The Center for Human Rights Research and Education at Wuhan University was established in January 2014. The establishment of the center benefited from historical tradition and efforts of earlier generations, as well as plentiful earlier results, construction of a solid platform and rational development planning.

 

 

Wuhan University has a long and glorious history of human rights education and research. The late Prof. Han Depei, an international private law expert, attracted wide attention with the article, “The ‘Rule of Law’ We Need,” published in Observation (issue 10, volume 1, 1946), after he returned from abroad. The article talked about legal protection for human rights. In 1979, Prof. He Huahui, a constitutional expert, published the article “On Human Rights,” which explained, with exceptional insight and valor, the intrinsic value of human rights and the significance of human rights to socialism. The article was compiled in the book Works of He Huahui, which was published in 2006 by Wuhan University Press. Teachers at Wuhan University Law School have published many books and papers on human rights, including Human Rights Theories and International Human Rights(Li Long and Wan Exiang, Wuhan University Press, 1992), International Human Rights Law (Wan Exiang and Guo Keqiang, Wuhan University Press, 1993), Human Rights Theories and Practice (Han Depei and Li Long, Wuhan University Press, 1994), and Comments on European Human Rights Court Trials (Wan Exiang, Hubei People’s Press, 1999).

 

Teachers and students at Wuhan University have always maintained a pragmatic and innovative spirit. They have energetically engaged in the work of protecting the fundamental rights of vulnerable groups and have pushed forward the realization of social equality and justice. In 1992, Wuhan University’sCenter for theProtection ofRights of the Needy was founded and was later renamed as the Wuhan UniversityCenter for Legal Aid. It was the first nongovernmental legal aid institution in China. Asa pioneer in legal aid, the center has accumulated rich experience in human rights protection.[page]

 

Wuhan University blazed a trail by offering a master’s degree program in human rights, producing a lot of experts and professionals in the field. Many alumni of Wuhan University have attended experience-sharing conferences, teachers’ meetings and forums at the national level.

 

 

Wuhan University has never rested on its laurels in the areasof human rights research, education and social service, but has always explored new frontiers and built new platforms.

 

In 2006, Prof. Wang Xigen, deputy dean of the Wuhan University Law School and also an internationallyrecognized human rights scholar,gathered the academic strengthof his school to set up the Wuhan University Center for Development and Human Rights Research, which gained international fame in human rights studies, particularly in the right to development.Startingwith basic human rights theories in a society governed by the rule of law, the center innovativelyexplored the legal system ensuring the right to development.[page]

 

In 2007, inspired by the public interest law movement and the law and development movement, which have been thriving in developing countries, scholars at the law school founded the Wuhan University Center for Public Interest and Development Law Research, which combines legaltheory and practice. Based on the science of law, the center specializes in public interest, development and human rights, and advocates and engages in interdisciplinary and practical studies. The center cooperates with the China Society for Human Rights Studies and the Institute for Human Rights at the China University of Political Science and Law, and maintains close contact with the United Nations High Commissioner’s Office for Human Rights and the United Nations Development Programme.

 

In 2008, the Wuhan University Institute of International Law, which is a key base of the Ministry of Education, established the Wuhan University Center for International Human Rights Law, which specializes in human rights studies with a focus on practical issues and explores interdisciplinary methodologies. Its research covers human rights issues related to women, the environment, health, climate, trade, labor, development and humanitarian activities.

 

Such human rights research and education institutions at Wuhan University have accumulated rich experience in human rights research, education and social service and have expanded their areas of research. In November 2013, Wuhan University transformed the Public Interest Law Center, the LegalAid Center, the Development and Human Rights Research Center and the International Human Rights ResearchCenter into the Human Rights Research and Education Center, which was officially launched in January 2014.

 

 

The Wuhan University Human Rights Research and Education Center has both strength and reputation.[page]

 

The center now has 11 professors and five associate professors, who also have extensive experience as visiting scholars abroad. They include one senior professor, one nationally prominent legal expert, one Cheung Kong Scholar, one national-level participant in the New Century National Talent Program and one of the 10 best national legal experts.

 

The center is now located at the Wuhan University Law School, with floor space of more than 300 square meters and equipped with the latest office facilities. Besides the resources of the Wuhan University Library, the law school has its own library, with a floor space of more than 3,000 square meters, 150,000 books, 550 journals or periodicals, 2,000 reference books and 10 types of online legal databases. Wireless Internet is available in the library, which has the biggest collection of legal professional publications among all law schools nationwide. Since 2000, the United Nations has listed the library of the Wuhan University Law School as one that can preserve UN documents. In addition, the library has purchased online legal databases such as LexisNexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline, Chinalawinfo and Lawyee.

 

Campus of Wuhan University

 

The center has first-rate research capability. Its researchers have won three first-levelnational teaching awards, one Chinese University Excellent Achievement Award, and five first-level awards at the ministerial level. The center has also submitted dozens of consulting reports to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner’s Office for Human Rights and the Chinese government.[page]

 

While serving society, the center has receivedhundreds of honors from variousquarters, been interviewed dozens of times by Chinese and overseas media, and has received more than 20 visits by members of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, officials of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, officials from the Ministry of Justice and experts from the UN. The center has also received various honorary titles for its volunteer work and its work helping the needy and disabled.

 

 

The Wuhan University Human Rights Research and Education Center, affiliated with the law school, utilizes the resources of professionals, theorists and other talent, and combines human rights education, practice and research.

 

Researchers at the center have published more than 200 papers in China Social Sciences, Journal of Law, and China Law. They have also published more than 20 books. They have participated in drafting the National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2010), writing theChina Human Rights Development Report (Human Rights Blue Book), compiling Human Rights in Our Times, Collected Essays on China Public InterestLaw, and Research on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They have also presented research results on the right to development at major international human rights conferences.[page]

 

Wuhan University now has three doctoral degree programs in the fields of human rights law, sports and human rights, and international human rights law. The center offers three human rights law major courses at the law school:Introduction to Human Rights Law (an undergraduate elective), as well as Introduction to Human Rights Law and International Human Rights Law for graduate students. The center also offers electives such as Law in the Movies, for all Wuhan University students, spreading human rights education through movies and literature. The center has cooperated with the legal clinic to develop experimental teaching in human rights education. The center has also led the nationin offering courses on the rights of persons with disabilities, explaining the conventions on the rights of persons with disabilities, the rights perspective, barrier-free environments and nondiscrimination. The center plans to popularize these innovative teaching methodsamong other schools acrossthe country.

 

The fifth national experience exchange meeting of human rights research institutions

 

 

Teachers and students at Wuhan University are enthusiastic about serving society while conducting human rights research and education, such as by helping the needy in communities, training legal workers in localities and helping ensure the rights of each person. In the past two decades, the center has provided 61,800 consultations, responded to 21,000 mail inquiries, answered 36,000 phone calls, given 1,000 pieces of advice via its Website, and served as legal representative in 2,800 lawsuits. The center has written or compiled more than 30 textbooks in the field of public law. The center has also cooperated with the Ministry of Justice and the Hubei Provincial Department of Justice to produce three textbooks, consisting of both texts and graphics, for public law education.[page]

 

The center has actively sought cooperation with local governments to launch more extensive legal and human rights training programs, in a bid to increase public awareness of rights, and to increase the capacityof grassroots legal workers to safeguard the rights of disadvantaged groups. From 2006 to 2010, the center cooperated with the Hubei Provincial Department of Justice to train more than 800 grassroots legal aid workers in 30 poverty-stricken counties in the province. In 2010, the center organized a few symposiums on handling lawsuits involving migrant workers, in order to improve the capacity of legal workers to protect the rights of migrant workers. In 2011, the center organized legal training for more than 400 legal coordinators in Luotian County, exploring ways to conduct legal aid training and enhance legal awareness in rural areas.

 

Based on the influence of Wuhan University in central China, the center has conducted surveys, pilot programs and training programs about legal aid and human rights protection for social groups such as migrant workers, the disabled, rural women and criminal suspects in detention. The center actively pushes forward legal aid work in Hubei, Hunan, Henan and Anhui provinces.

 

 

Li Long, senior professor at Wuhan University, acts as director of the center. Prof. Hou Zhenfa, secretary of the Law School Committee of the Communist Party of China, serves as deputy director. The heads of the four institutes at the university, Wang Xigen, Zhang Wanhong, Xiang Yan and Feng Jiehan, are vice directors. The center plans to invite recognized human rights scholars across the country to serve as advisors to the academic committee, which comprises a group of young and middle-aged scholars as members.[page]

 

The center has one administrative office and four research offices, properly mobilizing academic resources to build a professional team and achieve the goal of developing human rights research, education and training and serving the society. The offices of the center work as a unit to achieve these goals.

 

In the coming five years, the center plans to work in the following areas: First, the center aims to become a first-rate human rights legal education base in the country. Second, the center will conduct research, with a focus on human rights protection and governance, and protection of the rights of the disabled. Third, the center will deepen exchange and cooperation with domestic and overseas organizations, actively participate in the Coordinated InnovationPlatform for JudicialCivilization, the Work Experience-sharing Conference of National Human Rights Research Institutions and the Symposium on Human Rights Teaching of Chinese Universities. It will also sponsor international and domestic human rights symposiums. Fourth, the center will improve and strengthen human rights training, particularly for lawyers, civil servants and college students. Fifth, the center will provide human rights consulting reports and legislative advice to government departments, based on its empirical research and participation in international human rights mechanisms.

 

At this new starting point, the Human Rights Research and Education Center at Wuhan University will closely follow major international and domestic trends, use developmental and innovative perspectives, deeply study and summarize human rights theories with Chinese characteristics, and contribute more to the “Chinamodel” of human rights protection in the practice of human rights education and training.