Artemis Papathanassiou is Senior Legal Adviser at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Greece. She is specialized (PHD) in Public International Law. As a Legal Adviser at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she specializes on issues of international law and, in particular, on issues of international terrorism, international space law and international cultural property law.
Ms. Papathanassiou has participated and participates in a large number of bilateral and multilateral negotiations, representing her country in the UN General Assembly (Sixth Committee), UNESCO, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space(COPUOS), the IAEA, the Council of Europe and BSEC. She is the Coordinator of the negotiations within the UN General Assembly for the elaboration of the UNGA Resolution “on the Return or Restitution of Cultural Property to the Countries of Origin,” introduced every three years.
Ms. Papathanassiou is former Chairperson (2014-2016) of the Committee for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict (Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention) and former Chairperson (2011-2012) of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP). She is author of several articles on issues of international cultural property law.