By Staff Reporter

The Decision on Certain Issues on Comprehensively Deepening the Reform, which was endorsed by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), advocates improving judicial protection for human rights, making human rights protection one of the practical measures for implementing the principle of respecting and ensuring human rights, and making improvement of the judicial protection of human rights an important part of comprehensively deepening the reform. Prof. Huang Jin, president of the China University of Political Science and Law, was interviewed by the journal.

Reporter: How do legal experts and scholars see judicial protection for human rights? Please discuss your understanding of judicial protection for human rights?

Huang Jin: We should pay great attention to the judicial protection of human rights. Everyone knows that human rights are rights that human beings should enjoy, including civil rights, political and economic rights, and social and cultural rights. Nowadays in the world, respecting and ensuring human rights is not only an obligation of the state but also an ethical doctrine. At present, human rights protection has become a systematic institution in various countries around the world. Judicial protection for human rights should be the most important part of the system.[page]

The substantive meaning of judicial protection for human rights, I believe, is guaranteeing the rights to which individuals are entitled in lawsuits and in judicial practices and procedures. The legitimate rights of such individuals should not be violated. It refers to human rights protection in judicial activities and procedures. Judicial protection for human rights is not only the most important and most fundamental method of human rights protection. It is an important part of the entire human rights protection mechanism. Moreover, it is an important indication of the extent of judicial construction and human rights protection in a nation, and even more, it is an important guarantee of preventing judicial corruption and realizing judicial fairness.

Reporter: In the process of improving judicial protection for human rights, what are the difficulties and challenges?

Huang: At present, there are many problems in judicial protection for human rights in China. For example, judicial corruption and judicial unfairness occur sometimes, which affects judicial protection for human rights. Violation of judicial procedures is another problem. Other problems include torture during interrogations and physical abuse, which are the most brutal violations of human rights. I personally cannot understand why law enforcers, who are themselves trained in law, do what they know is clearly wrong during interrogations. A lawsuit in my hometown a few years ago affected me quite deeply. A deputy procurator, who was also the anticorruption bureau chief, was detained by the CPC disciplinary organ for investigation. He was then moved to the procuratorate of another county. Three days later, he died after torture during interrogation, which led to a massive incident in the county. The two investigators in the procuratorate had graduated from law schools a couple years before. Why did those law graduates conduct illegal activities during an interrogation? We need to think about it. Also, the rule concerning excluding illegally collected evidence is not strictly implemented. Courts usually rely too much on the confessions of defendants. At the same time, judicial assistance and legal aid are insufficient.[page]

Reporter: What should we do in the face of problems and challenges?

Huang: Documents from the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed methods and measures regarding improving judicial protection for human rights, including standardization of judicial procedures for confiscation, seizure, freezing and dealing with funds or property related to lawsuits, improvement in preventing and correcting wrongful verdicts and seeking accountability, prohibition of torture in interrogation or physical abuse, strict exclusion of illegally collected evidence, reduction in the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty, abolishment of the education through labor system, improvement of the community correction system, improvement of judicial assistance and legal aid, and improvement of the lawyer system. We need to take actions to further implement the Decision endorsed by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. Another goal of human rights judicial protection is to establish a better judicial and legal system, which would ensure equality, openness and fairness, ensure the legitimate rights of individuals in judicial practices, procedures and activities, and realize all-round protection for human rights in jurisprudence. A few principles should be maintained. First, the administration of justice should be according to the law. Second, all individuals should be equal. Third, judicial organs should independently carry out their judicial powers. Fourth, the presumption of innocence should be ensured. Fifth, the concept of being innocent until proven guilty should be guaranteed. Protection of any innocent individual is more important than seeking accountability for every crime. Sixth, prohibition of torture in interrogation and physical abuse should be ensured. Seventh, exclusion of illegally collected evidence should be ensured. Eighth, a correction and accountability system should be established related to wrongly judged cases. I believe we should push forward, supervise and improve human rights judicial protection from these eight aspects.

Reporter: What should universities and legal scholars do to improve judicial protection for human rights?

Huang: Human rights education should be put as a priority. Human rights education should not only be for law students but for all students. Human rights are closely connected with all individuals, but without education people won’t know much about human rights. Human rights education makes people know what they should or should not do. Being educated, they would know how to protect their own rights through legal means if their rights were violated. Human rights education at the China University of Political Science and Law is targeted at all students, who may take elective courses in basic human rights knowledge and theory. At the same time, the university is also training students in human rights law for advanced degrees. They will contribute to the country’s human rights construction after graduation. The university is also training college teachers in human rights. A specialized teaching force will greatly push forward human rights education. The university also offers summer programs for human rights students from home and abroad. Since 2009, the university has organized such summer programs for four years. The university is training judges for human rights protection. Commemorative activities have been organized for World Human Rights Day as special events for promoting human rights education. Teachers and scholars from the university have participated in drafting human rights documents for the country and publishing human rights books, which are also conducive to human rights education.[page]

Reporter: Respecting human rights is a core aspect of the culture of the China University of Political Science and Law. The university’s spirit is to put people first and respect human rights. What will the university do in educating and promoting human rights?

Huang: The university attaches great importance to human rights education, and was the first university in the nation to establish master’s and doctoral programs in human rights law. First, we are going to improve advanced degrees programs in human rights law， so they become the best ones in the country. Second, we will work harder to train more human rights legal specialists with good knowledge and practical skills. We hope they will voluntarily contribute to the human rights cause and help achieve social benefit. Third, the university aims to build the best research base for human rights in China, producing ideas, theories, concepts and academic results. The university’s scholars should lead others in ideas and theories and make contributions to human rights construction in China. Fourth, the university should build a think tank for human rights because the country attaches great importance to human rights development and construction. Respecting and ensuring human rights were included in the national Constitution and the CPC Constitution. The China Society for Human Rights Studies was established. The state initiated the National Human Rights Action Plan, and has issued white papers on human rights. Human rights are related to the Constitution, the Administrative Law, the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law. Economic, social and cultural rights are related to civil law and commercial law. The university should build a think tank for human rights that provides wisdom to the country regarding human rights development and construction. Fifth, the university is a national base for human rights education and should provide deeper and wider training for human rights. Effective methods should be used to carry out human rights education, so they can be well accepted by the people and sufficiently improve awareness of human rights among the people. The idea of human rights is a lofty ideal of human beings and the practice of human rights is an ongoing process. Human rights construction and progress should comply with social and economic development, neither too fast nor too lagging. Modern technologies should also be employed to strengthen human rights education, such as MOOC, open classes, apps, WeChat, microblogs, animation and cartoons.