III
A Constitution for the Rights of All
What characterizes the engagement of the Philippines and France
over the last seventy years in the United Nations is a shared complicity –an abiding faith in the ability of humanity to rise above the ashes of conflict and renew itself in a quest for greater social justice and prosperity for all. An exceptional and relatively unknown example of this cooperation is the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Philippines’ General Carlos P. Romulo was a member of the first United Nations Commission on Human Rights with French Professor René Cassin that was formed in 1947. Together with other inspiring leaders of the time, such as First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States that chaired the Commission, Charles Malik of Lebanon, and P.C. Chang from China, they drafted what is perhaps the most influential document of the twentieth century, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
General Romulo, known as “Mr. United Nations,”was a leading advocate for independence of developing countries from colonialism and the right to self-determination. He would later become President of the Fourth UN General Assembly and also be the Philippines’ longest serving Secretary (Minister) of Foreign Affairs. René Cassin was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968 in recognition of his far- reaching work on human rights.
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