Eleanor Roosevelt, John Humphrey
| Author | A.J. Hobbins |
| Published date | 01 June 1998 |
| Date | 01 June 1998 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070209805300208 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
A.J.
HOBBINS
Eleanor
Roosevelt,
John
Humphrey
and
Canadian
opposition
to
the
Universal
Declaration
ofHuman
Rights:
looking
back
on
the
50th
annivesary
of
UNDHR.
As
ITS
FIFTIETH
ANNIVERSARY
APPROACHES,
it
would
be
natural
to
think
that
the
Universal
Declaration
of
Human
Rights,
which
Eleanor
Roosevelt
called
the
of
Mankind and
Alexander
Solzhen-
itsyn
considered one
of
the
United Nations'
greatest
achievements,
was
always
well-received
and
supported
in
Canada.
And
not
simply
because
Canadians
have
a
reputation
as
relatively
tolerant
supporters
of
the
United
Nations
and
take
pride
in
their
human
rights
record,
but
also
because
one
of
the
declaration's
principal
architects
and
advocates
was
a
Canadian.
John
Peters
Humphrey
was
the
first
director
of
the
United
Nations
Division
of
Human
Rights. At
the
request
of
the
exec-
utive
of
the
Human
Rights
Commission
(Eleanor Roosevelt,
P.C.
Chang,
and
Charles Malik),
early in
1947
he
prepared the
first
drafts
of
the
Universal
Declaration.'
During
its
early
years,
however,
the
dec-
laration
was
greeted
with
considerable
hostility
by
the
majority
of
mainstream
forces
in
Canada.
After
the
Second
World
War,
Canadians
generally
seemed
well-dis-
posed
towards
the
concept
of
an
international
bill
of
human
rights,
Associate
Director
of
Libraries,
McGill
University,
andJohn
P
Humphreys literary
executor.
i
For
a
history
of
the
first
draft
of
the Universal Declaration,
see
A.J.
Hobbins
'Ren6
Cassin and
the
Daughter
of
Time,' Fontanus
II
(1989),
7-26.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Spring
1998
A.j.
Hobbins
which
it
was
assumed
would
codity
for
all
mankind
those
civil
and
political
rights
which
were
well-established
in
North
America.
Perhaps
those
who
gave
the
matter
any
consideration
thought,
somewhat
com-
placently,
that
such
a
bill
would
be
a
good
thing,
even
if
it
was
not
nec-
essary
in
Canada.
However,
when
early
drafts
of
the
Universal
Decla-
ration
began
to
appear
in
late 1947
and
1948
they
included
social and
economic rights
along
with
civil
and
political
ones.
The
opposition
this
provoked
from
the
political
right,
from
the
business
community,
and,
especially,
from the
legal
fraternity
was
considerable.
Those
in
support
of
the
declaration
were
largely
from the
political
left
and
from
others who
advocated
world
peace
through
protection
of
human
rights
and
support
for
the
aims
of
the
United
Nations.
The
opponents
were
not
opposed
to
world
peace,
but
they
felt
that
it
was
best
achieved
through
diplomacy
and
that
human
rights
issues
caused conflict
between
nations.
2
The
adherents
of
the declaration
were
in
a
clear
minority
and
sought
ways
to
convince
their
fellow
Canadians
of
the
importance
of
the
cause.
Clearly one
asset
was
the
sympathy
of
Humphrey,
once
he
became
a
well-connected
international
servant.
The
perspective
of
two
prominent
institutions
are
given
here
through
the
words
of
their
executives
in
correspondence
with
John
Humphrey.'
Before
going
to
the
United
Nations
Humphrey
had
practised
and
taught
law
in
Montreal.
The
misery he
witnessed
during
the
Great
Depression made him
a
committed
socialist and
a
member
of
the
League
for
Social
Reconstruction
when
it
was
formed
by
his
McGill
colleague
and
mentor,
ER.
Scott.
Humphrey
left
the
League
before
the
Second World
War
because
his
interests
were
international,
and
he
found
Canadian
socialists
too
inward
looking.
He
became
active
on
the
executives
of
both
the
United
Nations
Society in
Canada
and
the
Canadian
Institute of
International
Affairs
(CIIA).
During
the
war
he
met and
became
friendly
with
an
anti-Vichy
unilingual
French
acade-
mic,
Henri
Laugier,
who
was
obliged
to
teach
at
the
Universit6
de
Montrdal
until
the liberation
of
France.
Two
years
later
Laugier
became
assistant
secretary-general
for
social
affairs
at
the
United
Nations
and invited
Humphrey
to
direct
the
Human
Rights Division.
2
This
was
the
view
of
the
United
Nations secretary-general,
Dag
HammarskjI6ld.
See
A.J.
Hobbins,
'Human
Rights
inside
the
United
Nations,'
Fontanus
IV
(1991),
143-
73.
3
The
Humphrey
correspondence
and
unpublished
diaries
are
in
the
McGill
Univer-
sity
Archives.
326
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
Spring
1998
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