Dr. Guita G. Hourani is an independent consultant following an academic career as a professor and researcher. She is a recognized migration specialist and expert witness in legal migration cases, holding a Ph.D. from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Dr. Hourani currently serves as an Expert on Citizenship for the European Union Democracy Observatory and holds senior research appointments at her alma mater in Japan and at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) in Lebanon. As a consultant, she worked on projects for ILO, IOM, UNDP, the EU among others. Her research is widely recognized for spotlighting marginalized populations—such as Kurds in Lebanon, Ukrainian women in Lebanon, Lebanese migrants in Gulf countries, Lebanese returnees, Syrian refugees, and parents of Lebanese emigrants—and for shaping migration policy through grounded, field-based scholarship. She was also the founding director of the world’s first academic center dedicated to Lebanese migration and diaspora studies.
Statelessness & Lack of Nationality Documentation
Deportees/Criminal Deportees
Ethnic Discrimination Or Persecution
Honor-Based Violence
Political Persecution
Prison Conditions
Religious Discrimination Or Persecution
Risk Of Retaliation
Risk of Return
Sexual Abuse/Assault
Torture
Trafficking
LGBTQ
Child Protection/Child Abuse
Gender-Based Violence/Domestic Violence /GBV
Disability
Document Authentication
Forced Marriage
Ex-Combatant Reintegration
Likelihood Of Destitution Or Homelessness
Military/Police Service
Sufficiency Of Protection
- Provided expert witness testimony, reports, and affidavits to legal professionals and law firms specializing in cases involving asylum, deportation, extension of stay, disputed nationality, naturalization, change of status, and family law.
- Offered legal consultation services to national refugee institutions, human rights attorneys, and individuals regarding cases involving unregulated Lebanese or Palestinians, as well as Syrians, Kurds, Iraqis, Sudanese, Somalis, and others who have migrated from Lebanon to foreign countries.
- Provided expertise across various jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, the USA, Canada, Australia, and Egypt, addressing immigration matters pertaining to Lebanese, Palestinians, Kurds, Syrians, Iraqis, Sudanese, and other nationalities.
- Served as the inaugural national Country of Information (COI) for the Fahamu Refugee Programme and subsequently for The Rights in Exile Programme from 2013 to 2020, delivering legal counsel and insights as described above for more than 400 cases.
- Authored comprehensive reports on the socio-political, legal, and economic landscape of Lebanon.
- Turbulent Borders, Displaced Lives: The Christian Narrative in South Lebanon's Geopolitical Landscape. Researching Internal Displacement (RID), no. 45, 8 Oct. 2024, [link]
- Field Research in Environments of Insecurity: Experience from Lebanon, The Journal of Asian and African Studies, No. 98, September 2019, [link].
- State Security and Refugees: Operationalizing the ‘Ladder of Options’ by the Government of Lebanon, Middle East Journal Of Refugee Studies, (DOI: 10.12738/mejrs.2018.3.2.0004), Vol.3 Number 2, June 2018, [link].
- The Kurds of Lebanon: Survival and Resilience of an Ethnic Minority, in Survival Strategies of Minorities in the Middle East: Studies on Religious and Politico-Social Minority Groups in Middle Eastern Societies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, Japan, December 2021, [link].
- Integration Policies: The View from Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries, The Case of Lebanon, by Guita Hourani, seminar at the invitation of the Euro-Mediterranean Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration (CARIM) and financed by the European Commission MEDA Program – Europe Aid Cooperation Office AidCo), Tunis, 12–16 December 2005, [link].
- Social Dialogue in Lebanon - Regulations and Realities of Social Dialogue (SOLiD II), BusinessMed, European Union External Actions, Tunisia, 2021, English [link] DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.26342500 Arabic DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.24785370 [link].
- Access to Information in Lebanon: A Survey Report, The Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA), Carthage Center for Research and Information (CCRI), partially funded by the World Bank, Lebanon 2012, [link].
- Migration Intentions of the Iraqi Refugees in Lebanon, with Kamal Abou Chedid, et al., Commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 2010.
- Transit Migration of the Iraqi Refugees in Lebanon, with Kamal Abou Chedid, Guita Hourani, et al., Commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 2010.
- Insecurity, Migration, and Return: The Case of Lebanon Following the Summer 2006 War, Guita Hourani. Published by the Euro-Mediterranean Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration (CARIM), 2007, [link].
- The Kurds in Lebanon: Post-Naturalization Political Survival Strategies, The Commentaries, Volume: 2, No: 1, June 2022, pp. 63 – 76, DOI: https://doi.org/10.33182/tc.v2i1.2354, [link].
- New Lebanese Draft Law Extends the Reacquisition of Lebanese Citizenship to the Descendants of Lebanese Emigrants, The European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, 23 January 2012, [link].
- Lebanon Starts Revoking Citizenship from those who had Irregularly acquired it in 1994, [link]. The European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, as well as Background report on the 1994 Naturalization Decree, 23 November 2011, [link].
- Background Report on the 1994 Naturalization Decree, The European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, 23 November 2011, [link].