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Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
Just as Franklin D. Roosevelt envisioned the Four Freedoms that Norman Rockwell immortalized on canvas, Eleanor Roosevelt inspired the citizens and leaders of the world to acknowledge their continued significance.
Convinced that the United States had been "spared for a purpose" from the destruction the war had inflicted on other nations, she seized all avenues at her disposal -- speeches, newspaper columns, articles, private conversation, correspondence -- to urge Americans to recognize what was a stake and assume both the responsibility and the financial cost of world leadership. Fervently and repeatedly, Roosevelt cautioned her fellow Americans: "You cannot live for yourselves alone. You depend on the rest of the world and the rest of the world depends on you." She understood how crucial a commonly shared vision could be in overcoming the haunting legacy of war.
Established in 1946 by the UN General Assembly, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights promptly elected Roosevelt its chair. Charged with creating an international bill of rights, the UNCHR put forward, for the first time, a definitive outline of the fundamental human rights to be universally protected. To accomplish this, Roosevelt conducted more than three thousand hours of debate, and had to create a climate in which all eighteen member nations -- which represented very different political and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world -- could envision and articulate rights and freedoms. The Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris, on December 10, 1948. Since then, it has inspired dozens of international covenants, the creation of international courts, new governments, and an increasingly powerful international movement. She considered this work to be her finest achievement, as it instituted a legacy for the Four Freedoms and left them in our hands to protect. |