DUPUY René-Jean

Biography:

Jean-René Dupuy has played a major role at UNESCO, notably with regard to the notions of common humanity, the common heritage of mankind and genetic heritage. On his death, Federico Mayor, Director-General of UNESCO, organized a Tribute to Jean-René Dupuy, whose contributions were published by UNESCO in 1998 under the title René-Jean Dupuy, une œuvre au service de l'humanité. In this tribute, Hector Gros Espiell writes: "René-Jean Dupuy has always taken the view that human rights are consubstantial with the human being, that their existence derives from the very fact of being a human person, and that legal norms - domestic and international - are not the constitutive sources of creation or attribution of these rights, their function being rather limited to proclaiming, declaring, enunciating, defining and establishing legal systems for the promotion and protection of these rights. The source of human rights is the concept of dignity, a universal notion that provides a common, unifying foundation for these rights in all legal systems and cultures. Human rights, conceptualized in their entirety, including civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights, are indissociable, interdependent and intimately linked. Human rights are attributes of all human beings, without discrimination or exclusion of any kind. Universality implies the absence of any discrimination between rights or between people. Human rights, without prejudice to their individual character, are a common good. Man cannot be a human person unless he holds these rights, but at the same time humanity cannot be conceived - and would not be true humanity - if it were not composed of free beings, real holders of their rights. This is why Dupuy, with his creative and forward-looking vision, asserted that human rights were part of the new idea, the elaborate concept of the common heritage of mankind. This renewing viewpoint, generating new and necessary legal and political approaches, strongly influenced UNESCO's Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, which, in Article 1, after proclaiming that the human genome underpins the fundamental unity of all members of the human family and the recognition of their intrinsic dignity and diversity, concludes: In a symbolic sense, it is the heritage of humanity". Born in Tunis, he holds a doctorate in law, a degree in history and a diploma in public law. He was a professor at the law faculties of Algiers, Aix-Marseille and Nice, and later at the Collège de France, where he held the chair of international law. He founded the Institut du droit de la paix et du développement in Nice in 1968. He was : - Member of the European Commission of Human Rights - Chairman, then Honorary Chairman, Institut européen des hautes études internationales, Nice - Secretary General of The Hague Academy of International Law - President of the Institut de droit international - Member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques - Member of the Académie Europea, London. A regular guest at UNESCO, he gave a lecture on Security in the 21st Century and the Culture of Peace on February 22, 1996 (see quotations). He was awarded the Grand Prix de la philosophie by the Académie française in 1989, as well as numerous other decorations in France and abroad.