René Cassin

Cassin served as the first rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights and was the principal drafter of the Declaration's final text. Working from John Humphrey's initial draft, he restructured the document, reducing it from 46 to 44 articles and giving it the form we know today . He focused especially on universality—insisting the Declaration apply to all people regardless of the regime under which they lived . Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the Commission, but Cassin was described as 'the brains and the driving force' behind the drafting .

Cassin was severely wounded in World War I, suffering chronic pain for the rest of his life . This experience led him to found the French Federation of Disabled War Veterans and campaign for the legal status of war orphans as 'wards of the nation'—efforts that succeeded in 1922 . He believed veterans were uniquely equipped to promote reconciliation, and he worked through the interwar years to build international institutions. The catastrophe of World War II confirmed his conviction that peace required enforceable legal protections for individuals, not just agreements between states.

Cassin served as the first French judge on the European Court of Human Rights from 1959 until his death in 1976. He was Vice-President from 1959 to 1965 and President from 1965 to 1968 . In this role, he translated the Universal Declaration's principles into binding judicial enforcement within Europe. He signed the Court's first judgment in Lawless v. Ireland, and his manuscript of the Declaration's first draft was later displayed at the Court alongside that judgment . The Court building in Strasbourg now sits on Rue René Cassin.

Cassin was born to a Sephardi Jewish family and was secular in his early life, but the Holocaust transformed his engagement with Jewish causes . After the war, de Gaulle suggested he do something to help the Jewish people, and Cassin became president of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. He worked with the American Jewish Committee and Anglo-Jewish Association to found the Consultative Council of Jewish Organisations, building Jewish support for the emerging UN human rights system . His parents and other relatives died in the Holocaust, deepening his conviction that international law must protect individuals against state violence .

The Declaration is often attributed solely to Eleanor Roosevelt because of her prominence as Commission chair. In reality, Roosevelt's role was largely procedural—her prestige and diplomatic skill held the diverse commission together. The actual drafting was done by Cassin as rapporteur, with John Humphrey providing the initial draft and Charles Malik shaping the philosophical foundations . Cassin's restructuring of Humphrey's draft and his insistence on universality were decisive. The Nobel Committee recognized Cassin as the 'Father of the Declaration of Human Rights' when awarding him the Peace Prize in 1968 .

Cassin was a member of the Conseil d'État, France's supreme administrative court, serving as its vice-president. He was appointed to the Constitutional Council in 1960, serving until 1971 . He was a delegate to the League of Nations from 1924 to 1938, advocating disarmament and international conflict resolution. During World War II, he joined de Gaulle's Free France in London. He was also one of the founders of UNESCO and a professor of law whose legal expertise gave him authority in international drafting .

Cassin received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968 'for his struggle to ensure the rights of man as stipulated in the UN Declaration' . In his acceptance speech, he emphasized that 'there will never be peace on this planet as long as human rights are being violated in any part of the world' . He noted that while the Charter of Human Rights had been completed, it had not yet 'entered into life'—only Europe had an effective regional convention at that time. He called on public opinion to pressure governments to ratify the covenants so they could become operative law .