FULL CALL FOR PAPER (Word)

Theme: Latin America and International Adjudication

On the occasion of the LASIL/SLADI Annual Meeting, to be held in Rio de Janeiro from 13 to 15 August 2015, the Interest Group on International Courts and Tribunals invites submissions in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese.  

The background to the interest group is the increasing number of international courts and tribunals at different levels of governance (universal, multilateral, regional, and sub-regional) and Latin America’s active participation and contribution to the development of international law through international adjudication.

While Latin American states have always favoured recourse to diplomatic settlement of disputes, they have also and more generally contributed to the development of international law through judicial solutions. The universal presence of Latin American states at the 1907 Second Hague Peace Conference and their contribution to the work and outcome of the conference are well known. The old debate regarding Latin American international law also demonstrates the region’s willingness to influence the creation of new international norms.

Ultimately, the decisions of sub-regional, regional and international courts have significantly affected the region, allowing the effects of international adjudication on domestic governance to become visible. The assessment of the impact of international tribunal’s decisions over the region includes the evaluation of how governments, parliaments, national courts, and other domestic actors and institutions interact with the authority of international courts.

Against this background, submissions are welcomed in three interdependent categories:

(i) the historical role of the region in the peaceful settlement of disputes through the emergence of international jurisdictions on different levels of governance (universal, multilateral, regional, and sub-regional);

(ii) the material and procedural contribution of Latin America to the development of international law through the peaceful settlement of international disputes in different levels of governance;

(iii) the legitimacy of international courts in terms of their nomination, selection, composition and independence of judges, direct and indirect access of parties to the tribunal, including the participation of civil society, internal procedure, domestic implementation and democratic accountability. The legitimacy concern also involves the impact and the effectivity of international judgments throughout the region, as well as the necessary dialogue and cooperation between international courts and national courts.

Proposals may relate to the following topics:

• The International Court of Justice
• the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
• the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and other Arbitration Tribunals
• The WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism
• the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
• the Court of Justice of the Andean Community
• the Central American Court of Justice
• the Mercosur Dispute Settlement System.

Each submission should include:

• An abstract of no more than 400 words linked to the theme of the conference
• The intended language of presentation
• A one-page curriculum vitae containing the author’s name, institutional affiliation, contact information and e-mail address. Please indicate whether you are a LASIL member
• Only one abstract per author will be considered.

 The full call for papers, including details of the submission process and publication outcomes, is available here.