The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to 81-year-old Prof. Rene Cassin, president of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris and a well-known figure in world Jewish affairs. News of the award came from Oslo where the prize was conferred on Prof. Cassin by the Norwegian Parliament. The occasion for the grant was not specified but it is believed to be in recognition of Prof. Cassin’s long career as a champion of peace and human rights.
The recipient is a law graduate from the University of Aix and was one of the first Frenchmen to join Gen. Charles de Gaulle when he established his Free French Government in London on June 20, 1940. Immediately after the war, Prof. Cassin represented France on the War Crimes Commission and was later one of the main sponsors of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. In recent years he has been active in international law and in human rights causes in Europe and Africa. Prof. Cassin is chairman of the European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg and a former chairman of the UN Commission on Human Rights. He is honorary president of the French Council of State, which is comparable to the United States Supreme Court.
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