23 October 2008
Zhang Pengjun: A Profile
The diplomatic skills of China’s Zhang Pengjun proved crucial in forging the compromises required to craft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in a form acceptable to the world’s many nations. “A large measure of agreement was possible in spite of differences of philosophy or ideology,” Zhang later said.
Zhang Pengjun was a master of compromise. Relying on his extensive knowledge of Confucian philosophy, the Chinese diplomat facilitated deals at critical moments during the drafting process for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many times, his advice kept the document alive.
Born in China in 1892, Zhang received a combination of Western and Chinese education. He attended middle school and secondary school in China, then traveled to the United States in 1910 to attend Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He continued his studies at Columbia University in New York City, receiving two master’s degrees in 1915 -- one in graduate studies and the other in education. Returning to China, he taught at Nankai Middle School and was acting president there. Zhang also assisted his brother in establishing Nankai University, a private institution.
Zhang briefly came back to the United States to complete a doctorate at Columbia, then returned to China where he continued to serve as a teacher and administrator. He was a professor of philosophy, acting president of Nankai University and held visiting professorships at the University of Chicago, the Chicago Art Institute, the University of Hawaii, Cambridge University, and Columbia.
Zhang was also an active author and playwright. Two of his plays were staged in New York City, and throughout his life he translated Western plays into Chinese and directed productions in China and abroad.
An educator at heart, Zhang became involved in foreign affairs. His diplomatic career took him to Turkey, Chile and England, before moving to the United Nations. There, he was appointed China’s chief delegate to the U.N. Economic, Social, and Cultural Council in 1946.
Zhang later became a vice chairman of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Irrespective of differences, he thought all countries could unite behind a shared goal of human rights. “The fact that [the] rights of man were included in 35 or 40 of the world’s constitutions indicated that a large measure of agreement was possible in spite of differences of philosophy or ideology,” Zhang said in a speech to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
Zhang frequently, and successfully, mediated disputes during the drafting of the Universal Declaration. Many times he saved the commission from a stalemate. “He was a master of the art of compromise and, under cover of a quotation from Confucius, would often provide the formula that made it possible for the commission to escape from some impasse,” said John Humphrey, the U.N.’s first director of the Division of Human Rights.
One such instance was over the issue of UDHR enforcement. Would the declaration amend or overrule the U.N. Charter? Or would all member states have to ratify the UDHR, thereby making it binding international law? Zhang proposed a compromise: member states would ratify separately the declaration, a legally binding convention (later adopted as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), and a method of implementation (the Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). His solution protected the integrity of the Universal Declaration while respecting the sovereignty of member states.
“In the field of human rights [the] popular majority should not be forgotten,” Zhang said. He wanted the Universal Declaration to reflect the rich and varied cultures that it ultimately would represent. He also believed that the UDHR should be accessible to all people. “It should be a document for all men everywhere, not just lawyers and scholars,” he said.
With these points in mind, Zhang was a leading force in the debates on the UDHR. “In intellectual stature he [Zhang] towers over any other member of the committee,” John Humphrey wrote in his diary. Zhang drew heavily on his background in Confucian philosophy. He suggested ren, “two-man-mindedness” or compassion, for inclusion in the document. “Stress should be laid upon the human aspect of human rights,” said Zhang. “A human being had to be constantly conscious of other men, in whose society he lived.”
Upon the UDHR’s passage, the U.N. General Assembly voted immediately to distribute the declaration to every person in every place, using any means available. Copies sold out almost instantaneously. The Universal Declaration eventually became the most translated single document in history. Zhang’s vision of an accessible document became reality.
Zhang died in 1957. He did not live to see the adoption of the subsequent International Covenants on Human Rights, which made the UDHR binding and were part of his solution for enforcing human rights around the world.
-- Meghan Loftus
