Economic and Social Council, 4th session
28 February - 29 March 1947
New York
When the report of the first session of the Commission on Human Rights (E/259) was considered at the fourth session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), some members expressed the view that the drafting group should be enlarged. On 24 March 1947, the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt, wrote to the President of the ECOSOC stating that she intended to appoint a drafting committee consisting of members of the Commission that would include Australia, Chile, China, France, Lebanon, the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States. This enlargement of the drafting committees was noted by ECOSOC (E/383). ECOSOC resolution 46(IV) of 28 March 1947, laid out a timetable for the drafting and review of the International Bill of Human Rights.
The Council decided that the draft of the International Bill would be submitted to the Commission on Human Rights, that it would be submitted to Member States for comments, and that the Drafting Committee would consider these comments as a basis for re-draft if necessary. The draft would then be re-submitted to the Commission on Human Rights for final consideration and then would be submitted to the ECOSOC. The ECOSOC would forward the final version to the General Assembly's third session in 1948 for its consideration.
The resolution also invited officers from the Commission on the Status of Women to participate when the issues particularly concerned the rights of women. Other resolutions from this ECOSOC session with some bearing on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: E/RES/48(IV), adopted 29 March 1947 requests that the preliminary draft of the International Bill of Human Rights be circulated to the Commission on the Status of Women for their consideration when the rights particularly concern the rights of women; E/RES/52(IV), adopted 24 March 1947, requests the transmittal of documents from the World Federation of Trade Unions and the American Federation of Labor for consideration by the Commission on Human Rights, when the issue of labor and work were discussed.