Mexico and Ecuador at the ICJ: A Plea for Taking the Latin American Experience Seriously

Abstract

In this post, we focus on Ecuador's case against Mexico and argue that Ecuador’s claims pose significant risks to the legal foundations of Latin American relations. We identify three main concerns. First, we argue that Ecuador’s arguments rely on the inappropriate precedent set by the Asylum case (1950), the first judgment of the Haya de la Torre trilogy. Second, they misconstrue the relationship between diplomatic asylum and the principle of non-intervention, a cornerstone of Latin American approaches to international law. Third, they present an interpretation of the 1954 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum that risks undermining the very institution of diplomatic asylum at a critical moment in Latin American politics.

Keywords: diplomatic asylum, ICJ, Assange, Ecuador, International Court of Justice, inviolability, Latin America, Mexico, non-intervention, Organization of American States, regional custom, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations