Human Rights Policy of the Organization og American States: Philanthropic Endeavors or the Exploitation of an Ideal?

The book provides a historical analysis on the human rights policy of the Organization of American States (OAS) between 1970 and 1991. It offers new insights based on extensive research in archives and expert interviews in various countries. A description of the evolution of the inter-American system of human rights, especially the OAS human rights commission, is followed by an account of the human rights situation in the 1970s determined by military governments in the Southern Cone and US president Jimmy Carter's vow to strengthen human rights. In the 1980s, the Central American civil wars and Ronald Reagan's anticommunism affected the human rights debate within the OAS. The author finally concludes on whether the human rights policy of the OAS was successful or not, and examines the question if the human rights issue was used as a tool for political ends.