John Humphrey

John Peters Humphrey was a Canadian legal scholar, jurist, and human rights advocate. He is most famous as the principal author of the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Humphrey was born to Frank Humphrey and Nellie Peter on April 30, 1905, in Hampton, New Brunswick. His childhood was wracked by tragedy: losing both parents to cancer, and one of his arms in an accident while playing with fire. Humphrey attended a boarding school where he endured teasing from other students; it is claimed that this was influential in building his character and compassion.

John Humphrey applied to Mount Allison University at age 15 from the Rothesay Collegiate School and was accepted. He transferred to McGill University and lived with his sister Ruth who was a teacher in Montreal, Quebec. Humphrey graduated from McGill in 1925 where he was awarded a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the School of Commerce, part of the Desautels Faculty of Management. He promptly enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law at McGill, graduating in 1927 and 1929 respectively. Upon graduation, Humphrey was awarded a fellowship to study in Paris, sailing from Montreal on the RMS Aurania. He met fellow passenger Jeanne Godreau while onboard and they were married in Paris shortly after arriving.

Humphrey returned to Montreal after the fellowship to practice law for five years before accepting a teaching position as a professor at McGill; he also enrolled in a Master of Law program, specializing in international law. During the 1930s Humphrey was considered a renaissance man with the majority of his interests in education, the arts and humanities.

While teaching at McGill in the early 1940s, Humphrey met Henri Laugier, a refugee from France who was working on behalf of the Free French. In 1943, Laugier moved to Algeria to teach at the University of Algiers and later became the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations.

While at McGill University, John Peters Humphrey founded the McGill Debating Union, one of the world's most successful and prominent debate societies.

In 1946, Assistant Secretary-General to the United Nations, Henri Laugier, appointed John Peters Humphrey as the first Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights, within the United Nations Secretariat.

Humphrey was a principal drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After consulting with the executive group of the Commission, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, Professor Humphrey prepared the first preliminary draft of what was to become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

On the night of December 10, 1948, the General Assembly unanimously adopted the Declaration, dubbed by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt as "the international Magna Carta of all humankind."

Humphrey remained with the UN for 20 years. During this period, he oversaw the implementation of 67 international conventions and the constitutions of dozens of countries. He worked in areas including the freedom of the press, status of women, and racial discrimination. In 1988, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration, the UN Human Rights award was bestowed on Professor Humphrey.

In 1963, he proposed the idea of a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. While the idea was initially received quite positively, it was only after more than thirty years, under Secretary-General Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, that the office became a reality.

Humphrey retired from the UN in 1966 to resume his teaching career at McGill University. He remained active in the promotion of human rights in Canada and internationally for the rest of his life.

He served as a director of the International League for Human Rights; served as a member of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women; a member of the team that launched Amnesty International's chapter in Canada; and, with colleagues from McGill University, was instrumental in creating the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, now renamed Equitas -International Centre for Human Rights Education. He took part in a number of international commissions of inquiry, including a mission to the Philippines investigating human rights violations under Ferdinand Marcos and the International Commission of Inquiry into the 1932-33 Famine in Ukraine. At the UN, he sought compensation for Korean women forced to act as sex slaves. He also campaigned with the War Amps for reparations for Canadian prisoners of war under Japanese captivity.

In 1974, he spoke in opposition of Bill 22, the Quebec Language Law. He testified on July 19, 1974 that English was also an official language in the province, despite the proposed law. 

Humphrey died in Montreal on March 14, 1995, at the age of 89.