The Jewish Trail of Tears The Evian Conference of ... - Haruth.com

The Columbian delegate cited the “Declaration of the International Rights of
Man” which, with the Covenant of the League of Nations” and the “great principles of
modern international law,” affirmed that every State bore an obligation to preserve and
protect the rights of personal liberty, property and life without regard to race, religion,
gender or language. Article 5 avowed that a government could not arbitrarily withdraw
citizenship from its nationals on the basis of religion, language or race. Such ideals were
reiterated in Article 28 of the “Declaration of the Great Principles of International Law,”
written by the Chilean jurist, Alejandro Alvarez. 9
Despite lauding the nobility and loftiness of such idealism Yepes argued that the
modern state needed to face the “question of fact.” Although a particular group of people
confronted a potentially catastrophic humanitarian crisis each nation needed to remain
cognizant of its own “particular circumstances” affecting its potential contribution to
solving the problem of forced emigration. Despite Columbia's democratic traditions and
“humanitarian feelings” the immigration of European aliens would have to be restricted
to “respectable agricultural workers who are prepared to come and work on the land” and
the nation would not “accept [or] tolerate” refugees who entered under false pretenses.
9 L’Institut de Droit International adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man on October 12, 1929.
The Declaration was drafted by Andre Mandelstam, a Russian jurist and former director of the legal office
of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1917. Following the Bolshevik Revolution he fled to Paris
where, while teaching international law, he founded the International Diplomatic Academy with Antoine
Frangulis. During November 1928 they composed a resolution, adopted by the Academy that listed state
obligations to its minorities. During 1929 the International Law Institute in New York City promulgated
the Declaration that was outlined by Mandelstam and influenced by the policies of the Soviet Government.
Non-Governmental Organizations and academics supported the Declaration during the 1930’s and called
for the international application of its principles. Judge Alejandro Alvarez (born February 9, 1868) was a
diplomat and law professor. Alvarez and Dr. James Brown Scott founded the American Institute of
International Law in 1912 and served as its first Secretary General. He later served on the International
Court of Justice after WWII.
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