Santa Cruz, Hernan

Hernán Santa Cruz was a delegate in the drafting committe of the Human Rights Commission and the Third Committee. He held no position of responsibilty, but his political and substantive contributions were such that both Humphrey in his memoir and Morsink through his review of documents single out the important role he played. Before joining Chile's UN delegation, Santa Cruz served as a judge on Chile's Superior Military Court. Prior to that he had taught criminal procedure and military procedure at various military academies. Santa Cruz had supplied one of the initial drafts with which Humphrey worked, and he was particularly attached to provisions about socioeconomic rights. Particularly in the drafting stages, Santa Cruz was vigilant in his defense of these rights and stepped in with persuasive arguments when North Atlantic nations sought to trim them back. Morsink credits Santa Cruz' intellectual attachment to socioeconomic rights as one of the important reasons why the 1948 Declaration ultimatly transcended eighteen century Enlightenment philosophy.

From, WALTZ, Susan, ‘Universalizing Human Rights: The Role of Small States in the Construction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’, in Human Rights Quarterly 23 (2001), at p.60.

From, WALTZ, Susan, ‘Universalizing Human Rights: The Role of Small States in the Construction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’, in Human Rights Quarterly 23 (2001), at p.60.