Lunch seminar with Vitor Furtado de Melo
Latin American Narratives in ICJ’s Advisory Proceedings (LATIN TALES ICJ)
Research Project: Tales from Latin American States at International Courts and Tribunals (LATIN TALES)
Abstract:
LATIN TALES is a research project aiming to explore the narratives and strategies employed by Latin American states in their participation before International Courts and Tribunals (ICTs), particularly in cases involving community interests. Central to this research is the concept of narratives. Beyond the traditional understanding of international law as a mere set of rules, LATIN TALES recognizes its role as a framework for international political discourse. States strategically employ narratives to shape the international system and achieve their political objectives.
Hence, LATIN TALES aims to assess how Latin American states articulate their political interests with legal narratives advanced before ICTs, and how such narratives reflect—or not—broader regional strategies and positions regarding community interests. A pilot initiative deriving from LATIN TALES investigated Global South states’ narratives in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) advisory proceedings on climate change, and the second phase of the project — LATIN TALES ICJ — focuses on advisory proceedings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
LATIN TALES ICJ begins with an analysis of state participation in ICJ’s advisory proceedings on community interests, in order to identify cases with the highest level of participation by Latin American states. As a result of this preliminary analysis, the following cases were selected for further investigation: Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change (i); Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (ii); and Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 (iii), which will be examined through a mixed-methods approach.
First, LATIN TALES ICJ will map political arenas where Latin American states discuss the topics addressed in ICJs selected cases, in order to contextualize their narratives in advisory proceedings. Subsequently, categorical content analysis and discourse analysis will be employed to quantitatively and qualitatively examine the arguments advanced by Latin American states through legal mechanisms, namely written and oral statements. The project will also conduct semi-structured interviews with government officials and/or lawyers involved in the selected cases, with the aim of understanding the strategies and political motivations underpinning legal arguments. This methodological design enables LATIN TALES ICJ to articulate political and legal positions and to detect nuances behind Latin American states’ politically contextualized narratives before the ICJ.
Meeting ID: 691 5524 2819
Passcode: 738593
Speaker bio
Vitor de Melo is a Master’s candidate in Social Anthropology at the National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (MN | UFRJ), and holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO).
He also holds an LL.B. in Law from UNIRIO. Vitor is currently a researcher at the Centre for Global Law (CPDG) at FGV Rio Law, directed by Professor Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida.