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The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man is often cited as evidence of the longstanding centrality of human rights in Latin American approaches to international law. However, when the Declaration is brought into the history of inter-American regionalism, a more complex picture emerges. This article places the early codification efforts of regional human rights within the post-war construction of inter-American regional organisation. It argues that for Latin American and US elites, the priorities lay on institutional, collective security, and economic aspects. In this context, they instrumentally embraced the flexible language of human rights to advance broader regionalist visions. As a result, human rights gained ground, albeit as a contested idea. The article reveals that the post-war institutional settlement ultimately comprised a collective security apparatus, crucial for the United States, supplemented by the principle of non-intervention, vital to Latin American states, in which human rights were not central. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the significance of the Bogotá Conference in establishing the Organization of American States (OAS) and shaping inter-American regionalism, highlighting its pivotal role in post-war international relations. Topics include the historical context of Latin American multilateral ambition, the power dynamics among American states, and the diverse normative outcomes of the conference, such as treaties on dispute settlement and women's political rights.