Dr. Habib Malik, Human Rights Activist

“Eleanor Roosevelt one day, got up and said ‘Dr. Charles Malik has been talking about the importance of the individual, and I have to say that the United States and other Western powers agree with that position’.”

Dr. Habib Malik is proud of his family’s legacy in the field of human rights. Who could blame him? After all, his father was one of the authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which continues to be the north star for all people worldwide. 

In honor of Human Rights Day this Friday, December 10th, the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, we are  sharing a conversation with Dr. Habib Malik.  Not only is he a well-known human rights activist and distinguished professor located in Lebanon in his own right, he is also following in the footsteps of his father, Charles Malik, a leading figure in the authoring of the 1948 UDHR who was instrumental in drafting Article 18 to protect the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief. 

In this conversation, Dr. Malik provides an “insider’s” perspective about the development of the UDHR, with fascinating backstories that include Eleanor Roosevelt, a Chinese philosopher, Soviet Marxists and other amusing delegates that made up the diverse Human Rights Commission at the time.

While his father’s accomplishments precede him, Malik has paved his own path in the field, advancing human dignity and human rights through the founding of a foundation that offers a course on human rights to seven private universities in Lebanon. Despite the world’s constant struggle with human rights abuses, his hope for a better future, and a better Lebanon, lies with the individuals and groups who are empowered by the standard of the UDHR.

Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube channel here: youtu.be/B_xFdwH60ds

Dr. Habib Malik is a human rights activist and a founding member of the Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights in Lebanon. His father, Charles Malik, was a leading figure in drafting and the adoption of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Rights. He is an associate professor of history at the Lebanese American University, now retired since August 2020. Dr. Malik has also taught intellectual and cultural history and socio-political history at the American University of Beirut and the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from the American University of Beirut and his PhD in Modern European Intellectual History from Harvard University in 1985. 

His major publications include:

• Between Damascus and Jerusalem: Lebanon and Middle East Peace (2000, 2nd edition)
• Receiving Søren Kierkegaard: The Early Impact and Transmission of His Thought (1997)
• The Challenge of Human Rights: Charles Malik and the Universal Declaration (ed.) (2001)
• Islamism and the Future of Middle Eastern Christians (2010)
• A number of articles, essays, and book chapters in both English and Arabic

Chapters

• 0:00 The Creation of the UDHR
• 10:41 The Moral Power of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• 15:41 Habib’s Father, Charles Malik, Wrote Article 18 of the UDHR
• 18:43 The Weaponizing of Marxism Today
• 23:13 Universal Rights vs. Pseudo Rights
• 37:47 Defending Everyone’s Rights, Abused and Abusers
• 40:45 Diminishing Pluralism in the Middle East
• 50:41 Freedom is Contagious: Lebanon and Iraq