-- Summary of the Symposium on Human Rights Construction and Reform

 

 

At the end of 2013, the Graduate School of the China University of Political Science and Law organized a symposium on Human Rights Construction and Reform and activities at the university in commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Luo Haocai, who was vice chairman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS), President Huang Jin of the China University of Political Science and Law, and nearly 50 scholars from the Civil and Commercial Law School, China-EU School of Law and the International Institute of Confucianism also attended the symposium.

 

Bi Ran, of the Orchestra of the Art Ensemble of the China University of Political Science and Law, played the violin piece Voice of Spring to mark the opening of the symposium.

 

President Luo said that the Decision of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Certain Issues ConcerningComprehensively Deepening Reform (hereafter, “Decision”), which was approved by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, sets promoting social fairness and justice and enhancing people’s welfare as the starting point and goal of comprehensively deepening reform; clarifies the fundamental position of human rights in comprehensively deepening reform; reiterates that the state respects and guarantees human rights; and integrates human rights protection into all aspects of socialist construction, including the economic, political, cultural, social and ecological aspects. The Decision focuses on judicial protection for human rights and makes important remarks on judicial protection and important arrangements, in order to make people feel fairness and justice in each case. Luo said that the Decision has important significance in regard to effectively guiding human rights research and related work in China, and requires conscientious study by scholars.[page]

 

Prof. Wang Weiguo, dean of the Civil and Commercial Law School, made a speech on human rights consideration in land reform. Wang said land reform was a field that received particular attention at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and is also an issue closely related to human rights. The fundamental goal of land reform is to realize rural-urban integration and abolish city-countryside duality. The three major areas of land reform are the property rights system, the exchange system and the land expropriation system, which must all be judged by human rights. Wang said that the core of the exchange system is the free flow of property and people, which touches on citizens’ fundamental freedom and which allows people to achieve a life of dignity and respect through the market value of property. The spirit of the property rights system is to expand land use rights to which farmers are entitled. The aim of the reform is to make farmers the owners of land. Behind the land expropriation system is the question of judging government performance. The government should avoid abusing administrative power and competing with people for economic returns. Efforts should be made to prohibit coercive land seizure, which is also within the scope of human rights issues. Wang said that land reform should push forward administrative development by putting people first. The design of the land reform system should be based on the interests of the people and balanced development should be realized. Implementation of land reform measures should also start from people’s demands and should achieve balanced and harmonious development.

 

Prof. Xia Yinlan of the Civil Law Institute of the Civil and Commercial Law School, while giving a talk on protecting children’s rights, reflected on existing problems in the child guardianship system and offered proposals for ensuring children’s rights. Prof. Xia usedthe example of two children in Nanjing, who died due to neglect by their drug-abusing mother, to point out the absence of children’s rights supervision. Prof. Xia introduced two types of models existing in the world – the direct and indirect guardianship models – and proposed four principles for state guardianship for minors: the maximum interest principle, the government responsibility principle, the state intervention principle, and the social responsibility principle. Using German civil law as an example, Xia introduced several guardianship models. Under the current legal framework, Xia proposed three points: First, to push forward revision of the criminal law to make child abuse cases liable for public prosecution rather than just private prosecution. Second, the state should designate civil affairs departments to take provisional guardianship of minors who suffer from domestic violence. Third, the National People’s Congress should provide a legislative explanation of the Minors Protection Law. It should also set upa complaint mechanism and reporting obligations that are suitable for provisional rescue procedures as well as stipulate who should represent minorswhen filing guardianship lawsuits.[page]

 

Prof. Zheng Yongliu of the China-EU Law School mainly dwelt on human rights education in the 4G communication age. While technological advances offer convenience, Zheng said, they also create many negative effects. In some circumstances, technological rationality impedes or even harms human rights development. In an era when information technology is developing rapidly, people should emphasize broad human rights education based on the broadest media platform.

 

Prof. Shan Chun of the International Institute of Confucianism delivered a speech on faith, gender and ethnic rights in the Chinese context. Shan, speaking from the prevailing human rights research perspective, discussed basic issues such as faith, gender and ethnic rights in the Chinese context. With regard to the faith issue, Shan advised pushing forward the great revitalization of the Chinese nation through promoting faith. With regard to the gender issue, Shan said that women still represent a small proportion of high-ranking political figures. Shan also said that women are faced with inequality in the work place and women get ineffective aid after suffering domestic violence. Much more effort should be made to push forward gender equality and protection for women. With regard to the ethnic rights issue, Shan said ethnic equality in China is mainly manifest in equality between the Chinese Han ethnic group and ethnic minorities. Although the government has made a lot of effort, there are still some problems that need to be considered and studied in order to enhance ethnic equality.[page]

 

Prof. He Bing, vice president of the Law School of China University of Political Science and Law, expressed his own views on the relationship between the Internet and human rights development. He said some influential figures on the Internet in fact share in the right to speech that previously belonged to the government, which shows the social transformation of power. Meanwhile, online gatherings also show that the Internet has become a platform for pushing forward human rights development. However, He expressed worry about the protection of privacy on the Internet. Faced with the double-edged sword of the Internet, He said, the government should play an important role in ensuring people’s right to speak and standardizing practices on the Internet.

 

Prof. Lang Peijuan of the China University of Political Science and Law made two conclusions about the relationship between administrative law and human rights protection. Hard and soft constraints should be emphasized at the same time in order to prevent administrative personnel from infringing on human rights.

 

Associate Prof. Zhu Lijiang of the China University of Political Science and Law, taking an international human rights law perspective, elaborated on the coercive power of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related information regarding the universal periodic review mechanism of the United Nations. Zhu said that the new system of the universal periodic review mechanism offsets the defect of the lack of coercive power in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, making the declaration meaningful as an institutional and standardized reference.

 

Prof. Ban Wenzhan of the China University of Political Science and Law delivered a speech on the shared responsibility for human rights education. He stressed the importance of human rights education and discussed the negative effects of ignoring or disrespecting human rights. Ban said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly points out that education is a vital path for enhancing human rights protection. The principle of human rights education is implemented to different degrees around the world. Just like other national governments, the Chinese government has assumed the international legal obligation of carrying out human rights education.[page]

 

Finally, President Huang Jin of the China University of Political Science and Law, speaking at the symposium, said that all scholars attending the symposium discussed and exchanged views on human rights construction and comprehensively deepening the reform and that their proposals should be submitted to relevant national departments for reference. Huang suggested keeping up with the pace of the times and attaching great importance to the Decision of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Certain Issues ConcerningComprehensively Deepening Reform, which was endorsed at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. The decision is a general outline for China for deepening reform in the years to come and includes 60 measures for reform, all of which are closely linked to legal construction and human rights construction.

 

Participants noted that the symposium coincided with the 65th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and was the best commemoration for the Declaration. The symposium considered the historic requirements for human rights construction and reform, focused on hot political issues, closely followed social trends, discussed the main ways of respecting and ensuring human rights and promoting human rights education, provided advice regarding the integration of human rights theories and practical protection, and played an important role in promoting and developing human rights education.

 

(Zhang Wei is deputy dean of the Human Rights Research Institute of the China University of Political Science and Law. Li Ruoyu is editor at the institute.)