Dr Mariam Aivazashvili

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 the Caucasus, Turkey, and Central Asia
Human Rights and Rule of Law Specialist
Regional Analyst on Authoritarianism and Minority Rights
Researcher on Statelessness and Citizenship

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 the Caucasus, Turkey, and Central Asia.
This includes:

• Political persecution of dissidents, opposition members, and independent journalists in authoritarian regimes
• Religious repression, including targeting of converts, non-registered religious groups, Sufi communities, and state control over religious expression
• Ethnic discrimination against Kurds, Uighurs, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks, and other minority communities
• Gender-based violence and lack of state protection for women, particularly in rural and conflict-affected regions
• Harassment, blackmail, and detention of LGBT individuals by both state and non-state actors
• Suppression of civil society, freedom of expression, and peaceful assembly
• Arbitrary detention, torture, and incommunicado imprisonment by security services
• Statelessness and denial of citizenship, especially among ethnic minorities and returnees
• Forced conscription, political blacklisting, and surveillance of returnees
• Cross-border repression and lack of effective protection for victims of transnational threats

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 across the Caucasus, Turkey, and Central Asia
• Contributor to national reports and NGO briefings on minority rights 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

Georgian (Native)
Russian (Fluent)
Turkish (Professional)
English (Fluent)
Azerbaijani (Conversational)

Religious Groups Expertise

All religious groups.

Contact Email

centralasia@thehuman-rights.com