APHRODITE PAPACHRISTODOULOU

ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ ΠΑΠΑΧΡΙΣΤΟΔΟΥΛΟΥ

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Dr Aphrodite Papachristodoulou is Lecturer in International Human Rights Law at the University of Cyprus, Department of Law. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway, where she previously held a two-year Post-Doctoral Fellowship focusing on AI technologies in maritime border and migration management (2022–2024). She holds a Law degree from the University of Southampton, a Master of Laws in Maritime Law from University College London, and a PhD in Law from University College Dublin, awarded with no corrections. Her doctoral thesis was nominated for the University College Dublin College of Social Sciences and Law Máire de Paor Award for the best PhD thesis.

Dr Papachristodoulou was called to the Cyprus Bar in 2016 and often combines her academic work with human rights consultancy for NGOs, international organisations, and public authorities. In 2025, she served as an expert scientific associate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, providing legal and research support on human rights matters concerning the Council of Europe and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. In June 2025, she was selected to provide human rights consultancy for the National Preventive Mechanism of Cyprus in cooperation with the Council of Europe.

She publishes on international law issues including migration, extraterritorial human rights jurisdiction, maritime security and border technologies. She is the author of the monograph Protection of Human Life at Sea in International Law: Rescuing Maritime Migrants (Routledge, 2025). Her work has appeared in leading academic journals, edited volumes, and international media outlets, including The New York Times. She has held various prestigious visiting fellowships internationally, including as Academic Visitor at the Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford (2023), and as Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School, Harvard University (2024). Her standing in the international scholarly community is further reflected in her election to the International Law Association Committee on the Protection of People at Sea (Irish Branch) and to the COST Action BlueRights 'Life, liberty and health: ensuring universal protection of human rights at sea' Management Committee, representing Cyprus (2024–2028).

My research focus falls broadly in international law, particularly the areas of the law of the sea, human rights, migration and refugee law, AI border technologies, and legal theory.

I am particularly interested in projects that span these fields, especially maritime migration, maritime vessel tracking innovations in international law including AI, the law of the ECHR as well as the application of human rights at sea and beyond the territorial boundaries of the state more broadly.

Books

Protection of Human Life at Sea in International Law: Rescuing Maritime Migrants (Routledge, Law and Migration series 2025) 222pp.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘M.A. and Z.R. v Cyprus: ECtHR ‘Pushing Back’ on Pushbacks? Debunking Readmission Agreements and Upholding the Rights of Maritime Migrants’ (2025) 1 European Human Rights Law Review, 97-105.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘Euphemisms of Success: Unpacking the Dark Realities of AI Technology in European Border and Migration Management’ (2025) 16(2) European Journal of Legal Studies, 117-154.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘The Exercise of State Power over Migrants at Sea through Technologies of Remote Control: Reconceptualizing Human Rights Jurisdiction’ (2024) 73(4) International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 931-961.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘The Recognition of a Right to be Rescued at Sea in International Law’ (2022) Leiden Journal of International Law, 1-20.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘Migrants at Sea Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic: The Perfect Pretext for Endorsing à la carte Respect for Human Rights’ (Intersentia, 2021) European Yearbook on Human Rights 2021, 259-284.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘Mediterranean Maritime Migration: The Legal Framework of Saving Lives at Sea’ (2020) 20 UCD Law Review, 87-112.

Chapters in Edited Volumes

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘Out of sight, out of mind?’ Migrant deaths and disappearances at sea and the interplay between the law of the sea and human rights obligations’ (4^th, ASCOMARE Yearbook on the Law of the Sea, 2025) in Pierandrea Leucci and Ilaria Vianello (ed.), ‘Humanity across the waves: Exploring the interplay between the law of the sea and human rights law’, 335-375.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘Border Deaths on the Rise? Navigating Risk through Technologies of Control’ in Alla Tymofeyeva, Adam Crhák et al, New Technologies in International Law (RW&W Science & New Media, Passau-Berlin-Prague, 2024) 210-220.

Policy Papers and Submissions

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘Is EU policy making matters worse? Towards a Human Rights Based Approach to Irregular Migration by Sea’ (4 July 2023). Policy paper available here.

Blogs

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘Shipwreck after Shipwreck’ (11 March 2024) peer reviewed blog, Verfassungsblog. Available here.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘Halfway Through 2023: A Year of Unparalleled, Avoidable Migrant Tragedies at Sea’ (21 June 2023) peer reviewed blog, EJIL: Talk!. Available here.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘The Crotone Migrant Shipwreck: A Cat-and-Mouse Blame Game and the Role of Technologies at External Borders’ (12 April 2023) peer-reviewed blog, EJIL: Talk!. Available here.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘The Ban-Opticon of Migration: Technologies at Maritime Borders and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction’ (11 May 2022) peer-reviewed blog, Border Criminologies. Available here.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘The Principle of Saving Lives at Sea: Just A Fool’s Hope’ (27 June 2019) peer-reviewed blog, International Law Blog. Available here.

Media Contributions

‘Cyprus to migrants: “The route is no longer open”’, quoted in Kathimerini Newspaper, legal opinion on the migration situation in Cyprus (October 22, 2024). Available here.

'Greek Court Drops Charges in Shipwreck That Killed Hundreds of Migrants', quoted in The New York Times as maritime expert, commenting on Greek trial on Pylos shipwreck (May 21, 2024). Available here.

‘A Superyacht Gave a Lifeline to 100 Migrants Thrown Into the Sea’, quoted in The New York Times as an expert of international law of the sea and human rights, commenting on the Pylos shipwreck of 14 June 2023 (June 21, 2023). Available here.

Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, ‘ΤΟ ΚΑΘΗΚΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΣΥΜΒΑΣΕΙΣ’ (18 June 2023) «ΤΟ ΒΗΜΑ» newspaper, legal opinion on the Pylos shipwreck (invited contribution).