Tales from Latin American States in Advisory Proceedings before the International Court of Justice (LATIN TALES)

A Mixed-Method Approach for Grasping State Motivations and Strategy before ICTs

iCourts invite to a lecture with Paula Sant'Ana Strogoff.

The LATIN TALES project is designed to provide a comprehensive analysis of the narratives and strategies employed by Latin American states within the International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’). Moving beyond traditional doctrinal approaches, the research seeks to uncover the rationale and political motivations that drive these states to participate in advisory proceedings, particularly those concerning community interests. By recognizing international law not merely as a set of static rules but as a dynamic framework for political positioning, this study examines how Latin American states shape their strategies through narratives advanced before the International Court of Justice.

By examining the engagement of Latin American states with the advisory jurisdiction of the ICJ, this research investigates how these actors strategically utilize legal argumentation to shape the interpretation of international law regarding community interests. The study focuses on Latin American participation in selected advisory proceedings, namely the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965.

The study frames international courts and tribunals as multifunctional actors while adopting Latin America as its primary unit of analysis. In addition, the research employs a socio-political conception of narratives, which encompasses not only what is explicitly articulated in written and oral pleadings, but also the embodied agency of actors who produce them and the underlying structures that both enable and constrain their expression. This socio-legal framework incorporates concepts of capital and habitus, alongside political context, to interrogate how states actively instrumentalize legal language and storytelling. The sociopolitical dimension of this narrative strategy fills a significant gap in the existing literature on international law.

The project illuminates the strategic rationale driving Latin American states by analyzing written and oral statements alongside state delegation structures, while incorporating both semi-structured interviews with key state representatives and a systematic examination of the political contexts in which their legal argumentation was formulated. Ultimately, this research demonstrates how international courts serve as platforms where legal positions are mobilized to provide clarity on complex legal questions and address matters of global concern, such as climate change, self-determination, and human rights.

Bio

Paula Sant'Ana Strogoff is qualified as a Brazilian lawyer, holding an Advanced LL.M in Public International Law from Leiden University (2023) and a Bachelor's degree in Law from FGV Rio Law (2021). She previously worked at the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court and with a defence team at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. She is a researcher at FGV Rio Law's Centre for Global Law and Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on EU-Latin America Global Challenges.