Human rights in East Asia
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was implemented on 10 December 1948 by the United Nations. Therefore, we have officially witnessed 68 years of the United Nations approaching human rights issues on a global scale. The declaration was created after the end of World War II and was the first worldwide acknowledgement of the rights each individual human being is entitled to. When the UDHR was first created the United Nations was only made up of 51 member states, but after the surge of decolonisation’s, beginning in the late 1940s, the UN is now made up of 193 nations. Since 1948, many Eastern Asian countries who were formally colonised have since achieved independence and have joined the UN, therefore acknowledging the UDHR and other major human rights treaties. There is currently no human rights body governing the Eastern Asian region, however the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration in 2012.
William Roy Hodgson
In 1946 the UN established the Commission on human rights (see United Nations Human Rights Committee), and Colonel Hodgson made a significant contribution. Eleanor Roosevelt took on the role of chairing the Commission and took up the task of drafting the Universal Declaration of Human rights, with Hodgson being involved in this committee. He was particularly interested in the enforcement of human rights and pushed for an international tribunal for the filing of complaints. As an alternative, Hodgson proposed that the declaration be legally enforceable, which was not a priority for other members of the committee.