From Nov. 5 to 6, 2013, the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS) held the Fifth National Meeting for the Exchange of Work Experience Among Human Rights Research Institutions at Wuhan University. More than 100 experts and scholars, focusing on empirical human rights studies and their contribution to building a society based on the rule of law, shared their work experience and discussed effective strategies. CSHRS President Luo Haocai, who served as vice chairman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Lu Guangjin, bureau chief of the State Council Information Office, CSHRS Vice President Chen Shiqiu, honorary members of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Li Buyun and Liu Hainian, Prof. Li Long of Wuhan University and Dean Xiao Yongping of the Law School of Wuhan University attended the meeting. Wuhan University President Li Xiaohong and Luo Yuting, deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China Wuhan University Committee, also attended the opening ceremony of the meeting, which was hosted by CSHRS and supported by the Public Welfare and Development Law Research Center at Wuhan University.[page]

At the opening ceremony, President Luo praised the achievements in serving society made by the Public Welfare and Development Law Research Center and the Legal Aid Center at Wuhan University. Luo said the human rights cause, which is a practical cause, requires a combination of theoretical study and practice in order to achieve sustained development. In human rights research in the future, researchers should expand their scope of study, push forward theoretical innovation, serve the people and society, respond to the needs of the times, and develop human rights theories and systems of discourse that reflect China’s reality, have Chinese characteristics, serve Chinese society and embody some degree of universality. Such research should better convey China’s voice and disseminate China’s stories, in order to increase China’s right to speak and its influence in the international human rights field and enhance the development of the international human rights cause. CSHRS in 2014 will use the research fund bidding system to give full play to the role of nongovernmental organizations and serve international human rights exchange, actively explore deep exchange and cooperation among human rights research institutions on personnel, projects and achievements, and build a national exchange and cooperation platform for human rights research institutions.

Luo said that human rights research is now faced with unprecedented opportunities and challenges as there is an extensive and profound change in the international human rights situation. He said he hopes experts and scholars will strengthen empirical human rights studies and make more contribution to research in order to better serve society. Meanwhile,human rights research experts should offer more advice on the human rights cause. In order to implement the National Human Rights Action Plan (2012-2015), he said the second group of national human rights education and training centers is being selected. The State Council Information Office, the Ministry of Education and CSHRS have encouraged relevant institutions to apply.[page]

Group representative's presentation

University President Li briefed the attendees on the history and academic strength of Wuhan University Law School and summarized the academic achievements made by former presidents Wang Shijie and Zhou Gengsheng as well as other pioneering law professors. Li said he hoped the meeting would encourage experts and scholars to further develop the discipline of law, strengthen research on human rights law and benefit society.[page]

One of the keynote speakers, Prof. Wang Xigen of the Wuhan University Law School, briefed attendees on the school’s faculty, courses, institutional structure, research achievements and international exchange. Prof. Xiang Yan of the same school briefed the group on the work of the Legal Aid Center of Wuhan University, explaining the expansion of legal aid targets and the encouragement of school faculty and students to participate. Associate Prof. Zhang Wanhong of the same school briefed the gathering on the Contemporary Human Rights Law in China Research Group (staffed by researchers born in the 1970s and afterwards), praising the group for its unique empirical research and teaching and for contributing to China’s human rights cause.

Representatives from three national human rights education and training bases at the China University of Political Science and Law, Nankai University and Guangzhou University, respectively, introduced their institutions’ human rights empirical studies and training as well as their experience in contributing to social development. They also talked about a work plan for jointly establishing a human rights-related coordination and innovation center. The Guangzhou University Human Rights Education and Research Center has trained public security officers, judges and procurators, conducted surveys on human rights training for public servants, and compiled a textbook on human rights knowledge. Nankai University’s Human Rights Research Center has compiled China Human Rights in Action and a blue paper on China’s Human Rights Development Report, conducted human rights empirical research programs and promoted training and popularization of human rights knowledge. The China University of Political Science and Law has helped draft national human rights action plans and related legislation, provided human rights training to university teachers and students nationwide, served the public in various ways and spread the concept of human rights.[page]

Panel discussion

In keynote speeches and panel discussions, representatives from human rights research organizations across the country extensively discussed human rights education evaluation indicators, human rights educators and law experts, empirical human rights research methodologies, human rights policy consultation based on empirical studies, human rights education for public servants, international exchange and human rights discourse, the China Dream, and human rights research and the role of CSHRS.

On the basis of views exchanged at the four previous annual meetings, participants deepened the discussion ofkey topics and emphasized interdisciplinary empirical methodologies and the social function of human rights research. Human rights experts from different departments or disciplines shared their experience of advancing human rights theories, knowledge, culture and foreign cooperation. Meanwhile, they debated and offered opinions on the status of the human rights law discipline, on policy desensitization and on the disparity between human rights education in higher-learning institutions and in society. They reached a consensus on empirical human rights studies and their contribution to society.[page]

Panel discussion

The Fifth National Meeting was the largest in scale in terms of participation. More than 20 high quality papers were submitted to the meeting, covering social science methodologies and human rights; human rights education and training; the legalization of economic, social and cultural rights; information disclosure and work involvement; an appropriate standard of living; the Criminal Procedure Law and human rights protection; land; social organizations; migrant workers’ housing; intellectually challenged people’s rights; ecology; and the concept of rights.

(The Public Welfare and Development Law Research Center at Wuhan University contributed to this story.)