In June 1946, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)—a principal organ of the newly founded United Nations responsible for promoting human rights—created the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), a standing body within the UN tasked with preparing what was initially conceived as an International Bill of Rights. It had 18 members from various national, religious, and political backgrounds, so as to be representative of humanity. In February 1947, the Commission established a special Universal Declaration of Human Rights Drafting Committee, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States, to write the articles of the Declaration. The Committee met in two sessions over the course of two years. The document is based on the English Magna Carta, the 1689 English Bill of Rights, the American Declaration of Independence, the American Bill of Rights, and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.