Shafaq Shabahat

Country Expert on Afghanistan — Legal Researcher and Country-Conditions Expert

Summary

Legal researcher specialising in public international law, human-rights law and refugee rights, with a law degree from a leading university. Provided amicus curiae research to a High Court on Afghan refugee rights — analysing non-refoulement, the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and customary-international-law obligations — and contributed to women's-rights programming with a UN agency and a European embassy. Combines refugee-law research with country-of-origin analysis of Afghanistan and the wider South-Asian displacement context, and prepares country-of-origin research, document analysis and expert briefs to the procedural standards of the relevant jurisdiction, acting independently and impartially with an overriding duty to the tribunal. Works in native/bilingual English.

Countries of Expertise

Afghanistan; the wider South-Asian displacement context.

Details of Country Expertise

Country-conditions expertise on Afghanistan across the asylum-relevant themes central to protection claims:

• Women, minorities and at-risk groups. Treatment of women and girls under Taliban restrictions on education, work and movement; ethnic and religious minorities, including Hazaras and Shia; and individuals at risk for past association with the former government, security forces, foreign forces, NGOs or international organisations, as well as journalists, activists and human-rights defenders.
• Refugee and human-rights framework. The protection needs of Afghan nationals under public international law, refugee law and international human rights law, including non-refoulement, the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and their interaction with domestic law in the region — grounded in amicus curiae research prepared for a High Court on Afghan refugee rights.
• Afghan refugees and returnees. Displacement, forced returns and the treatment of Afghan refugees in the wider region, including the legal frameworks governing their status and the risks associated with return.

Experience

Legal researcher and in-house legal and compliance counsel with cross-border regulatory research experience across multiple jurisdictions. Has led legal research, editorial and content-compliance work for a digital-platform group; provided independent amicus curiae research to a High Court on the rights and protections owed to Afghan refugees under public international law, refugee law and international human rights law; and supported women's-rights and civil-society programming with a UN agency, a European embassy and a US government-funded civil-society programme. Delivered a keynote address on Afghan refugee rights to a student audience in January 2024, reinforcing a public-advocacy dimension alongside the amicus curiae research. Also co-leads a grassroots child-protection initiative in a security-sensitive region. Available to prepare country-of-origin research, document analysis and expert briefs, and to provide expert testimony for asylum and immigration proceedings in the UK, US, Canada and the EU, in person or online.

Languages

• English — Native / Bilingual
• Urdu — Native

Political Groups

Journalists, activists and human-rights defenders; and former officials, security personnel and others associated with the former government, foreign forces, NGOs or international organisations — at risk on the basis of political opinion, past association or activism.

Social and Vulnerable Groups

Women and girls at risk under Taliban restrictions on education, work and movement; survivors of gender-based harm; and Afghan refugees and returnees facing displacement and forced return.

Ethnic and Religious Minorities

Ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan, including Hazaras and Shia.