The Great War by Carolyn Holbrook

Author:Carolyn Holbrook
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781742244679
Publisher: NewSouth Publishing

Hodgson at the United Nations

Following the end of the Second World War, Hodgson was appointed as Ambassador to France, and acting High Commissioner to Canada. He was an Australian delegate to the Paris Peace Conference in February 1947, and the next month took over from Hasluck as the head of Australia’s delegation to the newly formed United Nations. Here he was a prolific and respected contributor to the formation of the post-war world order, serving as a member of the UN Human Rights Commission, the UN Security Council, the UN Committee on Admission of New Members, the UN Commission on Conventional Armaments, five subsidiary bodies of the Atomic Energy Committee, and chairmanship of the board to suggest candidates for the governorship of Trieste, all while he maintained his role as Ambassador to France.23

Hodgson believed that his war experience, combined with his academic qualifications, prepared him well for his new role at the United Nations: ‘When I add [my degrees] to my military experience I am equipped to deal with most of the problems that arise at [the] UN. I can talk to the Military Staff Committee about principles of war, and I can understand the economists when they became technical’.24 While he had become an enthusiastic advocate for human rights, Hodgson remained blunt and uncompromising in his personal interactions. He demonstrated ‘an extremely critical attitude towards most foreign countries’ and a ‘peppery aggressive manner’ that, according to the US State Department, seemed to be aggravated by the consumption of alcohol. Despite Hodgson’s abrasive personal style, his talents were apparent to State Department officials, who noted that his ‘blustering and provocative approach is said to hide a very thorough knowledge of the question under consideration’.25

In March 1947 Hodgson was invited to represent Australia on the eight-nation sub-committee to draft what would become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.26 ‘The United Nations Bill of Human Rights is my baby’, declared Hodgson. ‘I have consistently labored to put teeth into the bill so that it will be more than pious resolution.’27 Hodgson’s colleagues on the drafting committee were the chair Eleanor Roosevelt, French jurist René Cassin (awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1968 for his role in drafting the UDHR), Pen-Chun Chang from China, Charles Malik from Lebanon, Hernan Santa Cruz from Chile, Charles Dukes from the United Kingdom (replaced later by Geoffrey Wilson), and Alexander Bogomolov from the Soviet Union (replaced later by a relatively junior delegate, Valentin Tepliakov, then the more senior Vladimir Koretsky). This eminent group was supported by the Canadian John Humphrey, who was director of the UN Secretariat’s Division for Human Rights.28

The drafting committee undertook a long and laborious process, involving heated arguments, abandoned drafts and delicate negotiations. Hodgson earned a reputation on the committee as a ‘champion of small nations’.29 Australia’s role in this new global order was far from certain; its traditional reliance on Britain had been shaken by the experiences of two successive world wars, and particularly by Britain’s inability to defend its positions in Asia.

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