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Judge Antonio Augusto Cançado Trindade

Judge A. A. Cançado Trindade
International Court of Justice
Former President
Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Biography Biography in PDF

International Law
Customary International Law
Jus Cogens in Contemporary International Law
Video | Audio
(8/7/2009, 40 minutes)

Legal Theory
The Founding Fathers of International Law
Video | Audio
(6/6/2015, 41 minutes)

La perennidad del legado de los “Padres Fundadores” del derecho internacional
Video | Audio
(27/10/2017, 47 minutes)

Regional Perspectives
The Contribution of Latin American Doctrine to the Development of International Law
The doctrine of international law has been cultivated and considerably developed in Latin America, covering distinct areas such as codification itself, peaceful settlement of disputes, the law of international institutions, among others. The importance of compliance with fundamental principles of the law of nations (such as the prohibition of the use of force, and the juridical equality of States), projected into the United Nations Charter (Articles 2 (1) and (4)) itself has been strongly emphasized.

Video | Audio
(11/11/2008, 44 minutes)

Sources of Law
General Principles of Law as a Source
of International Law
Video | Audio
(15/7/2010, 42 minutes)
International Law
Customary International Law
Jus Cogens in Contemporary International Law
A. Legal Instruments

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, 12 August 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War,Geneva, 12 August 1949, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 31.

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, Geneva, 12 August 1949, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 85.

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Prisoners of War, Geneva, 12 August 1949, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 135.

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Geneva, 12 August 1949, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 287.

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Geneva, 28 July 1951, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, p. 137.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, 23 May 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1155, p. 331, especially articles 53 and 64.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International Organizations, Vienna, 21 March 1986 (not yet in force).

International Law Commission, Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts,2001.

International Law Commission, Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, 2011.

B. Jurisprudence
C. Documents
D. Doctrine

A.A. Cançado Trindade, "International Law for Humankind: Towards a New Jus Gentium - General Course on Public International Law - Part I", Recueil des Cours, vol. 316, 2005, Chapter 5, pp. 147-176.

A.A. Cançado Trindade, "The Presence and Participation of Latin America at the II Hague Peace Conference of 1907", in: Y. Daudet (ed.), Actualité de la Conférence de La Haye de 1907, II Conférence de la Paix (Colloque de 2007), The Hague Academy of International Law/Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden/The Hague, 2008, pp. 51-85.

A.A. Cançado Trindade and A. Martínez Moreno, Doctrina Latinoamericana del Derecho Internacional, vol. I, San José of Costa Rica, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 2003, pp. 5-64.

A.A. Cançado Trindade and F. Vidal Ramírez, Doctrina Latinoamericana del Derecho Internacional, vol. II, San José of Costa Rica, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 2003, pp. 5-66.

A. Gómez Robledo, Meditación sobre la Justicia, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico/Buenos Aires, 1963.

E. Jiménez de Aréchaga, El Derecho Internacional Contemporáneo, Tecnos, Madrid, 1980.

Legal Theory
The Founding Fathers of International Law
A. Legal Instruments

Convention respecting the Limitation of the Employment of Force for the Recovery of Contract Debts, The Hague, 1907.

Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, Geneva, 28 June 1930.

B. Jurisprudence
C. Doctrine

A. A. Cançado Trindade,  “The Emancipation of the Individual from His Own State – The Historical Recovery of the Human Person as Subject of the Law of Nations,” in Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law – Liber Amicorum Luzius Wildhaber (eds. S. Breitenmoser et alii), Zurich/Baden-Baden, Dike/Nomos, 2007, pp. 151-171.

A.A. Cançado Trindade,  “Totus Orbis: A Visao Universalista e Pluralista do Jus Gentium: Sentido e Atualidade da Obra de Francisco de Vitoria,” in 24 Revista da Academia Brasileira de Letras Juridicas, Rio de Janiero, 2008, n. 32, pp. 197-212.

A.A. Cançado Trindade, “La Recta Ratio dans les fondements du Jus Gentium comme droit international de l’humanité,” 10 Revista do Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos, 2010, pp. 11-26.

A.A. Cançado Trindade, “The Historical Recovery of the Human Person as Subject of the Law of Nations,” 1 Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law, 2012, pp. 8-59.

A.A. Cançado Trindade, “Recollections of Some Vitorian and Grotian Moments Shared with Boutros Boutros-Ghali,” in Le 90eme anniversaire de Boutros Boutros-Ghali – Hommage du Curatorium à son Président / The 90th Birthday of Boutros Boutros-Ghali – Tribute of the Curatorium to its President, The Hague, Académie de Droit International de La Haye/Nijhoff, 2012, pp. 33-51.

A.A. Cançado Trindade, “Prefacio,” in Escuela Ibérica de la Paz (1511-1694) – La Conciencia Crítica dela Conquista y Colonización de América (eds. P. Calafate and R. E. Mandado Gutiérrez), Santander, Ed. Universidad de Cantabria, 2014, pp. 40-109.

A. Gentili, De Iure Belli Libri Tres. 1612 ed. [Three Books on the Law of War], vol.2, The Clarendon Press, Oxford; Humphrey Milford, London, 1933.

H. Grotius, De Jure Belli Ac Pacis Libri Tres [On the Law of War and Peace: Three Books], Carnegie Institution of Washington, vol. 2, Washington, D.C., 1913, vol. 2, trans. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1925.

S. Pufendorf, Droit de la Nature et des Gens ou Système General des Principes les Plus Importants de la Morale, de la Jurisprudence, et de la Politique, 5eme édition,Chez la veuve de Pierre de Coup, Amsterdam, 1734.

F. Suarez, Tractatus de Legibus, ac Deo Legislatore in Decem Libros Distributus, Utriusque fori Hominibus non Minus Utilis, Quam Necessarius, vol.1, Sumptibus J. Dunmore, T. Dring, B. Tooke & T. Sawbridge, London, 1679.

F. de Victoria, J. Bate (Translator), De Indis et de Ivre Belli Reflectiones [Reflections in Moral Theology of the Very Celebrated Spanish Theologian, Franciscus de Victoria], vol.1, The Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, 1917.

C. Wolff, Jus Gentium Methodo Scientifica Pertractatum [Law of Nations Treated According to a Scientific Method], vol. 2, The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1934.


La perennidad del legado de los “Padres Fundadores” del derecho internacional
A. Instrumentos jurídicos
B. Jurisprudencia

Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, El Derecho a la Información sobre la Asistencia Consular en el Marco de las Garantías del Debido Proceso Legal, Opinión Consultiva OC-16/99 del 1 de octubre de 1999, Serie A No. 16.

Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Caso de la Comunidad Moiwana Vs. Surinam, Excepciones Preliminares, Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas, Sentencia 15 de junio de 2005, Serie C No. 124, y voto razonado del juez A.A. Cançado Trindade.

Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Caso de la Comunidad Moiwana Vs. Surinam, Interpretación de la Sentencia de Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas, Sentencia de 8 de febrero de 2006, Serie C No. 145, y voto razonado del juez A.A. Cançado Trindade.

Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Caso Comunidad Indígena Sawhoyamaxa Vs. Paraguay, Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas, Sentencia de 29 de marzo de 2006, Serie C No. 146, y voto razonado del juez A.A. Cançado Trindade.

Corte Internacional de Justicia, Cuestiones relativas a la Obligación de Procesar o Extraditar (Bélgica c. el Senegal), medidas provisionales, providencia de 28 de mayo de 2009, I.C.J. Reports 2009, p. 139, y opinión disidente del Magistrado Cançado Trindade (versiones completas disponibles únicamente en inglés o francés). Véase también Resúmenes de los fallos, opiniones consultivas y providencias de la Corte Internacional de Justicia 2008-2012 (publicación de las Naciones Unidas, n.° de venta: E.13.V.9) pág. 91.

Corte Internacional de Justicia, Inmunidades jurisdiccionales del Estado (Alemania c. Italia), reconvención, providencia de 6 de julio de 2010, I.C.J. Reports 2010, p. 310, y opinión disidente del Magistrado Cançado Trindade (versiones completas disponibles únicamente en inglés o francés). Véase también Resúmenes de los fallos, opiniones consultivas y providencias de la Corte Internacional de Justicia 2008-2012 (publicación de las Naciones Unidas, n.° de venta: E.13.V.9) pág. 146.

Corte Internacional de Justicia, Conformidad con el derecho internacional de la declaración unilateral de independencia de Kosovo, opinión consultiva, I.C.J. Reports 2010, p. 403, y opinión separada del Magistrado Cançado Trindade (versiones completas disponibles únicamente en inglés o francés). Véase también Resúmenes de los fallos, opiniones consultivas y providencias de la Corte Internacional de Justicia 2008-2012 (publicación de las Naciones Unidas, n.° de venta: E.13.V.9) pág. 150. 

Corte Internacional de Justicia, Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (República de Guinea c. República Democrática del Congo), indemnización, fallo, I.C.J. Reports 2012, p. 324, y opinión separada del Magistrado Cançado Trindade (versiones completas disponibles únicamente en inglés o francés). Véase también Resúmenes de los fallos, opiniones consultivas y providencias de la Corte Internacional de Justicia 2008-2012 (publicación de las Naciones Unidas, n.° de venta: E.13.V.9) pág. 317.

Corte Internacional de Justicia, Aplicación de la Convención para la Prevención y la Sanción del Delito de Genocidio (Croacia c. Serbia), fallo, I.C.J. Reports 2015, p. 3, y opinión disidente del Magistrado Cançado Trindade (versiones completas disponibles únicamente en inglés o francés). Véase también Resumen del fallo (redactado por las Naciones Unidas).


Regional Perspectives
The Contribution of Latin American Doctrine to the
Development of International Law
A. Legal Instruments

Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. (Text of the Conventions available on the website of Yale Law School’s Avalon Project)

Treaty of Compulsory Arbitration, Mexico City, 29 January 1902.  

Convention (II) respecting the Limitation of the Employment of Force for Recovery of Contract Debts, The Hague, 18 October 1907.

Convention (XII) relative to the Creation of an International Prize Court, The Hague, 18 October 1907.

Convention for the Establishment of a Central American Court of Justice, Washington D.C., 20 December 1907.

Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice, Geneva, 13 December 1920, League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 6, p. 380.

General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy, Paris, 27 August 1928, League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 94, p. 57.

Anti-war Treaty of Non-aggression and Conciliation, Rio de Janeiro, 10 October 1933, League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 163, p. 394.

Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, Montevideo, 26 December 1933, League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 165, p. 20.

Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Francisco, 26 June 1945.

American Treaty on Pacific Settlement (Pact of Bogotá), Bogotá, 30 April 1948, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 30, p. 55.

Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America, Mexico, Federal District, 14 February 1967, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 634, p. 281.

South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, Rarotonga, 6 August 1985, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1445, p. 177.

Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, Bangkok, 15 December 1995, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1981, p. 129.

African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty, Cairo, 11 April 1996.

B. Jurisprudence

International Court of Justice, Colombian-Peruvian asylum case, Judgment of 20 November 1950, I.C.J. Reports 1950, p. 266.

C. Documents

Declaration of American Principles by the Eighth International Conference of American States, Lima, 24 December 1938.

Declaration of the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, Mexico City, 8 March 1945.

D. Doctrine

A. Bello, Principios de derecho internacional, Reimpresos por Valentín Espínal, Caracas, 1837.

C. Calvo, Le droit international théorique et pratique; précédé d'un exposé historique des progrès de la science du droit des gens, A. Rousseau, Paris, 1896.

A.A. Cançado Trindade, “International Law for Humankind: Towards a New Jus Gentium, General Course on Public International Law, Part I”, Recueil des Cours, vol. 316, 2005, p. 147.

A.A. Cançado Trindade, “The Presence and Participation of Latin America at the II Hague Peace Conference of 1907”, in: Y. Daudet (ed.), Actualité de la Conférence de La Haye de 1907, Deuxième Conférence de la Paix, Académie de Droit International/Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden/The Hague, 2008.

A.A. Cançado Trindade & A. Martínez Moreno, Doctrina Latinoamericana del Derecho Internacional, vol. I, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, San José of Costa Rica, 2003.

A.A. Cançado Trindade & F. Vidal Ramírez, Doctrina Latinoamericana del Derecho Internacional, vol. II, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, San José of Costa Rica, 2003.

A. Gómez Robledo, Meditación sobre la Justicia, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico/ Buenos Aires, 1963.

J. G. Guerrero, La Codification du droit international, La première conférence La Haye, 13 mars - 12 avril 1930, A. Pédone, Paris, 1930.

E. Jiménez de Aréchaga, El Derecho Internacional Contemporáneo, Tecnos, Madrid, 1980.

D. Uribe Vargas, La Paz es una Trégua - Solución Pacífica de Conflictos Internacionales, 3rd. ed., Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, 1999.


Sources of Law
General Principles of Law as a the Source
of International Law
A. Legal Instruments

Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice, Geneva, 13 December 1920, League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 6, p. 380.

Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Francisco, 26 June 1945.

B. Jurisprudence

Permanent Court of International Justice, The Mavrommatis Palestine Concessions, Judgment of 30 August 1924, P.C.I.J., Series A, No. 2, p. 4.

Permanent Court of International Justice, Case concerning the Factory at Chorzow, Judgment of 13 September 1928, P.C.I.J., Series A, No. 17, p. 2.

Permanent Court of International Justice, The Oscar Chinn Case, Judgment of 12 December 1934, P.C.I.J., Series A/B, No. 63, p. 64.

International Court of Justice, The Corfu Channel Case, Judgment of 9 April 1949, I.C.J. Reports 1949, p. 4.

International Court of Justice, Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Advisory Opinion of 28 May 1951, I.C.J. Reports 1951, p. 15.

International Court of Justice, Case concerning Right of Passage over Indian Territory (Merits), Judgment of 12 April 1960, I.C.J. Reports 1960, p. 6.

International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion of 21 June 1971, I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 16.

International Court of Justice, Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion of 16 October 1975, I.C.J. Reports 1975, p. 12.

International Court of Justice, Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Judgment of 27 June 1986, I.C.J. Reports 1986, p. 14.

International Court of Justice, Frontier Dispute, Judgment of 22 December 1986, I.C.J. Reports 1986, p. 554.

International Court of Justice, East Timor (Portugal v. Australia) , Judgment of 30 June 1995 , I.C.J. Reports 1995 , p. 90.

International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion of 9 July 2004, I.C.J. Reports 2004, p. 136.