped shape narratives for indigenous and environmental defenders. His cross-cultural communication, creative storytelling, and policy-savvy writing make him a powerful bridge between communities and decision-makers. Robin doesn’t just tell stories, he helps people be heard. He would be a valuable addition to any team seeking clarity, compassion, and compelling communication.

Dr. Logvinenko 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.

Alina Ionita is a dynamic expert in economic diplomacy and public affairs, known for building commercial bridges between Northern and Eastern Europe. Her multifaceted roles in embassies, consultancy, and government have made her a trusted partner in advancing bilateral cooperation. She brings valuable linguistic fluency and cross- sectoral knowledge, with a proven record in project management and policy advisory. Alina is ideally positioned to enhance any initiative requiring multicultural negotiation, policy intelligence, and commercial strategy.

Marilisa Lorusso is a regular contributor to Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa, an Italian think tank and online magazine with approximately 5,000 daily views.

She has been deployed by the Italian Foreign Ministry as an expert for post-war civilian monitoring missions in Georgia. Additionally, she has served in a non-diplomatic capacity at the Geneva International Discussions on the Georgian peace settlement while based at the European Union Council in Brussels.

Candace Lukasik is Assistant Professor of Religion and Faculty Affiliate in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures at Mississippi State University. Her research explores religion and the transnational politics of violence, migration, race, and indigeneity in the Middle East, specifically Egypt and Iraq, and its US diasporas. She was previously a Faculty Leave Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, an AAUW American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellow, Affiliate Faculty Member in the Department of Anthropology at University at Buffalo, and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. She received her PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Her first book, Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire (NYU Press, 2025) examines how American theopolitical imaginaries of global Christian persecution have remapped Coptic collective memory of martyrdom in migration. Drawing on continuing fieldwork with Assyrians in Detroit and northern Iraq, her second book project, Somewhere Else: Political Ecologies and Indigenous Sovereignty in Global Assyria… Read more

Dr. Frédérick Madore is a Research Fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) in Germany, where he specializes in the study of Muslim societies and religious movements in francophone West Africa. Through extensive fieldwork in Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso, he has developed deep expertise in understanding how religious communities navigate social and political change. His research includes contributions to the Islam West Africa Collection (IWAC), an open-access database documenting Islam in West Africa.

His book on religious activism at universities in Togo and Benin examines the transformation of campus life through faith-based organizations since the 1970s. Previously, he held positions as a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Florida and as a Part-Time Professor at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Madore has published extensively on Muslim societies and religious movements, including two monographs, an edited volume, and numerous peer-reviewed articles. His research offers new insights into the dynamics of Islam and religious movements in contemporary West Africa.

Saqeb Mahbub is a UK-educated Barrister, independent judicial reform consultant and part-time Lecturer at North South University based in Bangladesh. Besides legal practice, the expert is regularly consulted by international organisations such as UNDP, UNHCR and USAID. He has conducted research, advisory and consultancy work in Bangladesh on the formal and informal justice systems, freedom of speech and other political rights, anti-corruption, violence against women, minority rights, etc. Saqeb Mahbub has produced expert reports for UK and US courts and tribunals covering the following topics:
(i) Political situation in Bangladesh (including in-depth analysis of all the political parties (BNP, Jamaat, etc), senior and local leaders of opposition parties);
(ii) The criminal justice system; 
(iii) Laws curtailing free speech, state attitude towards opposition;
(iii) Judicial independence;
(iv) Freedom of speech; 
(v) Extra judicial killings;
(vi) Enforced disappearances;
(vii) Police Harassment; 
(viii) Ghost and False cases;
(ix) Persecution of human rights defenders; 
(x) Persecution of LGBTQ community members; 
(xi) Persecution of religious minorities and violent extremism;… Read more

Dr. Basem Mahmud is a Syrian-Spanish sociologist specializing in emotions, forced migration, and post-conflict recovery, with deep expertise in Syria’s social and cultural contexts. Born and raised in Syria, his lived experience enriches his academic and applied research, providing nuanced understanding of the challenges faced by displaced populations. He holds a PhD in Sociology, supported by a DAAD fellowship, and was awarded the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship for postdoctoral research on refugee labor and structural inequalities in the global economy. His work bridges academic research and practical field applications through partnerships with international organizations, civil society, and research institutes. He focuses on key issues such as transitional justice, civic engagement, community resilience, victim-centered documentation, and social reconstruction in Syria and similar post-conflict settings. Fluent in Arabic, English, and Spanish, Dr. Basem Mahmud combines advanced qualitative and mixed-methods research skills with deep contextual knowledge. He is committed to collaborating on evidence-based projects that foster social transformation and sustainable recovery. Clients can expect strategic research insights, expert project leadership,… Read more