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MULTILATERAL TREATIES
» AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS "PACT OF SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA" (B-32)
Preamble
The American states signatory to the present Convention,
Reaffirming their intention to consolidate in this hemisphere, within the framework of democratic institutions,
a system of personal liberty and social justice based on respect for the essential rights of man;
Recognizing that the essential rights of man are not derived from one's being a national of a certain state, but
are based upon attributes of the human personality, and that they therefore justify international protection in
the form of a convention reinforcing or complementing the protection provided by the domestic law of the
American states;
Considering that these principles have been set forth in the Charter of the Organization of American States, in
the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, and in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, and that they have been reaffirmed and refined in other international instruments, worldwide as well as
regional in scope;
Reiterating that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free men
enjoying freedom from fear and want can be achieved only if conditions are created whereby everyone may
enjoy his economic, social, and cultural rights, as well as his civil and political rights; and
Considering that the Third Special Inter-American Conference (Buenos Aires, 1967) approved the
incorporation into the Charter of the Organization itself of broader standards with respect to economic, social,
and educational rights and resolved that an inter-American convention on human rights should determine the