I． Overview
The Shandong University Human Rights Research Center was founded in 1990 by the university as the “human rights research office.”It is one of the earliest human rights research institutions in China. In 1994, Shandong University decided to upgrade the office to become thecurrentresearch center. Prof. Xu Xianming was its first director. In order to enhance human rights law studies and showcase the latest developments in human rights research in China, the center launchedthe well-recognized academic journal Human Rights Research in 1998. In 2005, the center successfully bid to hosta key Shandong provincial research base for social sciences—the Constitutionalism and Political Civilization Research Base. In 2011, Shandong University established the Soft Law and Human Rights Research Center, which has a complete management system and parallels the Human Rights ResearchCenter. Luo Haocai, president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and vice chairman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, is honorary director of the center. In 2013, the center was approved to offer Taishan Scholar posts. In the past quarter-century, the center has adhered to the idea of keeping human rights as the essence of the rule of law. Through continuous effort, the center has becomean important academic base for human rights research and a training base for human rights legal talent, a think tank for implementing national human rights strategies and a window on international cooperation in human rights research.
II. Organization
The center is a comprehensive organization combining scientific research, talent development, social service and international exchange. The center consists of five academic divisions: human rights philosophy; human rights history; civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; as well as international humanitarian law. These divisions are responsible for academic research on basic theories of human rights law and practice, academic exchange and higher education. The center has a parallel organization: the Soft Law and Human Rights Research Center, which focuses on research on human rights issues and human rights awarenessembodied in non-binding rules in national legislation, self-disciplinary norms of political organizations and self-governing norms of social communities. The center also houses the editorial office of the academic journal Human Rights Research, which presents the latest research developments in human rights problems and human rights awareness. Since the first volume was published in 2001, the center has published 12 volumes. The journal, with its strict requirements, high standards and academic excellence, has acquired a good reputation in the research community.
III. Research Team
Through a quarter century of development, the center has brought together a group of experts with academic and social influence and great research potential. The center now has 18 full-time researchers, with two first-degree professors of social science from Shandong University, six professors and eight associate professors. The center also has two young researchers who have foreign citizenship. The center has one expert who has been selected by the National New Century Talent Program, one young legal expert who has been named one of the country’s ten best young legal experts, three teachers who were honored by the Ministry of Education as New Century Excellent Talent, three experts who are recipients of special subsidies from the State Council and one Taishan Scholar professor.
IV. Academic Research
The center fully employs the academic strength of the humanities at Shandong University, sticks to the development idea of combining basic human rights theory and strategy research, gradually forming its own special research characteristics.
1. Theoretical research on human rights history and philosophy
The center pays great attention to theoretical research on human rights history and philosophy. In terms of human rights history, Prof. Xu Xianming and Prof. Wu Shuchen combine human rights and historical tradition, innovatively introducing historical research methodologies into research on human rights law and systematically verifying the process of development of Chinese and Western human rights concepts and institutions. In terms of human rights philosophy, the center, with an open mind, actively constructsa system and framework for China’s human rights philosophy, setting forth the trail-blazing idea that transforms the human rights concept from being based on the right to freedom to being based on the right to existence. The center proposes that improving the human rights system requires establishing the basic attitude of the state on human rights—the general principle of equally protecting human rights and the reconstruction of the human rights system with a basis in the right to existence—before the constitution specifies categories of human rights. In addition, the center has made fundamental contributions to basic theories on the right to existence, the right to freedom, social rights and fourth-generation human rights, pushing forward the formation of a Chinese human rights philosophical system.
2. Integration of Chinese traditional culture and the Western human rights concept
The center has a solid academic background in basic theories of human rights history and philosophy, integrates together Chinese traditional culture and the Western human rights concept, as well as has achieved a series of academic results and developed important research characteristics. The center has proved that Chinese traditional culture, despitelacking the concept human rights, is still rich in human rights thought. The center advocates that the traditional Chinese idea of “people first” is in essence ahuman rights idea. The center created the idea of the right of harmony from basic ideas of traditional Chinese culture and the Western human rights concept. The center uses traditional Chinese culture to improve the Western human rights concept. For example, Prof. Qi Yanping’s book, Challenge and Salvation of the Human Rights Spirit, exemplifies this research approach.
3. Transformation from human rights theory to practice
The center not only conducts research on basic theory, but also emphasizes the idea of putting theoryinto practice. In a timely fashion, the center has reported its academic results to government departmentsto push forward national legislation. For example, research on the main themes of human rights undertaken by the center contributed to revising the view on constitutional rights during the 2004 revision of the constitution. The center actively participated in drafting the National Human Rights Action Planand its latest theoretical research results were embodied in the plan. The center actively popularized its latest academic results through a hundred lectures by a hundred law experts in a national publicity campaign, increasing awareness of human rights among the public. The center often participates in international human rights dialogues, showing its latest academic results to the rest of the world and helping correct misunderstandingsabout China’s human rights conditions in Western countries. The centerhas used its academic results to address social problems, such as rights protection for farmers, human rights protection for HIV/AIDS carriers and patients, rights protection for the old and the right to an appropriate livelihood. Its research has had a great bearing on practice and has sometimes pushed forward legislation.[page]
4. International cooperation and exchange
The center pays great attention to academic research and professional training with a global perspective, and is becoming a window for international exchange and cooperation in human rights law in China. The center has long maintained regular academic exchange with universities and research institutions in the U.S., the EU, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan in order to organize international conferences, jointly build research platforms, share data and information, cooperateon projects, exchange teachers, jointly train graduate students and organize summer camps for human rights education.
V. Academic Results
The center focuses on research on major theoretical and practical issues, relies on research projects for support, organizes teams for collaborative basic research, achieves a good many academic results and exerts great influence in academia and among practitioners.
With regard to research projects, the center has set forward the goal that each member of the center shouldbe in charge of a National Social Sciences Foundation project. The research team is currentlyundertakingalargeNational Social Sciences Foundation project, two key National Social Sciences Foundation projects, one key humanities research project mandated by the Ministry of Education, five general National Social Sciences Foundation projects, one NationalSocial Sciences Foundationyouth project, three Shandong provincial humanities research projects and four other ministerial or provincial research projects, including one project worth more than 800,000 yuan. The accumulated funding for these projects is about3 million yuan.
The center has published dozens of academic books on human rights law, including Textbook on Human Rights (six volumes) and five other textbooks on human rights law. Researchers at the center have also published more than 200 papers in journals such asChina Social Sciences, Research on Law, China Law, Chineseand Foreign Law,and Forum on Politics and Law.[page]
VI. International Exchange and Cooperation
The center pays great attention to building an international cooperation platform to facilitate international academic cooperation and exchange. In recent years, the center has created four international platforms. The center has signed a cooperation agreement with the Netherlands School of Human Rights Research to set up a “Theory of Human Rights Carriers” research platform. Such cooperation includes collaboration in building the joint platform, cooperative research, theregular exchange of teachers, joint programs for graduate students and summer programs for human rights. The center has cooperated with the Universityof Toulouse to set up a jointplatform to research genetic technology and human rights. This platform has received support from the Sino-Franco intergovernmental Cai Yuanpei Project, and the French government’s Xu Guangqi Project. The center has collaborated with Japan’s Gakushuin University and the Republic of Korea’s Inha University to set up a joint platform to research human rights protection for senior citizens in China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. This program has been supported for five years by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The center signed a cooperation agreement with Australia’s University of AdelaideinAustraliarelated to exchange and cooperation involving researchers and graduate students.
The center has also organized high-caliber international human rights academic conferences to increase the influence of China’s human rights research; these conferences have achieved positive effects. In September 2011, the center organized an international symposium,Legal Issues in Aging East Asian Societies, which attracted more than 60 experts and scholars from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. In December 2012, the center organized an international symposium, Patients’Rights in the Biotech Age, which attracted more than 30 experts and scholars from the United States, France, South Africa and the Netherlands. In October 2013, the center organized an international academic symposium, Protection of AIDS patients’Rights, which attracted more than 30 experts and scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Every year the center organizes an international academic symposium to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The center has actively invited internationally recognized scholars to teach at the university and has contracted with internationally recognized human rights law experts and professors to conduct part-time research, which has substantively increased the internationalization of the center.
The center encourages researchers to go out into the world, issuing supportive measures for researchers to participate in international academic activities. The center finances researchers to go abroad to attend academic events every two years. Papers submitted to international conferences and talks at such conferences are tallied into their annual performance appraisals.
The center also actively participates in activities organized by the United Nations High Commissioner’s Office for Human Rights, and has participated in human rights dialogues between China and the United States, the European Union, Australia, Africa and Latin America.[page]
VII. Education and Training
The center explores education and training mechanisms for human rights law graduate students, offering them courses like Marxist Human Rights Theory, General Theory of Human Rights, Human Rights Topics, Human Rights History, InternationalHuman Rights law, Western Human Rights Theories, and Comments and Analyses ofHuman Rights Cases. The center has developed a stable training mechanism for educating human rights law professionals. In 1995, the center enrolled the first class of graduate students in the field of human rights theory. In 2001, the center enrolled the first class of doctoral students in the field of human rights law. Nearly 200 master’s and doctoral students have received degrees from the center.
The center uses moot courts, academic forums and exchange programs to educate and train professionals. To encourage students, the center has created an academic research assistance program for students and an international exchange assistance program for students. These programs require that the center set aside special funds in its annual budget for supporting student research and exchange activities.
VIII. Development Plan
By applying to becomea national human rights education and training base, the center plans to further increase the quality of its scientific research and professional training, and improve social services and international exchange.
1. World-class human rights research organization
The center is becoming not only a high-quality research platform in China but also a world-class research institution.
(1) Frontier research on human rights, including science and technology and human rights, anti-terrorism and human rights, environment and human rights, cultural relativism and human rights protection, and ideology and human rights.
(2) Large-scale electronic database for human rights law research, covering Chinese and foreign research papers and books on human rights, international and regional human rights conventions and treaties, and human rights legal cases.
(3) The center will upgrade its research team by hiring five to 10 promising young scholars who have earned doctoral degrees at overseas institutions, hiring two to three internationally recognized experts and scholars, and two to three scholars who have been trained in human rights law and theory and have worked for international human rights organizations.[page]
2. Four research platforms
(1) Human rights and national development strategy platform
The platform focuses on researching the relationship between human rights and national development, constructing general theories and systems for domestic human rights protection and proposing a series of measures to address national development in a scientific way. Key research topics will be:violation of privacy triggered by the spread of the Internet, lack of protection for property rights or private capital against the backdrop of rapid economic growth, problems related to land seizure or housing demolition in the wake of expansive urbanization, protection of migrant workers’ rights during the process of urbanization, the increasing demand for political rights at a time when corruption is not uncommon, environmental protection amidst economic development, food safety problems, and ethical challenges resulting from science and technology development.
(2) Platform for integration of Western human rights and traditional culture
The platform will address compatibility between Western human rights and traditional Chinese culture mainly in the following three aspects. First, how can the Western human rights concept be used to modify and sustain traditional Chinese culture? Second, how can traditional Chinese culture be used to solve the human rights modernity crisis? Third, how can the similar or common aspects of traditional Chinese culture and the Western human rights concept be merged into the socialist core value system?
(3) Platform for integration of the human rights discourse system with Chinese characteristics and the international human rights discourse system
This platform relies on the key National Social Science Foundation project, “The Development Path of Human Rights with Chinese Characteristics.” It aims to research the human rights discourse system with Chinese characteristics and the international human rights discourse system, exposing the hypocritical nature of the Western accusationsagainst China using universal human rights discourse, and competition for the right of discourse by Chinese human rights researchers among the international research community.[page]
(4) Platform for international human rights exchange and cooperation
The center plans to open an international exchange and cooperation office to coordinate such activities. The primary focus of international cooperation will be on the United States. The center has signed memorandums of understanding separately with the Arizona State University Law School and the University of Cincinnati Law School, both in the United States, reaching consensus on teacher exchange, student training and platform building. The courses offered by the center synchronize with the video courses on its website.
3. Building an internationally influential think tank on China human rights strategy
The center plans to further improve the capability of its researchers to address main human rights problems in the process of national development, and supply policymakers with strategy proposals. The center will conduct surveys on human rights development in China, actively participate in drafting China’s Human Rights Conditions and the National Human Rights Action Plan, establish a monitoring mechanism for human rights problems and make timely reports to relevant government agencies, and build a talent database of human rights researchers and their specialties and interests for government agencies to consultwhen making decisions.
4. Model base for human rights concept popularization and social services
The center plans to become a high-quality model base for human rights concept popularization and social services. First, the center plans to use the legal awareness promotion campaign—“A hundred legal experts and a hundred public lectures”—to spread the latest research on human rights and improve human rights awareness among the public. Second, the center plans to work with the Wenhan Law Firm to establish the Shandong University Legal Aid Center to help disadvantaged groups and other people who are not able to hire lawyers for their defense. Third, the center plans to work with the Shandong provincial Communist Youth League to promote popularization of the human rights concept through practical activities during students’ summer vacation. Fourth, the center plans to publish a series of books on human rights for diverse readerships.[page]
IV. Facilities and Funds
The center has been listed as a key project of Shandong University, and is included in the university’s key development plan for the humanities and social sciences base mandated by the Ministry of Education. Since its establishment, the center has obtained special funds from the university each year. After years of development, the center leads other similar institutions in the country in facilities.
1. Offices
The center has a floor space of 400 square meters. The human rights philosophy research office, human rights history research office, civil and political rights research office, economic social and cultural research office, international humanitarian law research office and editorial office of Human Rights Research occupy 30 square meters each. The Soft Law and Human Rights Research Center occupies another 50 square meters. Two multifunctional meeting rooms have 40 square meters each. In 2010, each researcher was equipped with an independent office of 10 square meters. In 2013, the center invested 500,000 yuan in a world-class audio-visual classroom. The course videos, synchronized with the courses offered by the center, are available to students at the Arizona State University Law School and the University of Cincinnati Law School and vice versa. The center also plans to build a science, technology and human rights research institute at the Qingdao campus of Shandong University.
2. Funds
The funds for the center come from the following channels: Shandong University allocates funds from the phase-three development plan of Project 985. The university has listed human rights law as a key discipline that the university will significantly support and has promised to invest at least 4.5 million yuan. Three million yuan has already been invested. In the plan initiated by the Ministry of Education to build human rights think tanks, Shandong University will spend more on the center. The Shandong provincial government also invests in Taishan Scholar professorships. The Shandong provincial authorities in 2013 listed human rights law as a key discipline for support, promising to invest at least 3.5 million yuan from 2013 to 2018. The Shandong University Law School has allocated 3.5 million yuan from the Qiaowei Foundation to support academic research at the center.
3. Libraries
The center has access to the libraries of Shandong University and the law school, in addition to its own library, which has a floor space of 500 square meters, 30,000 books, 200 journals and newspapers, and professional databases such as Westlaw, HeinOnline, Chinalawinfo and Lawyee.
