Dr María Elena Arriaga

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► Responds to inquiries within 1 hour and delivers reports within 1-2 weeks.
► Adheres to the minimum rate that meets Legal Aid requirements.

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.
 

Winner of the Expert Witness Awards in the category of Best Immigration, Asylum & Refugee Expert Witness 2024.

Occupation

Country Witness Expert on Latin America and Central America
Human Rights Specialist
Political and Legal Researcher
Regional Analyst on State Violence and Displacement

Expertise

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 Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

This includes:

• Political persecution of opposition figures, journalists, human rights defenders, union members, and indigenous leaders.
• Religious repression and violence against minority denominations and non-Catholic faiths.
• Ethnic discrimination, especially against Afro-descendant and Indigenous groups (Wayuu, Garífuna, Aymara, Quechua, etc.).
• Gender-based violence, femicide, and structural impunity.
• Criminalisation and targeting of LGBT individuals, especially trans women and activists.
• Displacement due to violence, environmental crisis, or collapse of public infrastructure.
• Forced recruitment of youth by gangs or armed groups (maras, guerrillas, paramilitary).
• Impunity and complicity of state actors in organised violence, extrajudicial killings, and torture.
• Barriers to return for deportees and stateless individuals due to nationality documentation issues.

Experience

• Preparation of expert witness reports for asylum, immigration, and human rights cases.
• Provision of oral testimony before courts and tribunals.
• Verification and authentication of documents and country-specific evidence.
• Conducting nationality assessments, including statelessness evaluations.
• Author of regional research and publications on human rights violations in Latin America.
• Contributor to national reports and NGO briefings on displacement, corruption, and political repression.
• Expert member of The Human Rights Experts.

► Full professional experience is available in the CV. Please email us to receive the detailed expert CV.

Publications

Available upon request and detailed in the expert CV.

Languages

Spanish (Native)
English (Fluent)
Portuguese (Professional reading)

Religious Groups Expertise

All religious groups.

Contact Email

latam@thehuman-rights.com