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SUMMARY:The Rise of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission\, the OAS a
 nd Responses to the Cuban Revolution: Towards a Humanitarian and Geopoliti
 cal Genealogy of Human Rights in the Americas - Juan Pablo Scarfi (Univers
 idad Nacional de San Martín\, Argentina\; Visiting Professor\, Institut d
 es Hautes Études de l'Amérique Latine\, Université Paris 3)
DTSTART:20190123T171500Z
DTEND:20190123T183000Z
UID:TALK117319@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:44502
DESCRIPTION:Humanitarianism has long been deployed as a dominant language 
 in international law and world politics\, especially as a tool to justify 
 and legitimize interventions and occupations\, situations of semi-colonial
  rule and even geopolitical projects. Yet international lawyers and IR sch
 olars have tended to gloss over the connections between humanitarian and l
 iberal internationalist aspirations and geopolitical and strategic concern
 s\, based on realist assumptions about world order\, because of the binary
  distinction between idealism — and liberal international humanitarianis
 m — and realism in international law and IR theory. However\, early idea
 s of human rights in the Americas and the continental tradition of “Amer
 ican international law” have been deeply rooted in humanitarian and libe
 ral internationalist\, as well as geopolitical\, concerns since the early 
 twentieth century. \n\nThis work-in-progress paper examines the repercussi
 ons of the foundational declarations of the Organization of American State
 s (OAS) on human rights in 1948\, the projection of US Cold War concerns o
 f containing socialist regimes to the OAS\, and the geopolitical and human
 itarian responses of the US and the OAS to the Cuban Revolution (1959). Th
 ese early OAS declarations led to resolutions on the “Preservation and D
 efence of Democracy in America” and “the American Declaration of the R
 ights and Duties of Man.” The paper focuses on the emergence of the Inte
 r-American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC)\, created in 1959\, and the fin
 al exclusion of Cuba from the OAS in 1962. It argues that the institutiona
 l concerns within both the IAHRC and the OAS in their early stages were in
 formed by US-led Cold War geopolitical and humanitarian concerns\, and con
 tributed to shaping the present legal and political form of these institut
 ions.\n\n\nABOUT THE SPEAKER : Juan Pablo Scarfi is Assistant Professor of
  International Relations and International Law\, School of Politics and Go
 vernment\, Universidad Nacional de San Martín\, Argentina\; and currently
  Visiting Professor\, Institut des Hautes Études de l'Amérique Latine\, 
 Université Paris 3 (Sorbonne Nouvelle). His first monograph was The Hidde
 n History of International Law in the Americas: Empire and Legal Networks 
 (OUP 2017).\n\nABOUT THE SEMINAR : The seminar will proceed on the basis t
 hat participants have read the paper in advance. For a copy of the paper (
 available one week in advance)\, or to join the seminar mailing list\, ple
 ase contact md718.\n\nThe Legal Histories beyond the State series is an in
 itiative of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law\, the Centre for 
 History and Economics\, and the Cambridge Centre for Political Thought. It
  brings together historians\, political theorists and lawyers who are inte
 rested in the social\, economic and political dimensions of law in the ear
 ly modern and modern periods. We focus on the ways in which law and legal 
 institutions order and organize space and people. This encompasses both im
 perial and international law\, and domestic public and private law in its 
 manifold influences on the nature and form of relations across borders. We
  are interested in legal actors and institutions\, both national and supra
 national\; doctrines and concepts\, like jurisdiction\; and also diverse f
 orms of legal border-crossing\, including the migration of people\, ideas 
 and objects across time and place. Embracing new trends in legal and histo
 rical research\, we pursue the exchange of legal ideas in formal and infor
 mal contexts\, and the creation\, appropriation and interpretation of law 
 by non-traditional actors\, and in unexpected places.\n\nSome sessions wil
 l be devoted to discussion of new\, published work in the field\, and othe
 rs to the sharing of works-in-progress\, whether draft articles\, chapters
  or book prospectuses\, with a core group of scholars from a variety of di
 sciplines.\n\n
LOCATION:Lauterpacht Centre for International Law\, 5 Cranmer Rd
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