Arapiles, Sara

Sara Arapiles is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Law of Lund University, where she works on the ERC-funded project ‘Refugee Finance: Histories, Frameworks and Practices (REF-FIN)’. She holds a PhD and a MA in Socio-Legal Studies from the University of Nottingham, a LLM in International and European Law from the Institute for European Studies (IES) of the Free University of Brussels, and a Law Degree from the University of Salamanca.

Her main research interests lie in public international law, with a focus on human rights and refugee law, and socio-legal studies. More specifically, Sara examines how substantive human rights (such as freedom from slavery, legal personality, or international protection) are interpreted and applied in different contexts by human rights mechanisms, lawyers, and judicial bodies. She has also conducted extensive research on the human rights situation in Eritrea, and regularly acts as an expert on the country for governments and tribunals deciding on Eritrean asylum applications. Her expert reports are also used by NGOs and legal clinics for their strategic litigation work. She is also engaged with Eritrean exiled human rights organisations and supports their capacity building.

Sara is a Research Affiliate of the Refugee Law Initiative of the University of London and a member of its Working Group on Courts and Refugee Protection. She also serves on the Coordinating Committee of the Interest Group on Migration and Refugee Law of the European Society of International Law (ESIL), and on the Advisory Board of the Think Tank Europe External Programme with Africa, and is a member of the Spanish Bar Association. Sara has worked as a practitioner for international organisations such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and at local charities supporting refugees.

In addition to teaching at Oñati, Sara teaches ‘Human Rights and Remedies’ on the LLM in International Human Rights Law at Lund University and ‘Protecting Human Rights, Refugees and Displaced Persons in International Law’ on the MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies at the School of Advanced Study of the University of London. Previously, she taught EU law and public law courses on the LLB Law Programme at the University of Nottingham (2023-2024), and convened the course ‘Human Rights and its International Protection’ on the interdisciplinary Bachelor’s Degree Programme in International Relations and Global Communication at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid (2020-2023).