Melina Antoniadis
Member
Called England and Wales (2024)
Ontario, Canada (2020)
Practice Overview
Melina has a busy practice covering the full range of public international law, including State responsibility, human rights, treaty obligations, law of the sea, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, with a specialisation in arts and cultural heritage as well as climate change and the environment.
Melina has advised and appeared in proceedings before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the European Court of Human Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
In 2025, Melina was appointed to the Attorney General’s Public International Law C Panel of Counsel to the Crown. She is a Visiting Fellow at the Athens Public International Law Center, and an Associate Editor of the European Human Rights Reports.
Melina is also developing a commercial and international arbitration practice. In 2025, she was selected as a Pegasus Scholar of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple to undertake the Paris Bar Exchange. As part of this programme, she completed a stage at Gide Loyrette Nouel LLP, a leading international arbitration firm, where she worked on commercial and investment arbitration matters.
Melina is the founder of NOSTOS Strategies, the world’s first strategic consultancy solely dedicated to the return of cultural heritage. NOSTOS Strategies advises governments, organisations, communities, and individuals on the repatriation of cultural heritage.
Melina was called to the Ontario Bar in 2020 and the Bar of England and Wales in 2024. She is a graduate of Leiden University (LL.M, cum laude) and McGill University (B.C.L and LL.B/J.D). Melina’s LL.M thesis at Leiden University examined the rules of attribution under the ILC’s Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, within the context of investor-State dispute settlement.
Melina is Canadian-born and of Greek and Cambodian heritage.
Expertise and Experience
Melina’s areas of expertise include:
-
Arts and cultural heritage
-
Climate change and the environment
-
International arbitration
-
International criminal law
-
International human rights law
-
International humanitarian law
-
Public international law
Prior to being called to the Bar, Melina held positions at Wilmer Hale LLP in London, the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General in Toronto, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh, and the Permanent Representation of Greece at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal.
During her pupillage, Melina gained broad experience across various criminal and extradition law matters, including advocacy in the Magistrates’ Courts, Crown Courts and High Court.
Melina’s LL.M thesis at Leiden University examined the rules of attribution under the ILC’s Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, within the context of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS).
Selected Matters
Instructed as counsel for the Kingdom of Cambodia in PCA Case No. 2026-35: Conciliation Proceedings between the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kingdom of Thailand Pursuant to Article 298 and Annex V of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (PCA)
Instructed as special legal counsel by an Asian State to advise on all public international law matters and legal initiatives in the context of an ongoing conflict (confidential)
Instructed by a private art collector against an art gallery in a claim under an investment and consignment agreement governed by English law (LCIA Rules)
Instructed by a company in a substantial investment claim brought pursuant to the Energy Charter Treaty (SCC Rules)
Advised the applicant in Ngoma v. France concerning a refusal to allow medically assisted reproduction following the death of the applicant’s partner (ECtHR)
Instructed by the applicant in Abdullah Malik v. Bulgaria concerning an entry ban on alleged grounds of national security (ECtHR)
Instructed as counsel for an African State in Request by the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) for an Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States with respect to the Climate Change Crisis (ACtHPR)
Advising the Kingdom of Cambodia on the recovery and repatriation of its antiquities looted during the 1970s and colonial occupation
Advised individuals of an Asian State on the destruction of cultural property and human rights (ECtHR)
Appeared as counsel for the African Union (led by Makane Moïse Mbengue) in Request for an Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change (ICJ)
Advised an African State on accountability for piracy and armed robbery at sea (confidential)
Appeared as assistant counsel for the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (led by Makane Moïse Mbengue) in Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by COSIS (ITLOS)
Advised the Republic of Vanuatu (led by Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Julian Aguon) on the UN General Assembly request for the Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change (ICJ)
Appeared as assistant counsel for the Republic of the Maldives (led by Payam Akhavan and Naomi Hart) in Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius/Maldives) (ITLOS)
Appeared as assistant counsel for the Plurinational State of Bolivia (led by Payam Akhavan and Amy Sander KC) in Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean (Bolivia v. Chile) (ICJ)
Education
2024: BPP Law School, Bar Transfer Test (Distinction)
2019: Leiden University, LL.M (Cum laude)
2017: McGill University, B.C.L and LL.B/J.D (J.W. McConnell Entrance Scholarship)
Selected Publications and Speaking Engagements
Bradley J. Gordon, Melina Antoniadis and Sokunthyda Long, ‘Cambodia’s Campaign to Recover Its National Treasures: A Unique Model of Collaborative Restitution’, 94 Fordham L. Rev. 38 (1 March 2026)
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Melina Antoniadis, ‘Human rights, climate change and remedies’ in Kristin Henrard and Michelle Duin (eds) Research Handbook on Accountability for Human Rights Violations (Edward Elgar Publishing, November 2025)
Panellist, African Union ‘Post-Advisory Opinion Workshop on the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change’ (African Union HQ, Addis Ababa, 4 November 2025)
Guest Lecturer, NYU Center for Global Affairs, ‘Climate Change and Human Rights’ Course (October 2025)
Panellist, American Society of International Law (ASIL) Asia-Pacific Interest Group, ‘New Moves for the Repatriation of Historically Displaced Cultural Property in Asia’ (March 2025)
Speaker, African Union ‘Preparatory Workshop for the ICJ Oral Hearings on Climate Change Obligations’ (November 2024)
Guest Lecturer, NYU Center for Global Affairs, ‘Climate Change and Human Rights’ Course (October 2024)
Speaker, African Union ‘Capacity-Building Workshop on the Request for an Advisory Opinion on Climate Change before the International Court of Justice’ (March 2024)
Presenter, Conference ‘Climate Change and International Law: The Promise of an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice’ - A Joint Initiative of Blue Ocean Law and Leiden University (Peace Palace, The Hague, 20-21 June 2022)
Chair, 11th Annual Conference of the Cambridge International Law Journal, Panel 1: ‘Strengthening the Role of International Courts and Tribunals’ (26 March 2022)
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Melina Antoniadis, ‘Vessel for Drowning Persons? The Standard-Setting Potential of International Human Rights Litigation in Addressing Climate Displacement’, Yearbook of International Disaster Law Vol. III (Brill, March 2022)
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Melina Antoniadis, ‘Climate Displacement and the Right to Mental Health’ in Simon Behrman and Avidan Kent (eds), Climate Refugees: Global, Local and Critical Approaches (Cambridge University Press, January 2022)