Part I. Negotiating Concepts and Definitions the Beginning of The

Part I. Negotiating concepts and definitions

The Beginning of the International Human Rights Era

∵ chapter 1 When Peers are Pressing for Progress: The Clash between Hersch Lauterpacht and John Humphrey over the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Eva Maria Lassen

Lauterpacht delivered a brilliant but devastating talk to the International Law Association on human rights. john humphrey, 31 August 19481

Introduction

The debates on the Universal Declaration for Human Rights that took place within the academic and intellectual circles of international law in the 1940s were less visible than those displayed on the political scene, but were nev- ertheless fierce and important. Illuminating the controversy over the crea- tion of the Universal Declaration as played out by international lawyers at the time, this chapter will focus on the debate between John Humphrey, the first Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights and an enthu- siastic promoter of the Declaration, and Hersch Lauterpacht, one of the most eminent international lawyers of the time and allegedly the most brilliant op- ponent of the Declaration. The chapter will analyse the controversy between Lauterpacht and Humphrey in the context of the debate of other international lawyers across the Atlantic, in particular the International Law Asso- ciation. The chronological development of the dispute between Lauterpacht and Humphrey will provide the framework for the analysis, with a starting point in 1942, when Lauterpacht began his work on a proposal for an Inter- national Bill of the Rights of Man. The impact of the debate on later percep- tions of the history of the Universal Declaration will be discussed. Finally, the chapter draws some parallels to the modern world in which the question of

1 John Peters Humphrey, On the Edge of Greatness: The Diaries of John Humphrey, First Di- rector of the United Nations Division of Human Rights, 4 volumes. Edited by A.J. Hobbins. Fontanus Monograph Series 4, 9, 12 and 13, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal 1994-2001. (Vol I, p. 1994, p. 36).