John Peters Humphrey: Difference between revisions

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| name = John Peters Humphrey

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| image =John Peters Humphrey (United Nation Photo Library 124931).jpg

| caption = John Peters Humphrey

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|04|30}}

| birth_place = [[Hampton, New Brunswick]], Canada

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|03|14|1905|04|30}}

| death_place = [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]], Canada

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| notable_works = First draft of the ''[[Universal Declaration on Human Rights]]''.

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| spouse = Jeanne Godreau

Margaret Kunstler

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'''John Peters Humphrey''', [[Order of Canada|OC]] (April 30, 1905 – March 14, 1995) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[law|legal scholar]], [[jurist]], and [[human rights]] advocate. He is most famous as the author of the first draft of the ''[[Universal Declaration on Human Rights]]''.

==Childhood, education and academic career==

Humphrey was born to Frank Humphrey and Nellie Peter on April 30, 1905, in [[Hampton, New Brunswick|Hampton]], [[New Brunswick]]. His childhood was touched by tragedy as he lost both his parents to cancer and he also lost one of his arms in an accident while playing with fire. Humphrey attended a boarding school where he endured teasing from other students; it is claimed that this was influential in building his character and compassion.<ref name="humphreyhampton1">[http://www.humphreyhampton.org/biography.php http://www.humphreyhampton.org/biography.php] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726162018/http://www.humphreyhampton.org/biography.php |date=2011-07-26 }}</ref>

John Humphrey applied to [[Mount Allison University]] at age 15 from the [[Rothesay Netherwood School|Rothesay Collegiate School]] and was accepted. He transferred to [[McGill University]] and lived with his sister Ruth who was a teacher in [[Montreal, Quebec]]. Humphrey graduated from McGill in 1925 where he was awarded a [[Bachelor of Commerce]] degree from the School of Commerce, part of the [[Desautels Faculty of Management]]. He promptly enrolled in a [[Bachelor of Arts]] and [[Bachelor of Law]] at McGill, graduating in 1927 and 1929 respectively. Upon graduation, Humphrey was awarded a fellowship to study in [[Paris]], sailing from Montreal on the [[RMS Aurania (1924)|RMS ''Aurania'']]. He met fellow passenger Jeanne Godreau while onboard and they were married in Paris shortly after arriving.<ref name="humphreyhampton1"/>

Humphrey returned to Montreal after the fellowship to practice law for five years before accepting a teaching position as a professor at McGill; he also enrolled in a [[Master of Law]] program, specializing in [[international law]]. During the 1930s Humphrey was considered a [[renaissance man]] with the majority of his interests in education, the arts and humanities. While teaching at McGill in the early 1940s, Humphrey met [[Henri Laugier]], a refugee from [[France]] who was working on behalf of the [[Free French]]. In 1943, Laugier moved to [[Algeria]] to teach at the [[University of Algiers]] and later became the Assistant Secretary-General of the [[United Nations]].<ref name="humphreyhampton1"/>

While at McGill University, John Peters Humphrey founded the McGill Debating Union, one of the world's most successful and prominent debate societies.

== Universal Declaration of Human Rights ==

In 1946, Assistant Secretary-General to the United Nations, Henri Laugier, appointed John Peters Humphrey as the first Director of the [[United Nations Division of Human Rights]], within the [[United Nations Secretariat]].

Humphrey was a principal drafter of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geschichte-menschenrechte.de/schluesseltexte/william-h-fitzpatricks-editorials-on-human-rights-1949/ |title=William H. Fitzpatrick’s Editorials on Human Rights (1949) |author=Christopher N.J.Roberts |publisher=Quellen zur Geschichte der Menschenrechte |accessdate=November 4, 2017 }}</ref> After consulting with the executive group of the Commission, chaired by [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], Professor Humphrey prepared the first preliminary draft of what was to become the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]]. On the night of December 10, 1948, the [[UN General Assembly|General Assembly]] unanimously adopted the Declaration, dubbed by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt as "the international [[Magna Carta]] of all humankind."

== Career in the United Nations ==

Humphrey remained with the UN for 20 years. During this period, the oversaw the implementation of 67 [[international convention]]s and the [[constitution]]s of dozens of countries. He worked in areas including the [[freedom of the press]], [[United Nations Commission on the Status of Women|status of women]], and [[racial discrimination]]. In 1988, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration, the [[United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights|UN Human Rights award]] was bestowed on Professor Humphrey.

In 1963, he proposed the idea of a United Nations [[High Commissioner for Human Rights]]. While the idea was initially received quite positively, it was only after more than thirty years, under [[United Nations Secretary General|Secretary-General]] [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali|Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali]], that the office became a reality.

== Later life ==

Humphrey retired from the UN in 1966 to resume his teaching career at McGill University. He remained active in the promotion of human rights in Canada and internationally for the rest of his life.

He served as a director of the [[International League for Human Rights]]; served as a member of the [[Royal Commission on the Status of Women]]; a member of the team that launched [[Amnesty International]]'s chapter in Canada; and, with colleagues from McGill University, was instrumental in creating the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, now renamed [[Equitas]]. He took part in a number of international commissions of inquiry, including a mission to the [[Philippines]] investigating human rights violations under [[Ferdinand Marcos]] and the International Commission of Inquiry into the [[Holodomor|1932-33 Famine]] in [[Ukraine]]. At the UN he sought compensation for [[Korea]]n women forced to act as [[Sexual slavery|sex slaves]]. He also campaigned with [[the War Amps]] for reparations for Canadian [[prisoners of war]] under Japanese captivity.

In 1974, he spoke in opposition of Bill 22, the [[Quebec Language Law]]. He testified on July 19, 1974 that English was also an official language in the province, despite the proposed law. Together with [[F. R. Scott|Frank R. Scott]], [[Irwin Cotler]] and four other McGill professors, he said:<ref>{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=William|title=English-speaking Quebecers must wake up and defend their rights|url=http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=9f05bde7-f404-4065-9d97-b1c68fdb264a&p=1|accessdate=11 May 2015|newspaper=Montreal Gazette|date=31 August 2007}}</ref>

<blockquote>Section 1, which provides that French is 'the official language of the province of Quebec,' is misleading in that it suggests that English is not also an official language in Quebec, which it is by virtue of Section 133 of the [[BNA Act]] and the federal [[Official Languages Act (Canada)|Official Languages Act]].&nbsp;... No legislation in the National Assembly proclaiming French the sole official language in the province can affect these bilingual areas protected by the BNA Act.</blockquote>

Two years after the death of his wife Jeanne in 1979, Humphrey married Montreal physician Margaret Kunstler, herself a widow. John Peters Humphrey died on March 14, 1995, at the age of 89 in Montreal.

== Honours and recognition ==

Among his many honors, Professor Humphrey was made an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]] in 1974, "in recognition of his contributions to legal scholarship and his world-wide reputation in the field of human rights". In 1985 he was made an Officer of the Ordre nationale du Québec.

The ''John Peters Humphrey [[Model United Nations]]'' is held in his honour every May in [[Fredericton]], [[New Brunswick]]..

Since 1988, the [[McGill University Faculty of Law]] has held the John P. Humphrey Lectureship in Human Rights, an annual lecture on the role of international law and organizations in the worldwide protection of human rights.<ref>McGill University, [https://www.mcgill.ca/humanrights/events/lectureships Lecture series in human rights]</ref>

In September 1998, Nelson Mandela unveiled a commemorative plaque to Humphrey at the Human Rights Monument, Ottawa, as part of Canada's tribute on the sixtieth anniversary of the Declaration.

The [[John Humphrey Freedom Award]], presented by the Canadian human rights group [[Rights & Democracy]], is awarded each year to organizations and individuals around the world for exceptional achievement in the promotion of human rights and democratic development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dd-rd.ca/site/humphrey_award/index.php?subsection%3D%26lang%3Den |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2007-02-04 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230052/http://www.dd-rd.ca/site/humphrey_award/index.php?subsection=&lang=en |archivedate=2007-09-27 |df= }}</ref>

In June 2008, a memorial to Dr. Humphrey was unveiled in his hometown of [[Hampton, New Brunswick]]. The memorial, located just a few hundred yards from his childhood home, consists of a UN-style wooden bench with a young and old Humphrey seated. Several brass doves sit on the end of the bench, which sits beside two tall stone plinths, one of which has several articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights carved into it in English, French and Maliseet. The memorial sits on the front lawn of the County Court House in the center of the town.

== Bibliography ==

* Humphrey, John Peters, ''Human Rights and the United Nations: A Great Adventure'' (New York: Transnational Publishers, 1984) (autobiography)

==See also==

*[[List of civil rights leaders]]

==References==

<references/>

==Sources==

* ''On the Edge of Greatness: the Diaries of John Humphrey, First Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights'', 4 volumes. Edited by A.J. Hobbins and published as Fontanus Monographs 4, 9, 12 and 13. Montreal, [[McGill-Queen's University Press]]. 1995-2001. {{ISBN|0-7735-1458-9}}, {{ISBN|0-7735-1456-2}}, {{ISBN|0-7735-1454-6}}, {{ISBN|0-7735-1383-3}}.

* Hobbins, A.J. and Steward, A. “Humphrey and the quest for compensation: Individual claims against States and the creation of new international law.” ''Canadian Yearbook of International Law,'' ''2003''. XLI (2004). pp.&nbsp;187–223.

* Hobbins, A.J. “Humphrey and the High Commissioner: the Genesis of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.” ''Journal of the History of International Law.'' III (2001), pp.&nbsp;38–74

* Hobbins, A.J. “Mentor and Protégé: Percy Corbett’s relationship with John Peters Humphrey.” ''Canadian Yearbook of International Law, 1999.'' XXXVII (2000), pp.&nbsp;3–56.

* Hobbins, A.J. "René Cassin and the Daughter of Time: the First Draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights". Fontanus II (1989) pp.&nbsp;7 26.

* Hobbins, A.J. and Boyer, D. “Seeking Historical Truth: the International Commission of Inquiry into the 1932-33 Famine in Ukraine. ''Dalhousie Law Journal.'' XXIV (2001), pp. 139-191

* King, J and Hobbins, A.J.. “Hammarskjöld and Human Rights: the Deflation of the UN Human Rights Programme, 1953-1961.” ''Journal of the History of International Law.'' V (2003), pp.&nbsp;337–386.

==External links==

*[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/john-peters-humphrey/ Canadian Encyclopedia - John Peters Humphrey]

*[http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10219 Historica Video Minutes - John Humphrey]

*[http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=13579 Historica Radio Minutes - John Humphrey]

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[[Category:1905 births]]

[[Category:1995 deaths]]

[[Category:Canadian diarists]]

[[Category:Canadian legal scholars]]

[[Category:McGill University alumni]]

[[Category:Mount Allison University alumni]]

[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]

[[Category:People from Hampton, New Brunswick]]

[[Category:United Nations officials]]

[[Category:McGill University Faculty of Law alumni]]