Individuals expertise

Varied

Over the years we have done expert witness work on thousands of detainees held within a wide variety of secure environments around the world, including:

• impoverished detainees held within low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs);

• cases arising from Embassy staff’s concern for a citizen detained in another country;

• commercial cases in both high-income countries and LMICs.

Unique

Across thousands of cases, there findings tend to fall into five categories:

• acceptable treatment when benchmarked against the Nelson Mandela Rules (NMR);

• passive ill-treatment through neglect or systems failures, such as lack of public funds to give any detainee the medication they require;

• active ill-treatment, such as specific intention to target a particular detainee;

• ill-treatment of a nature and degree that it could be said to amount to torture;

• clear case of torture as defined by the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

Still, every case revolves around a unique individual with innate worth.

Ill-treated

We find evidence of a wide array of detainee treatment - occasionally acceptably treated, frequently ill-treated, and sadly all too often ill-treated to a nature and degree that could be said to amount to torture.

We are not a statutory inspection body, and so it is up to us how to deal with the ill-treatment we see. Within shame/honour cultures, we rarely approach it head on. And we always keep the ill-treated detainee’s wishes at the heart of our decision making.

Assignments

We accept all manner of assignments, including but not limited to…

• assessing a detainee’s overall medical condition and conditions of detention, benchmarked against international standards such as the NMR;

• evaluating a detainee’s allegation of ill-treatment, benchmarked against international human rights laws including the CAT, and the European Convention on Human Rights;

• writing expert witness reports;

• giving expert evidence in court.

Standards

Our work is carried out according to The Code of Practice on Expert Evidence issued by the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine.

Fees

Our charges vary, but are always reasonable:

• humanitarian cases: no charge or travel expenses only';

• UK legal aid cases: £99/hour;

• commercial fees: up to £200/hour;

• bespoke assignments: for negotiation.

If you have a potential assignment for us, get in touch so we can talk in confidence.

Speak up and judge fairly...
Proverbs 31:9