Who wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was drafted by the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights. While no single individual can claim sole authorship, John Humphrey, a Canadian law professor and the UN Secretariat's Human Rights Director, authored the first draft. Other key figures instrumental in its creation include Eleanor Roosevelt, who chaired the commission, along with Chinese diplomat Chang Peng-chun and Lebanese philosopher Charles Habib Malik.1

The UDHR was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948, serving as a foundational document for international human rights law. It was a response to the widespread human rights abuses committed during World War II. Eleanor Roosevelt famously referred to it as humanity's Magna Carta.12345