Experts on countries of origin by country

The Expert has completed over 3,000 expert witness reports on Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Malaysia since 2005, primarily for the UK courts but also in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.  This has also included cases on terrorism and extradition. Oral expert evidence in all recent Sri Lankan Country Guidance cases from LP (2007) to KK & RS (2020).

Most recent one month research visit to Sri Lanka in March 2022 (Northern and Eastern Provinces).  It is usual to visit Sri Lanka and select countries in Asia each year for at least a month.  Strong emphasis on fieldwork and interviews with officials and in-country experts and focus upon risk and vulnerability on return.

Also, expertise on India, especially Tamil Nadu and Khalistan and LGBTQ issues generally.  Recent expert witness on high profile extradition cases in Hong Kong, London and New York.  Research visits to India, Pakistan and Malaysia are planned for 2023. 

Extensive field work and publications record in India from 1983, including my PhD on India’s defence industry and security sector (1988) and two year tenure at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies/United Nations University (Delhi) (1983-85).

Expert witness research trip planned for… Read more

Lahra Smith is an Associate Professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of Government at Georgetown University and the Director of the African Studies Program. She is a Political Scientist with a particular interest in citizenship, migration and political development in Africa. She is the author of Making Citizens in Africa: Ethnicity, Gender and National Identity in Ethiopia (Cambridge University Press, 2013), and her other publications have focused on the role of political institutions in addressing conflict based largely on ethnic and language identities.

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.

Valentyn Stoliarchuk is a trusted rule of law and legal reform expert with a strong record delivering judicial and governance reforms across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. His work bridges technical policy advice, hands-on program implementation, and capacity development for legal institutions and civil society. Valentyn’s commitment to promoting access to justice, anti-corruption, and human rights protection makes him an invaluable asset for international organizations and partners working to strengthen democratic institutions and uphold the rule of law in transitional contexts.

BBC journalist, film-maker and broadcaster with extensive experience of travelling to and investigating human rights abuses in Russia, including Chechnya, Belarus and other parts of the former USSR. Also considerable experience working with victims of human rights abuses in location in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Israel / Palestine, China, Turkey and Cuba.

Dr. Noelle Sullivan is a medical and sociocultural anthropologist who has done ethnographic (fieldwork-based) research since 2005 on the history and present of Tanzania’s health care sector. She is one of few scholars with expertise on how Tanzania’s health sector has changed through time in the postcolonial period, and what these changes have meant for the health care workers, patients, and families in Tanzania who provide or rely on this care. Sullivan has expertise on the sector’s capacities for certain kinds of care (reproductive and child health, mental health, preventive services, surgical capacity, HIV/AIDS, pediatric care, cancer care, cardiology, LGBTQ+ care, etc.) and how this capacity affects quality of health care delivery for prospective patients. She can also provide information on gender- and sexuality-related issues in Tanzania, including LGBTQ+ issues, traditional gender roles, some ethnic groups’ specific practices related to gender (including marriage practices, female genital cutting, relationships between families of married couples, polygamy, child rearing, etc.)

Associate Professor, PhD in Modern History and Political Thought, Lecturer in University, Mentor, Dean Of college.

The Expert is an Advocate from Bangladesh, holding substantial fieldwork experience within the country. She earned her LLB (Hons) from the University of London and completed her LLM (Master of Law) with a specialization in Victimology and Restorative Justice at Dhaka University.

She has attended various training programs, including "Transitional Justice in Asia and Participatory Research Tools with Survivors" organized by the Centre for the Study of Genocide and Justice, and "Human Rights and Gender Relation Analysis" organized by Ain o Shalis Kendra. Her expertise lies in Bangladeshi society and culture, particularly in the realms of Bangladeshi politics, human rights (focusing on gender and sexuality), and the rights of religious minorities (Hindus, Christians, Atheists). `

The Expert has actively contributed to research, advisory, and consultancy projects in Bangladesh, concentrating on formal and informal justice systems, freedom of speech, political rights, anti-corruption measures, violence against women, and minority rights. She maintains a robust network of experts throughout Bangladesh for document verification and is available to provide oral testimony in any court or tribunal, if necessary, to support her expert opinions.

Her academic and professional qualifications include an undergraduate in Psychology (Academic year: 1997) and a postgraduate degree and training (Academic year: 1997-98 and 1999-2000) in Clinical Psychology; clinical work is diverse and covers assessment and therapy for adults and minority ethnic groups for various conditions. As a multilingual psychologist with multi-cultural experience, she can assess efficiently and provide culturally emotional sensitive service

Her employment history involves working as a psychologist:

She used to work with Nafas Drug Treatment Centre, Age Concern, Special People, Social Action for Health, The UK Centre for Counselling & Psychotherapy, London School of Psychology and Health, Flow Neuroscience and Centre for Psychological Health (She has prepared numerous well-referenced expert reports for UK institutions including the Family Court, Immigration Court, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, and Land Registry. Her work integrates factual findings with comprehensive assessments and evidence-based analysis. She has prepared over 150 expert psychological and country reports, guided by a strong commitment to ethical and professional standards.

Professional Memberships and Affiliations:

She is… Read more

Dr. Svan Elliiott has studied Moroccan gender, family, and societal relationships, human rights and people’s access to them, as well as political and legal reforms since 2006. She has also published with reputable academic peer-reviewed publishers on these topics and has undertaken extensive sociological and anthropological field research in urban, provincial, and rural areas in Morocco. From 2012 until 2022, she lived, conducted research and was employed at a Moroccan university. She has a DPhil in Oriental Studies (2013) from the University of Oxford. From August 2012 to August 2018, she worked as an Assistant Professor of North African and Middle Eastern Studies at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses on North African Politics, Middle East Politics, Gender and Politics in Modern Middle East, Gender in Society and Politics, and North Africa and the Middle East in the 20th Century. In September 2018, she was promoted to the Associate Professor rank. She was a founding and an active member of the on-campus No Violence Alliance (NoVA), a committee in charge of dealing with gender-based violence cases, such as bullying, violence against LGBTQI+, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. She has also supervised undergraduate… Read more

Dr Omer Tekdemir is an expert on the Middle Eastern region and an analyst of its legal, social, political, and cultural dynamics, providing consultancy on economic and governmental affairs. He is an Associate Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies and Associate Head of School at the School of Law. He holds a PhD from the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University (2013), and an MA in Contemporary Political Theory and International Relations from the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Westminster, London.

Dr Tekdemir is the Managing Editor of the open-access journal New Middle Eastern Studies and has previously held the role of convener of the British International Studies Association (BISA) working group on Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Asian Studies. His research interest lies in violence, terrorism, security, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, post-conflict societies, nationalism, identity, democratization, populism, migration, diaspora, stateless peoples, and transnational justice, with a particular focus on the Kurds and Middle East. He is the author of a book on the Kurds and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes.

Yihenew Alemu Tesfaye holds a PhD in Applied Anthropology, specialization in Medical Anthropology, from Oregon State University, USA. Since 2019, Yihenew has been working as a visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Gondar (UoG) and Bahir Dar University (BDU), Ethiopia. From 2022 to 2024, Yihenew worked as Professor of Anthropology in the U.S. Ambassador’s Distinguished Scholars Program (ADSP) in Ethiopia based at BDU and Dire Dawa University (DDU). For the last fifteen years Yihenew has been engaged in several multidisciplinary research projects including bio-cultural and medical anthropology, public health, water satiation and hygiene (WASH), food and water insecurity, community health workers, and inter-communal conflicts in Ethiopia and Kenya. Yihenew co-authored well over twenty-five journal articles and two book chapters. Yihenew’s research interests include anthropology, public health, inter-communal conflicts, implementation science, social determinants of health, maternal and child health, food and water insecurity, community health workers, political economy, political ecology, sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia and Kenya) and the USA.   

I am a specialist in the history and anthropology of West Africa, especially related to conflict, gender-based violence, and traditional harmful practices. For the past 17 years I have lived and worked across West Africa, in particular Liberia and Ghana, as well as Benin, Burkina Faso, and Côte d'Ivoire. Since 2019 I have worked as the Director of an Oxfordshire-based research company, Résolu Ltd. Prior to this, I held positions as Assistant Professor in Gender Violence at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Tutor in Gender, Geography & Environment at University of Oxford, and various other roles related to gender-based violence research in West Africa. My work has been published in Routledge, Third World Quarterly, and Democracy In Africa. I completed my DPhil at University of Oxford School of Geography and the Environment in 2016.

An accomplished Senior Analyst with 20 years of extensive experience spanning Latin America, Australia, the United States, and Europe, supported by interdisciplinary training in economics, political science, sociology, and international affairs. Currently Faculty Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University after two years as Research Fellow at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota and two years as Senior Policy Fellow at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. Before returning to the US in 2019, I have been for a decade Associate Professor of Sociology at the National University of Colombia in Bogota and have directed for four years the Center for Social Studies at the same university. I have spearheaded technical cooperation initiatives focused on democracy-building and my work has involved community mobilization and outreach in Colombia, particularly on counter-radicalization and narrative transformation. I have engaged in collaboration with civil society, media, business sectors, policymakers, and academic institutions and have linked local efforts with regional and global initiatives, facilitating alliances at national, regional, and international levels. My role has also included… Read more

Dr. Tran Thi Lan Anh (PhD in Law) has worked as a senior official for the Vietnamese Government. Expert holds PhD in Law from the School of Law, University of Leeds and worked as post-doctoral researcher on human rights here.

Dr. Tran Thi Lan Anh is also an expert on various aspect of Vietnam in include the socio-economic system, legal regime, human rights, political regime, women and children, and human trafficking. This expert has written many expert reports and made numerous appearances at the court as an expert witness.

Kathy Trang acquired her doctoral training in biological anthropology from Emory University and is an Associate Research Scientist at NYU and incoming Postdoctoral Fellow in the Dept. of Psychology at Yale University. Her research focuses on characterizing heterogeneity in post-traumatic stress and treatment outcome among high-risk populations in Vietnam, Jordan, and Bangladesh. 

Anthropologist and qualitative researcher with over a decade of experience conducting research with vulnerable populations. Specializing in participatory, ethical, and mixed methods research with lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ+) women and LGBTIQA+ groups; human rights; SOGI inclusion; intersectional data analysis; sexual and gender-based violence; sexual and reproductive health and rights; NGOs and community-based organizations; HIV/AIDS programming; and inclusive and diverse programming in development and nonprofit interventions.

Noah Tucker is senior research consultant for the Oxus Society, an associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard and held the Handa Studentship at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews (Scotland) from 2021-2024.  He was previously Executive Editor for the Not in Our Name film and television series, the first region-wide project designed to prevent violent extremism in Central Asia through community dialogues in areas most directly affected by recruiting to Syria. Noah has worked as a consultant to programs supporting and evaluating programs for returnees from the Syrian conflict in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for the US State Department and USIP. He has worked broadly on collaborative projects for government, academic and international organizations to identify the way social and religious groups affect political and security outcomes in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Recent publications include “Uzbek Women in the Syrian Conflict: First-Person Narratives and Gendered Perspectives on Mobilization and De-Mobilization.” Noah has worked on Central Asian issues since 2002—specializing in religion, national identity, ethnic conflict and social… Read more

Dr. Rano Turaeva-Höhne brings a rare combination of academic excellence and hands-on field expertise across post-Soviet, Central Asian, and conflict-affected regions. Her fluency in multiple languages and deep cultural insight make her exceptionally effective in navigating complex socio-political landscapes. With over 200 expert reports, a rich portfolio of publications in leading journals, and a strong record in policy advisory and teaching, she delivers both analytical depth and actionable solutions. Her work on migration, identity, and informal economies is internationally recognized and directly informs policy and practice. Dr. Turaeva is not only a subject-matter expert but also a dynamic and reliable professional who adds strategic value to any team. She would be an outstanding asset to any organization looking for deep regional knowledge, intellectual rigor, and real-world impact.

The Expert is a Barrister-at-Law of England and Wales. The Expert is a practicing Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He holds the position of Head of Chambers at "LexAria and Jurists" (link : https://lexariaandjurists.com/) , and President at "Justice for All', with nearly a decade's experience in legal practice. The expert regularly moves before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh for various matters including Writ (Judicial Review), Criminal and Civil Appeal and Revision, Bail Petition, Intellectual Property, Company Matter, Inheritance, Public Interest Litigation, Muslim Personal Law, Succession Law, Hindu Law, etc.

As a practicing Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the expert is legally qualified to verify any legal documents including case, GD, judgments and other relevant documents, and check records from the government office of Bangladesh including Courts and Tribunals unless restricted by the law or relevant office. 

Parallel to his legal pursuits, the expert is the Legal Affairs and Political Editor of The Daily Campus and columnist. Accumulatively, he possesses over 18 years of sustained experience as a Journalist in Bangladesh, having written extensively on a broad range of issues, including human rights, the criminal justice… Read more