London, United Kingdom
Country Expert — Human Rights, Political Situation & Asylum Cases
Rwanda, Burundi & DR Congo Expert — Human Rights, Political Situation & Asylum Cases
Expert at The Human Rights Experts, an international expert witness organisation.
We provide expert witness reports for asylum cases worldwide, covering human rights violations, political persecution, and systemic oppression. Our reports are trusted by lawyers, courts, and immigration authorities, in full compliance with procedural standards and tribunal requirements in the UK (CPR Part 35, Upper Tribunal PD, First-tier Tribunal IAC PD), USA (Federal Rules of Evidence), Canada, and the EU.
I provide expert analysis on all five Refugee Convention grounds — political opinion, religion, ethnicity, membership of a particular social group (including LGBT and gender-based cases), and nationality — with a focus on the following countries:
Rwanda: Rwanda presents a paradox of economic development and authoritarian governance, with the ruling party maintaining power through a pervasive system of surveillance, information control, and the suppression of any perceived political challenge. Opposition politicians, journalists, and civil society figures who question government narratives are subjected to enforced disappearance, politically motivated prosecution on charges of divisionism or genocide ideology, and assassination both domestically and abroad. The genocide ideology law, while ostensibly aimed at preventing a recurrence of the 1994 genocide, is deployed broadly to silence critics and to suppress discussion of ethnicity, effectively preventing Hutu individuals from raising legitimate grievances about political exclusion. Women's representation in formal politics is high, but domestic violence and economic dependence remain widespread, and women who challenge powerful individuals face retaliation. Same-sex conduct is not explicitly criminalized, yet LGBT individuals encounter significant social stigma, police harassment, and exclusion from employment and housing.
Burundi: Burundi's political environment remains deeply repressive following the crisis triggered by the contested 2015 presidential third-term bid, which produced extrajudicial killings, mass displacement, and the embedding of the ruling party's youth militia, the Imbonerakure, as a parallel security force operating throughout the country. Members and perceived supporters of opposition parties are subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and targeted killings carried out by intelligence services and the Imbonerakure. Ethnic identity, while publicly downplayed by the government, continues to shape political dynamics, with Tutsi individuals disproportionately targeted for surveillance and persecution. Women face widespread sexual and domestic violence compounded by customary inheritance practices that exclude them from property ownership. Same-sex conduct is criminalized, and LGBT individuals face imprisonment, social ostracism, and violence.
Democratic Republic of the Congo: In the eastern DRC, the resurgence of the M23 armed group, widely assessed to receive support from Rwanda, has dramatically escalated the conflict in North Kivu, displacing millions and producing a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering proportions. Congolese civilians in this region are trapped between multiple armed factions, each of which engages in extortion, forced recruitment, and attacks on refugee camps. Political opposition members and journalists in Kinshasa and other urban centres face arbitrary arrest and prosecution, particularly in the context of electoral competition. The Kasai region experienced severe military repression of a traditional militia uprising, with collective punishment and mass graves documented. Women throughout eastern Congo continue to endure conflict-related sexual violence on a massive scale, and LGBT individuals face both legal vulnerability and severe community hostility.
Full professional experience is available in the CV. Please email us to receive the detailed expert CV.
Available upon request and detailed in the expert CV.
All religious groups
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