75º aniversario de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos, herencia de la escuela de Salamanca

Abstract

In the sixteenth century, missionaries and theologians were closely linked. From the New World, the missionaries denounced the mistreatment suffered by the Indians, through letters and reports sent to theologians and monarchs in Spain. Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Dominican missionary, dedicated his life to the defense of the Indians. His abundant work was a forerunner of modern human rights, anthropology and contemporary NGOs. Bartolomé de Las Casas opposed Juan Gines de Sepúlveda in the Controversy of Valladolid. Francisco de Vitoria, the Spanish Socrates, founder of the School of Salamanca, wrote, among others, the famous “lessons” De Indis and De Iure belli hispanorum in barbaros. Today, he is considered the Father of the United Nations and of modern international and humanitarian law. In that context, the Monarchs enacted the first legislation in favor of the Indians: the Laws of Burgos of 1512 and the New Laws of 1542. About 4 centuries later, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man were adopted. 75 years later, what will become of the image of Bartolomé de Las Casas and Francisco de Vitoria? What will be the mark of the Burgos Laws and the New Laws?