Colonel William Roy Hodgson: Australia’s Forgotten Contributor to the Development of International Human Rights

Renae Barker is a senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia Law School. 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 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Colonel William Roy Hodgson is a forgotten figure from the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—forgotten not just at the international level but also in his home country of Australia, where even in his own lifetime “his presence was virtually ignored” [1] when he finally returned to Australia at the end of a long and distinguished diplomatic career.  In the year of the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), it is time his contribution and legacy were rediscovered.

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Soviet Law

Dmytro Vovk is a visiting professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. 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 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Soviets’ Lack of Interest in the Universal Declaration  

The Soviet government seemed not to have any significant interest in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Soviet member of the UDHR Drafting Committee, Alexandre Bogomolov, played only a passive role in the UDHR drafting process. His associates, including prominent Soviet international-law scholar Vladimir Koretsky, were more active, even though they were more concerned with blocking Western drafters’ proposals and ensuring absolute state sovereignty than with advancing human rights or promoting their universality. As a result, the Soviet Union proposed amendments to virtually every article of the UDHR but abstained from voting for the Declaration.

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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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