I’ve led ARTICLE 19’s Europe and Central Asia team since 2019 and have been the Regional Director of ARTICLE 19 Europe since March 2023. We defend the human rights to freedom of expression and information through our projects with partners and advocacy across the region. Since 2020, I have been a member of the Steering Committees of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE), the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and the grant making Legal Affairs Committee of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF). Between 2012 and 2018, I led PEN International’s policy and advocacy work, overseeing its engagement with the UN and regional human rights mechanisms and governments. I have consulted for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the OSCE and Oxford and Harvard universities on issues relating to freedom of expression, asylum and forced migration. I’m an expert at Columbia University’s Free Expression Centre and a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Oxford University and BPP Law School. I speak Spanish, Irish and a little French.

Throughout my career in free expression I have worked with IFEX and greatly admire the participatory approach of the network towards its members. I’d be honoured to sit on the Council. 

Twitter: @sarah_m_clarke