Dr. Artemis Papathanassiou is Head of the Special Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. She has a PHD in Public International Law. She specializes on issues of international law and, in particular, on issues of international space and civil aviation law, international humanitarian law and international cultural property law.
She represents her country in international and regional organizations (United nations/Sixth Committee, Council of Europe, UNESCO and UN-COPUOS). She is the Coordinator of the negotiations within the UN General Assembly for the elaboration of the triennial UNGA Resolution on the “Return or Restitution of Cultural Property to the Countries of Origin.” She is designated Mediator in the UNESCO List of Mediators and Conciliators for international cultural disputes. She is f. Chairperson of the Committee of the 2nd Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and f. Chairperson of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP), where she represents the MFA of Greece in the negotiations between Greece and the UK concerning the difference over the Parthenon Marbles. She is author of several articles on issues of public international law and, in particular, international cultural property law.