SUN Shiyan

 

Abstract: In the past two decades, P.C. Chang's role in and contribution to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been much discussed and praised both worldwide and in China. However, the contributions made by other Chinese to the early phase of international human rights movement should not be overlooked. Chung-Shu Lo and his contribution the UNESCO's study of human rights philosophies are thus worth mentioning.

 

In 1947, UNESCO sent questionnaires regarding the philosophical foundations of human rights to numerous eminent figures around the world. UNESCO organised a Committee of Experts consisting of members to study the responses it received. On the basis of the study, Richard McKeon, the rapporteur of the Committee, prepared a report titled "The Grounds of An International Declaration of Human Rights" and the report was submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights in August 1947. The report was unfortunately rejected by the Commission on Human Rights on unspecified grounds. Nonetheless, the importance of the study conducted by UNESCO and the conclusions thereof should not be underestimated, for it was probably for the first time to establish the universality of human rights in a systematic way. For example, the 15 fundamental rights on which the Committee was convinced that "all men are agreed" were almost all included in the UDHR adopted in December 1948 or other international human rights adopted afterwards.

 

Chung-Shu Lo, a professor of philosophy, was the only non-western member in the Committee of Experts. His contribution, “Human Rights in the Chinese Tradition”, together with responses from Mohandas Gandhi and other sources, represented the non-western concepts of human rights and are therefore extremely valuable to understand the issues of the philosophical foundations and universality of human rights.

 

In the beginning of his not very long article, Lo admitted that "the problem of human rights was seldom discussed by Chinese thinkers of the past, at least in the same was as it was in the west". He however continued to say that "[i]n fact, the idea of human rights developed very early in China" and gave many examples dated back to more than 2000 years ago. His understanding of the human rights ideas in the Chinese tradition was compatible with and mirrored in the modern international human rights discourse that developed afterwards. In addition to the general discussion of human rights in Chinese tradition, Lo also proposed three basic rights that he believed "valid for every person in the world", namely the right to live, the right to self-expression and the right to enjoyment. With respect to the right to live, which was also listed as the first right in McKeon'r Report, he indicated that it was "on the biological and economic level", and is thus capable of accommodating such rights as the rights to life, personal liberty and security, fair trial, work, social security, adequate standards of living and even the idea of sustainable development. His discussion of the right to self-expression was very short, in which, however, he mentioned that this right was "on the social and political level", to make human beings "live with the sense of dignity and self-reliance" and "contribute fully to the society", and "[s]ocial progress depends on each individual's freedom of expression". The later formulated freedoms f expression, association and assembly, and even the freedom of religion and the rights of minorities may arguably be covered by his reference to the right to self-expression. Lo's proposal of the right to enjoyment "on the aesthetic and spiritual level" has no clear counterparts in the later international human rights instruments. However, he referred the "enjoyment" to "the inner aspect of the life of the individual" and this concept is therefore related to such aspects as leisure, culture and religion. Many rights contained in later international instruments may be subsumed into this category.

 

Lo’s elaboration of the fundamental theory of human rights and proposals of specific human rights have been mirrored in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments afterwards, which has reflected his foresight and sagacity.

 

Key Words: Chung-Shu Lo (Luo Zhongshu); UNESCO; Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Chinese human rights tradition