He served on the UN's Human Rights Commission and the Hague Court of Arbitration. He was also a member (1959-1965) and president (1965-1968) of the European Court of Human Rights.
He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968 for his work in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948. That same year, he was also awarded one of the UN's own Human Rights Prizes.