From Conquest to Constitutions: Retrieving a Latin American Tradition of the Idea of Human Rights

Abstract:     
This article explores the historical roots of the Latin American region's strong commitment to the idea of universal human rights, focusing on four key intellectual moments: the ethical response to the Spanish conquest; the rights ideology of the continent's liberal republican revolutions; the articulation of social and economic rights in the Mexican Constitution of 1917; and the Latin American contributions to the genesis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Constructing a narrative from these examples, the article argues for the recognition of a distinct Latin American tradition within the global discourse of human rights.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

Keywords: Latin America, regional human rights, history of human rights

Accepted Paper Series