American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man

The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, also known as the Bogota Declaration,[1] was the world's first international human rights instrument of a general nature, predating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by less than a year.

American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
SignedApril 1948
LocationBogotá, Colombia
Effective2 May 1948
Full text
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man at Wikisource

All men are born free and equal, in dignity and in rights, and, being endowed by nature with reason and conscience, they should conduct themselves as brothers one to another.

— Preamble, American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man

The Declaration was adopted by the nations of the Americas at the Ninth International Conference of American States in Bogotá, Colombia, on 2 May 1948,[2][3] where we can find most of its travaux préparatoires; the conference and declaration was led and designed chiefly by United States public servants.[4][5] The same conference adopted the Charter of the Organization of American States and thereby created the OAS.

Chapter One of the Declaration sets forth a catalogue of civil and political rights to be enjoyed by the citizens of the signatory nations, together with additional economic, social, and cultural rights due to them. As a corollary, its second chapter contains a list of corresponding duties. As explained in the preamble:

"The fulfillment of duty by each individual is a prerequisite to the rights of all. Rights and duties are interrelated in every social and political activity of man. While rights exalt individual liberty, duties express the dignity of that liberty."

Although strictly speaking a declaration is not a legally binding treaty, the jurisprudence of both the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights holds it to be a source of binding international obligations for the OAS's member states. While largely superseded in the current practice of the inter-American human rights system by the more elaborate provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights (in force since 18 July 1978), the terms of the Declaration are still enforced with respect to those states that have not ratified the convention, such as Cuba, the United States, and Canada.[6]

References
  1. Morsink, Johannes (1999). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Origins, Drafting, and Intent. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 131. ISBN 0-8122-3474-X.
  2. "American declaration of the rights and duties of man". Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  3. "American declaration of the rights and duties of man". Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  4. "Pan-American conferences 1826-1948". Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  5. Paúl, Álvaro (2017). Los trabajos preparatorios de la Declaración Americana de los Derechos y Deberes del Hombre y el origen remoto de la Corte Interamericana. Mexico: Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas UNAM. p. 1. ISBN 978-607-02-9613-0.
  6. ":: Multilateral Treaties > Department of International Law > OAS ::". www.oas.org. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
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