DECLARAŢIA AMERICANĂ A DREPTURILOR ŞI ÎNDATORIRILOR OMULUI: UN CREUZET AL UMANISMULUI LATINO-AMERICAN
THE AMERICAN DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MAN: A CRUCIBLE OF LATIN AMERICAN HUMANISM

Summary/Abstract: Adopted on May 2, 1948, in Bogotá, Columbia, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man is the world’s very first major international document on human rights. It preceded the United Nations’ famous Universal Declaration of Human Rights by seven months. With its syncretic blend of modern jusnaturalism and Latin American social philosophy, the Bogotá Declaration can truly be regarded as one of the most distinctive human rights instruments ever adopted by an international organization. The original purpose of its main drafter – the Inter-American Juridical Committee – was to design an instrument that would have the normative status of a convention, and thus compel Contracting States to ensure adequate implementation of human rights standards. However, being unable to surpass the objections based on State sovereignty, the hemispheric governments chose not to make the American Declaration binding on its signatories, nor did they create any institutional machinery for the faithful observance of fundamental rights and liberties. While originally devoid of binding character, the 1948 Declaration has nevertheless turned out to be the cornerstone of the inter-American human rights system. Its significance was, in fact, constantly reaffirmed in the jurisprudence of the two bodies charged with furthering respect for fundamental liberties throughout the Western Hemisphere. On the assumption that no State in the region should remain outside the scope of human rights norms, both the Court and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have granted the 1948 Declaration an ex post facto legal value. In other words, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man is a genuine source of international obligations for the States that have not yet ratified the American Convention on Human Rights.

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