Abstract

Brazil has historically advanced what has been labelled a “territorialist” agenda for the uses of the sea, having defended extended rights and powers for the coastal State over waters adjacent to the shore. A well-known Brazilian stance has been to adjust the Sao Pedro and Sao Paulo Archipelago (ASPSP) to the definition of “island” pursuant to Article 121 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), so that it generates an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and a continental shelf of its own. Certain of such a right, Brazil has established a massive marine protected zone within the entirety of the Archipelago’s EEZ. Nonetheless, the recent arbitration award granted in the dispute between the Philippines and China over the South China Sea has endorsed new understandings on the regime of islands, which could eventually counter Brazilian interests regarding the Archipelago. Thus, the present contribution problematizes the position of Brazil amidst possible controversies prompted by the aforementioned arbitration award, whilst aiming to ascertain the consequences of recent jurisprudential findings concerning the concept of “island”, and glimpses into the future of Brazil’s position regarding the rights generated by the Archipelago.

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