In December 2023, the Declaration of Universal Human Rights (UDHR) will turn seventy-five. This talk anticipates that anniversary by considering the contributions made to the UDHR by the Chinese scholar-diplomat Peng Chun Chang (1892-1957). After discussing Chang’s involvement in the drafting of the UNDR’s Article 1, and in particular its reference to “conscience,” it will ask how, if at all, Chang’s contributions might oblige us to rethink longstanding criticisms of the UDHR’s claim to universality.
Adam Sitze is John E. Kirkpatrick 1951 Professor in Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College, Massachusetts, and Visiting Fellow at the IWM.
Martin Krygier, Professor at the Law and Justice Department of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, will provide the comment to the paper.
IWM Permanent Fellow Ludger Hagedorn will open the colloquium.
