The year 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a milestone human rights document that set down the fundamental rights and freedoms for citizens across the world. This document, known as the “Magna Carta of all mankind” is famous all over the world, yet little is known about the people who worked on its development of the in the 1940s.
One of the main authors of the UDHR was a native of New Brunswick named John Peters Humphrey. Born in Hampton, Humphrey was a human rights advocate, scholar, academic lawyer, professor, and peace activist who was tasked with writing the draft of the UDHR during his time as Director of the United Nations Secretariat’s Division for Human Rights. His drafts would eventually become perhaps the most important human rights document in modern history.
To commemorate the anniversary of the UDHR and celebrate the New Brunswicker behind this breakthrough document, the Commission is proud to present this video on John Peters Humphrey’s life and work advancing human rights in Canada and across the world.
Visit the Commission’s website and learn more about the UDHR and the New Brunswicker behind it: bit.ly/jph-new-homepage