P. C. Chang
On the Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafting committee, he served both as an effective Asian delegate and also as a mediator when the negotiations reached a stalemate. He served as Vice-Chairman of the original UN Commission on Human Rights and Republic of China delegate to committee and played a pivotal role in its drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948. He and fellow delegate Charles Malik, the Lebanese philosopher-diplomat, shared ideals of universal human rights, but debated what they were and how they could be described in an international document. By most accounts, Chang and Malik were the philosophical leaders of the deliberations. Chang argued that the modern world should pay heed to Chinese philosophers such as Mencius not because they were Chinese, but because their ideas had universal validity.
Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Drafting Committee included
John Peters Humphrey was newly appointed as Director of the Division of Human Rights within the United Nations Secretariat. In this role, he produced the first draft of a list of rights that were to form the basis of the Declaration.
The underlying structure of the Universal Declaration was introduced in its second draft which was prepared by René Cassin working from the Humphrey draft. The structure was influenced by the Code Napoleon, including a preamble and introductory general principles.