Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Underexplored Figures and Contexts

In December 2023, The Review of Faith & International Affairs published an issue in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The issue explores the foundations and founding figures of the UDHR, focusing on the unique perspectives and convictions UDHR drafters and other contributors brought to the drafting process. The special issue resulted from a July 2023 workshop sponsored by the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Christ Church, University of Oxford.

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The Appeal of Dignity: John Peters Humphrey and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Paul Martens is an associate professor of ethics at Baylor University. This post is excerpted from an article in the December 2023 special issue of The Review of Faith & International Affairs commemorating the 75th anniversary of the UDHR.

In early 1947, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights embraced a clear mandate to draft an international “bill of rights” that would eventually become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Seventy-five years later, this document has become rather familiar and ordinary; at the time, it was daringly revolutionary, and its adoption was vehemently contested. Few saw the revolutionary nature of the UDHR as clearly as John Peters Humphrey, the first director of the Division of Human Rights at the United Nations; even fewer had the opportunity to shape its terms and categories. The purpose of the following commentary is, therefore, to recount the unlikely contribution of Humphrey to the UDHR and, especially, its foundational affirmation of human dignity.

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The Sacralization of AI and the AI-zation of the Sacred

The presence of AI, in the form of smart technologies and machines, is rapidly becoming an intrinsic part of our lives. It teaches, guides, advises, and entertains us, and at times seems to know better than we do which media best fit our own views or what we want for dinner. It also threatens to further polarize human societies by locking individuals and groups into their own political and ideological bubbles without the opportunity, or even the intention, to interact civilly with “opponents.”

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