René Cassin
René Cassin | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Constitutional Council | |
| In office 11 July 1960 – 2 March 1971 | |
| Appointed by | Gaston Monnerville |
| President | Léon Noël Gaston Palewski |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | François Luchaire |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 April 1887 Bayonne, France |
| Died | 6 February 1976 (aged 88) Paris, France |
René Samuel Cassin (5 October 1887 – 20 February 1976) was a French jurist known for co-authoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
Born in Bayonne, Cassin served as a soldier in the First World War during which he was seriously wounded. He was of Portuguese-Jewish descent.
On 24 June 1940, during the Second World War, Cassin heeded General Charles de Gaulle's radio appeal and joined him in London. Cassin used his legal expertise to help de Gaulle's Free French.
Between 1944 and 1959, Cassin was a member of the Council of State.
Seconded to the UN Commission on Human Rights after the war, he was a major contributor to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For that work, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968. The same year, he was awarded one of the UN General Assembly's Human Rights Prizes.