Roosevelt Vs Lemkin

Lemkin and Roosevelt
Kevin Santos
Kean University

After the horrendous violations of human rights during the Second World War, the reformed United Nations instituted a human rights commission, with Eleanor Roosevelt as one of its members. What she contributed to our nation and the world in general may be overlooked as many of her accomplishments go unnoticed, hidden in the shadow of her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Eleanor was appointed chairwoman of the committee that came to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The U.N (post WWII) sponsored the deceleration after pressure from Latin America and other smaller countries that wanted a solid definition of human rights to be made in the United Nations Charter. Mary Ann Glendon states that her most valuable contribution to the committee was urging the installation of a nonbinding code defining human rights (as cited in Fromkin, 2001). She also deduced from the history of her own country that progress and improvement would come slowly, and was under no illusion
that the Senate would be unlikely to ratify a treaty that was binding (Fromkin, 2001). Eleanor and her committee sought to define a worldly standard of human rights. This was the foreseen impact of her committee when drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Eleanor knew she would incur opposition on a uniform standard for human rights, but realized defining the standard was an essential start. She needed other nations and communist countries agree to the same ideologies and not misinterpret her actions as imposing Western Imperialism amongst them (Fromkin, 2001).
Eleanor brought to the committee a history of politics and lobbying, but perhaps more importantly her compassion and humble stature, as well as deep trepidation for the futures of WWII refugees. Her compassion for humans and experience was pivotal in the implementation of the declaration (Lewis, n.d., para .3). Eleanor used her experience and influential stature when she attempted to implement these Human Rights standards, citing her main goals as to avoid tragedies and crimes similar to those that took place during the Second World War. She attempted to educate the U.N and world on the moral wrongdoings during this time, alluding to genocide in particular. Her work and the declaration set a standard by which the U.S and various other countries abide by today, and although her framework was essential to the understanding and defining of Human Rights, there still exists much of her anticipated opposition and resistance between countries and inside the U.S itself when it comes to putting her ideologies in practice. Transitioning to Raphael Lemkin,(a Jewish lawyer with a majority of his family WWII victims) one could argue that his worldly contributions, although with different purpose and effect, had an equal impact or perhaps one greater than Eleanor Roosevelt.
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide would not have come to be without Lemkin himself. As a matter of fact, Lemkin was the person to coin the term “genocide,” as the world did not previously have a name for the actions occurring during WWII. Adopted in 1948 (the same year as Roosevelt’s document), the CPPCG implemented a standard of which the U.N would enforce to counteract genocidal crimes. When Lemkin coined the term, he referred back to the massacres in Alegeria during 1915. He used these events to illustrate what Genocide consisted of in his book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (Shabas, n.d., para. 2, 3,
4).
His work set the premise for international law against genocide. The CPPCG protected what some might say is the most valuable and intrinsic human right, the right to live. The documents purpose was to establish this on a grand scale, protecting people of all races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, sexes, etc. Lemkin wanted to use his personal experience, (both his parents were gassed during the war), and that of others to come up with a name for the crime that Hitler’s legal abomination was, and this is exactly what his life work established. (Winter, 2013) Together, these two visionaries set out to create a corroborating human rights regime to counteract what the Nazi’s attempted to destroy (Winter, 2013). Both envisioned a world free of genocidal crime and discrimination of unjust causes. They embraced human rights for all, and although their idealities may not be in full effect, they remain as a standard for the U.N and some other unaffiliated countries. Genocide prevention and universal human tights remain as goals; not quite as the realities some may percieve. The world has come a long way since the crimes of Hitler in WWII, but there are yet expansive improvements to be made in order to truly embody what Eleanor and Lemkin had conceptualized for the world.

References

Fromkin, D. (2001, April 22). Drawing a Line, However Thin. The New York Times Book Review , p. 13. 



Lewis, J. J. (n.d.). Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Women 's History - Comprehensive Research and Information Guide. Retrieved October 16, 2013, from http://womenshistory.about.com/od/1stlad

Winter, J. (2013, June 3). Raphael Lemkin: a Prophet Without Honors - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education. Home - The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://chronicle.com/article/Raphael-