A atuação do amicus curiae como instrumento de proteção de grupos em situação de vulnerabilidade na Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos.

Abstract

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has occupied an important position in terms of strengthening the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights and considering the need that the exercise of jurisdiction turns to be legit, democratic and accessible to the people. The role of the amicus curiae, or the "friend of the court" begins to be widely disseminated as a participation and improvement of jurisdictional provision instrument, even being present in the Rules of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights since 2009. Therefore, having as a horizon the protection of vulnerable groups (ethnic, racial, gender, indigenous, migrants, sexual orientation), within the scope of actions judged by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on that matter from 2009 to 2019, it is questioned: who acted in those lawsuits as amicus curiae (institutions, NGOs, associations, specialists, etc.) and what is the nature of the manifestations brought (statistical data, theories, etc.) on them? It should be noted that the theme to be developed in the thesis, focusing on the work of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, is strictly linked to the research line of the Strictu Sensu PostGraduation Program in Social Rights and Public Policies at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul - UNISC, Contemporary Constitutionalism, as well as the area of expertise of the advisor, Professor Dr. Mônia Clarissa Hennig Leal. It is possible to make the connection as the professor works with the theme of minorities’ protection, as well as with the analysis of the performance of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Furthermore, it is also linked to the Latin-American Judicial Judgments Observatory, which has the power to examine both the internal constitutional jurisdiction and the external (international) constitutional jurisdiction represented by the Inter-American Court. Thus, through the deductive method, bibliographic research and jurisprudential analysis, at first, it is studied how the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights emerged and evolved, highlighting the competence of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights as guardian and final interpreter of the American Convention on Human Rights and the binding of their decisions to States Parties. Secondly, the study goes to the evolution of amicus curiae, from its origin to its consolidation in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Once these theoretical assumptions are understood, the thesis analyzes how amicus curiae acts in practice towards the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, by mapping the decisions made by it in the period between 2009 and 2019, observing who acted as amicus curiae and which materials are added to the lawsuit. It is concluded that the hypothesis that the figure of the amicus curiae in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights is configured as a privileged instrument of openness, dialogue, pluralization and democratization of jurisdiction, in which a third party, or institutions, NGOs, associations, specialists, etc., moved by a relevant legal and institutional interest, can bring to the lawsuit information and experience elements such as political, legal, social, cultural, technical, and economical.