Anna Petrig

Professor Anna Petrig holds the Chair of International Law and Public Law at the University of Basel in Switzerland. She was previously a professor at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Anna has been awarded a Ph.D. in the field of the Law of the Sea and Human Rights Law from the University of Basel and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where she studied as a Fulbright scholar. Anna is a member of the Bar of the Canton of Berne (Switzerland) and of the New York State Bar (USA). Her broad legal experience includes work in private practice, the courts, and the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Her articles and book chapters cover a wide range of ocean-related topics and she is the author of several monographs and textbooks on the Law of the Sea, International Public Law and Criminal Law. She has presented her research at institutions across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

Anna has provided expert advice, oral evidence and legal counsel on maritime-related matters to the Swiss Government, the UK House of Lords, NGOs and international organisations, notably on the use of private security on board ships, the protection of underwater cultural heritage, arms trade at sea and human rights at sea. She has been a member of the Swiss delegation and the Delegation of the Comité Maritime International (CMI) to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Anna was sitting as Judge ad hoc for Switzerland on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Cases 27 and 29. Since November 2024 she is a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) nominated by Switzerland. She currently acts as a board member of the Swiss Maritime Law Association and the Swiss Society for International Law. Anna is Co-Rapporteur of the Committee on Protection of People at Sea of the International Law Association (ILA) and is Chair of the EU-fundend COST Action BlueRights (Life, Liberty and Health: Ensuring Universal Protection of Human Rights at Sea).