Latin America’s contribution to the formation of new customary international law

About this talk

Custom is an important source of international law. The process that leads to the creation of new customary law provides an opportunity for change and evolution of the existing rules.  Through the course of history, Latin American states have attempted to defy existing international law or adapt it to their particular needs. In this effort sometimes they have succeded but they have also also faced failure. This lecture will examine the contribution of Latin America to the creation of new rules of international law in areas such as the law of the sea, international economic law and human rights.

• Speaker: Ambassador Ximena Fuentes (Ambassador of Chile to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
• Introduction: Professor Eloise Scotford (Dean, UCL Laws)
• Chair: Professor Martins Paparinskis (UCL Laws)
   

About the speaker

Ximena Fuentes, DPhil (Oxon). Ambassador of Chile to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Lawyer (University of Chile). Former Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Chile (2022-2023). Previously, she served as the National Director of the Directorate of International Boundaries and Border Zones of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2015-2022). She was Deputy Judge of the Second Environmental Tribunal of the Republic of Chile (2012-2014).

She was Agent of the Republic of Chile before the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala (Chile v. Bolivia, 2016-2022). She acted as adviser to the Government of Chile in the case regarding An obligation to negotiate access to the Pacific Ocean (ICJ, Bolivia v. Chile, 2013-2018) and in the Maritime Dispute (ICJ, Peru v. Chile 2008-2014). Representative of Chile in the Advisory Opinion Proceedings before ITLOS and the ICJ (2024-2025) on climate Change and international Law. She has participated as counsel in ICSID investor-State arbitrations: Vieira v. Chile; Quiborax v. Bolivia and Flughafen Zürich v. Venezuela.

Ambassador Fuentes is Associate Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile and former President of the Chilean Society of International Law. In January 2024, she taught at the International Academy of International Law, Winter Programme. Member of the Chilean Branch of the International Law Association.

Book your ticket for this event at: 
https://ucl-fuentes-on-customary-international-law.eventbrite.co.uk