Dr. Tainá Garcia Maia
FAU Forschungszentren
FAU Forschungszentrum Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU CHREN)
90403 Nürnberg
- Email: taina.g.maia@fau.de
Tainá Garcia Maia is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (CHREN). Her current research explores the use of equality as a tool for the judicialization of poverty through a comparative study of Latin American apex courts. Other research areas in her postdoctoral work include inequality and social stratification, democracy and autocratization, and law and politics, with a focus on Latin American institutions.
Dr. Garcia Maia completed her PhD in Law summa cum laude in 2023 at the University of Münster and the Federal University of Minas Gerais, focusing on the interconnections between poverty and inequality in Brazil. She holds a Master’s degree in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights from the University of Oslo, where she was awarded a Fritt Ord Student Scholarship.
Prior to joining CHREN, she was a research fellow at the University of Münster for the ERC-Consolidator Grant project “Correcting Inequality through Law”. Her professional experience includes positions as a visiting scholar at the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court, a visiting professional at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and a special adviser at the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations in New York. She is the author of the book Judging Poverty and Inequality in Brazil (Oxford University Press, 2026).
PhD thesis
“Unveiling inequalities by tackling poverty as a matter of discrimination law: the case of Brazil in the jurisprudence of the Brazilian Supreme Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights”.
Book chapters
- Garcia Maia, Tainá. “Brazil”, “Colombia”, and “Inter-American Court of Human Rights”. In: Petersen, Niels (ed.), Equality’s Guardians: A Comparative Study on How Courts Conceptualize Equal Protection and Non-Discrimination Guarantees (OUP 2025).
- Garcia Maia, Tainá. “Translation: Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR)”. In Ruiz Fabri, Hélène (ed),The Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (OUP 2024).
- Garcia Maia, Tainá. Saliba, Aziz Tuffi (2020) “O Tribunal Penal Internacional para a Ex- Iuguslávia” [International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia], in: Saliba, Aziz; Canêdo Gonçalves da Silva, Carlos Augusto; Nasser, Salem H. (eds.) Tribunais Penais Internacionais e Híbridos (Belo Horizonte: Arraes Editores).
- Garcia Maia, Tainá. Saliba, Aziz Tuffi (2015) “Judicial Protection in States of Emergency: an Analysis of the Amplitude of Judicial Protection of Fundamental Rights During the Application of Derogations”, in: Haeck, Yves. Ruiz-Chiriboga, Oswaldo. Burbano-Herrera, Clara (eds.) The Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Theory and Practice, Present and Future (Cambridge-Antwerp-Portland: Intersentia Publishers).
Articles
- Garcia Maia, Tainá (2023) “Challenging the Use of External Sources by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights”, The International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 72(4), 977–1011.
- Garcia Maia, Tainá. Saliba, Aziz Tuffi (2023) “Aplicação extraterritorial de tratados de direitos humanos: evolução à luz de demandas de direitos humanos contemporâneas” [Extraterritorial application of human rights treaties: an evolution considering contemporary human rights needs], Suprema: Revista de Estudos Constitucionais, 3(1), 163-209.
- Garcia Maia, Tainá (2020) “Cochlear Implants in Congenitally Deaf Children: A Discussion Built on Rights-Based Arguments”, American Annals of the Deaf, 164(5), 546-559.
- Garcia Maia, Tainá (2019) “Towards an International Court against Terrorism: an analysis of the added-value of establishing such a court”, Revista Costarricense de Derecho Internacional, vol.9, 29-46.
- Garcia Maia, Tainá. Saliba, Aziz Tuffi (2013) “Restrições ao Uso de Símbolos Religiosos: uma Discussão a Partir da Jurisprudência Europeia e Canadense” [Limitations on the use of Religious Symbols: A Discussion Based on European and Canadian Judicial Decisions], Revista da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 49-98.
Others
- Blog post: “The subtle erosion of democracy in Latin America: the case of Lula in the Human Rights Committee”, EJIL:Talk!, 3 June 2022, available at: https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-subtle-erosion-of-democracy-in-latin-america-the-case-of-lula-in-the-human-rights-committee/
- Rapporteur for the Oxford Reports on International Human Rights Law (since 2021).