HUMAN RIGHTS | Defending human dignity
23 October 2008
Charles Habib Malik: A Profile
As secretary of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the Lebanese scholar of philosophy, math, and physics Charles Habib Malik proved instrumental both in shaping the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in securing its approval by the full General Assembly. He later represented his nation at the United Nations and served both in the Lebanese Parliament, and as Lebanon’s foreign minister.
Charles Habib Malik was born in 1906 in Btirran, Al-Koura, Lebanon. He graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1927 and received a doctorate from Harvard University in 1937. After teaching philosophy, math, and physics for eight years at his alma mater in Beirut, Malik began his diplomatic service, first as a minister and later ambassador to the United Nations. As Lebanon’s chief delegate to the San Francisco conference that drafted the U.N. Charter, Malik signed the document on behalf of his nation.
While the charter’s stated purposes included “promoting and encouraging respect for human rights,” it lacked a universally accepted description of those rights. Before the United Nations could safeguard human rights, it had to define them. It was decided that a permanent Commission on Human Rights would devote itself to the issue. Malik was chosen as the commission’s first rapporteur.
Malik’s was an important voice as the commission contemplated key provisions of what would become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. His debates with China’s Zhang Pengjun over the role that natural rights should play in the document represented a high point in international discourse. Malik made important contributions to the UDHR’s conceptual framework, including the decision to define economic and social rights with sufficient breadth so as not to trample on the sovereignty of nations.
Malik’s expertise grew in importance as the proposed declaration moved from the drafting committee to the Human Rights Commission and then to the full General Assembly. The General Assembly assigned consideration to its Third Committee, responsible for social, humanitarian and cultural affairs. Malik presided over the committee deliberations. “We were fortunate in having Charles Malik in the chair,” wrote John Humphrey, director of the U.S. Secretariat’s Division of Human Rights, in his memoirs. “He was familiar with the legislative history of the document.”
As secretary of the Commission on Human Rights, Malik was intimately familiar with every aspect of the Universal Declaration. He worked hard to convey the declaration’s ideals to the Third Committee. But with delegates pouring over each word, the declaration almost failed to reach the General Assembly. The Third Committee met for more than 80 sessions and debated 168 amendments. The committee finally approved the draft with just one week remaining in the General Assembly session.
Malik introduced the declaration to the General Assembly in a hall filled with delegates, reporters and onlookers:
Thousands of minds and hands have helped in its formation. Every member of the United Nations has solemnly pledged itself to achieve respect for and observance of human rights. But, precisely what these rights are we were never told before, either in the Charter or in any other national instrument. This is the first time the principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms are spelled out authoritatively and in precise detail. I now know what my government pledged itself to promote, achieve, and observe. … I can agitate against my government, and if she does not fulfill her pledge, I shall have and feel the moral support of the entire world.”
After the Universal Declaration was passed, Malik remained at the United Nations as ambassador from Lebanon. When Eleanor Roosevelt stepped down as chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission, she suggested Malik as her replacement. He held the post for a year. Malik also represented Lebanon as ambassador to the United States from 1953 to 1955. As Lebanon’s U.N. representative, he served as president of the Security Council in January 1954, and in 1958 he was president of the 13th session of the General Assembly.
In addition to his work at the United Nations, Malik was very much involved in public service in Lebanon. He served as the minister of foreign affairs from 1956 to 1958 and as the minister of national education and fine arts. He was also a member of parliament.
After many years as diplomat and public servant, Malik returned to teaching at the American University of Beirut in 1960. He traveled as a visiting lecturer and distinguished professor at various college and universities abroad. Malik received no fewer than 50 honorary degrees from institutions in the United States, Canada and Europe. He died in 1987.
-- Meghan Loftus
