April 30, 1905 - John Humphrey - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Future Canadian human rights champion John Humphrey is born.John Humphrey was born in Hampton, New Brunswick on April 30, 1905. He became a lawyer and taught law at McGill University before being tapped for the United Nations’ first human rights division directorship. After meeting with the president’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt (who served as chair of the Human Rights Commission) in 1947, Humphrey and two colleagues took on the task of writing the first draft of a bill of rights. It would eventually become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Humphrey wrote 48 articles and after 1,400 resolutions during the course of 187 meetings, most of his ideas were accepted in the form of 30 articles on December 10, 1948. His greatest achievement may have been enshrining economic and social rights, until then regarded as practically socialism. During his 20 years with the UN, Humphrey implemented conventions that gave the declaration binding legal status. After leaving the UN to teach in Montreal, Humphrey helped launch Amnesty International Canada and the Canadian Human Rights Foundation. In 1974, he became an Officer of the Order of Canada, and on the 40th anniversary of the declaration in 1988, he became the first person awarded the UN’s Human Rights Award. Until then, the writing of the first draft had been erroneously credited to Nobel Peace prize winner Rene Cassin of France. Humphrey died in 1995.

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