— Review of the 2022·China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights

 

TENG Rui* & WEN Ting**

 

Abstract: The 2022·China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights, successfully held in Wuhan and Vienna on May 10, 2022, was sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and Austria-China Friendship Association and organized by the Institute for Human Rights Law of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the National Human Rights Education and Training Base, and Austria-China Law Association. Scholars at home and abroad conducted extensive exchanges on the conceptual guidance and practical experience of actively promoting the balanced development of scientific and technological innovation and human rights protection, and discussed the problems and countermeasures in the practice of human rights protection in in relation to the advances in science and technology. The meeting reached a consensus on respecting and protecting human rights in the era of science and technology having become a new trend and new feature in the development of human rights amidst the collision of different viewpoints and the exchange of multi-party dialogues. It also further advocated that all countries actively carry out international cooperation in the field of science and technology, so that science and technology can make greater contributions to promoting the development of human rights in the world and building a community with a shared future for human beings.

 

Keywords: science and technology · human rights · global human rights governance

 

The 2022·China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights, held in Wuhan and Vienna respectively on May 10, 2022, was sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and Austria-China Friendship Association, organized by the Institute for Human Rights Law of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the National Human Rights Education and Training Base, and Austria-China Law Association, and co-organized by the Law School of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the Research Base of Chinese National Community Consciousness of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and the Educational Legislation Research Base of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

 

The opening ceremony and the closing session of the Seminar were presided over by Lu Guangjin, secretary-general of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and professor at Jilin University. Li Yuanyuan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and secretary of the Party Committee of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Xu Xianming, deputy head of the National People’s Congress Supervision and Justice Committee and vice-president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, Heinz Fischer, former President of Austria and Chairman of the Austria-China Friendship Association, Li Xiaosi, Chinese ambassador to Austria, Andreas Riecken, Austrian ambassador to China, and Li Junru, vice-president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and the former vice-president of the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee attended and delivered speeches. Professor Wang Xigen, dean of the Law School of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and dean of the Institute for Human Rights Law, hosted the keynote speech session. The closing ceremony was chaired by Shen Yongxiang, vice-president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and an expert of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). Xu Xiaodong, a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and vice-president of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, attended the closing ceremony and delivered a speech. Chang Jian, director of the Human Rights Research Center of Nankai University, made an academic summary.

 

The seminar, with international hotspot issues as the focus and “science and technology and human rights” as the theme, aimed to promote the common development of human rights in the world through discussions and exchanges of experience regarding the safeguarding of human rights against the backdrop of the rapid development of science and technology. In the seminar, the experts, scholars, and representatives from various countries agreed that respect for and protection of human rights in the age of science and technology has become a new trend in terms of theory, legislation and practice, and in-depth discussions on the theoretical and practical issues and experiences of science and technology and human rights is of great significance for strengthening cooperation and exchanges among countries in order to meet the new challenges and sei8ze the opportunities for the cause of human rights, promoting international cooperation and exchanges with concerted efforts, and jointly advancing global science and technology development and human rights governance.

 

 

An academic seminar with the theme “science and technology and human rights,” the discussions covered such topics as “the contribution of science and technology development to human rights,” “science and technology and the right to development” and “digital technology and human rights.” Scholars at home and abroad elaborated on the theories related to science and technology and human rights, made extensive exchanges on the practices and experience of how to make science and technology promote the development of human rights, and discussed how to balance the relationship between sci-tech progress and human rights development. Many consensuses have been reached and important outcomes have been achieved. In general, the academic features of the seminar were mainly as follows.

 

First, it followed the trend of the era and echoed social hotspot issues. Sci-tech progress is the driving force for the development of human society, and human rights are regarded as the mark of the progress of human society. Although sci-tech itself is neutral, its use has hidden dangers of human rights violations. How to promote scitech development to the greatest extent on the premise of protecting human rights has always been a hot issue of universal concern for all countries. The seminar, itself, focusing on science and technology and human rights, was a response to this hot issue.

 

Second, top scholars gathered to pool their wisdom. The seminar brought together leading experts, academics and representatives from all walks of life. Representatives from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and more than 100 human rights experts and scholars from the political, academic, legal, sci-tech sectors of China, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Spain and other countries spoke rationally and on equal footing, and exchanged views on the academic and practical issues related to science and technology and human rights in an all-round way.

 

Third, it enriched academic achievements and contributed to the cause of human rights. The development of science and technology has fundamentally changed people’s lives. On the one hand, people have gained more freedom with the help of science and technology. On the other hand, the extensive application of science and technology makes it more difficult to predict and control, and even threatens to break the bottom line of human rights protection. Therefore, the discussions on the theme of “science and technology and human rights” were conducive to the vigorous development of human rights.

 

 

Science and technology constitute a primary productive force. Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out that “science and technology are a powerful tool of our country, which the country relies on for prosperity and strength, enterprises rely on for economic profits, and the people rely on for well-being.”¹Social productivity has reached a record level thanks to the rapid sci-tech development in the modern era, but technology has always been a tool, while people are the end. Science and technology should be used as a tool to promote the cause of human rights, realize the cause of socialist human rights and protect human rights, which is the ultimate goal of the development of science and technology.

 

 

With the development of the era, the traditional connotations of human rights have failed to adapt to the needs of modern society. Human rights are increasingly rich in content owing to the change in productivity generated by science and technology. The material basis is the essential condition for the realization of human rights. Without a solid material basis, all human rights will be castles in the air. Science and technology provide material conditions and a broad social basis for the development of human rights. In China, industrialization, urbanization and the migrant population have greatly catalyzed and promoted the expansion and popularization of human rights. Vice-President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies Li Junru talked about the problem of network virtual property in the development of virtual world. As stipulated in Article 127 of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, data and network virtual property are protected by law as a property right, which is the embodiment of the expansion of property rights brought about by science and technology. Some scholars put forward new types of human rights in addition to the expansion of traditional human rights. Michael Lysander Fremus, professor of basic rights and human rights at the University of Vienna, held that the internet has become an important tool for participation in social and political life and the effective enjoyment of human rights from a European perspective, and that the state should only restrict internet access when necessary and out of legitimate objectives since it is a human right.

 

The enrichment of the connotations of human rights brought about by technological development refers to both the content of rights and their denotation. Ramachandra Byrappa, associate professor of History at the Faculty of Humanities, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary, pointed out that the primary problem of human rights protection in India is the uneven application of technology. In India, due to the urban-rural imbalance and the caste system, many rural residents and lower-caste people have no access to the basic necessities of life, such as water, electricity and mobile communications, which is a violation of their human rights.

 

When talking about the right to education in the post-pandemic era, Dr. Bi Yingqian from Wuhan University pointed out that online education and online courses have become the channels of education in primary and secondary schools nationwide during the pandemic. In order to protect the right to education of students from poor families, it is necessary to provide them with information technology equipment and to accelerate smart urban-rural construction. The connotation of human rights changes with historical conditions. The sci-tech development promotes the material conditions and enriches the connotations of human rights, which is reflected not only in the connotations of rights as the whole, but also in the basic content of a right itself.

 

 

Li Yuanyuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, noting that science and technology and human rights are inseparable when elaborating on how sci-tech boosts the cause of human rights, called for the philosophy of “Tech for Social Good” under the wave of digital transformation, and held that the common values of mankind should be upheld and carried forward, and the diversity of human civilization should be enriched. The development of science and technology has been promoting social innovation. From the industrial revolution to the information revolution, sci-tech has penetrated every aspect of our lives, providing a new way for the realization of human rights. For example, Professor Xu Xianming noted that sci-tech progress is a strong impetus for the development of human rights, since science and technology can provide conditions for the realization of human rights. Especially since the outbreak of COVID-19, informatization, intellectualization, digital technology and digital economy have played an irreplaceable role in supporting the fight against COVID-19 and resuming production. Professor Christina Binder also cited new ways of realizing human rights brought about by sci-tech progress. For example, the development of new medicines and vaccines has better protected the rights to health and life. The use of information technology, such as distance learning, is also beneficial to the realization of the right to education. Thanks to information technology, people can realize the right to political participation even during the pandemic. Adams Bodomo, a professor at the University of Vienna, probed into the topic of the use of internet technology to promote linguistic human rights and popularize indigenous languages.

 

Professor Zhang Wanhong, dean of the Institute of Human Rights of Wuhan University, believed that in developing countries, it’s not easy for ordinary people to have access to assistive devices, because the devices are high in price, few in options, low in technology and even poor in quality. As science and technology develop in recent years, China has incorporated assistive devices into the national basic public service catalogue, making unremitting efforts to improve the lives of the disabled. Li Xiao, managing director of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and a senior judge of the Supreme People’s Court, introduced the achievements of China’s construction of smart courts from the perspective of sci-tech assistance in human rights justice, and expounded on the great contribution of smart courts to safeguarding people’s right of action, right to know, right of participation, right of supervision and right of property. Sun Changlong, technical director and senior algorithm expert of Alibaba DAMO Academy, affirmed the function of artificial intelligence in constructing the Mapping Knowledge Domains and the model algorithm, and how an AI trial system was developed that simulates legal thinking, realizing the use of AI to assist judges in handling cases, improve trial efficiency and accuracy, and unify judicial trial standards. Matteo Bressan, adjunct professor of international relations at LUMSA University in Rome, Italy, detailed the huge role various smart emerging technologies such as drones, UAVs, bluetooth and global positioning systems (GPS) have played during the pandemic.

 

The benefits provided by sci-tech progress for the development of human rights are evident. Andreas Riecken, Austrian ambassador to China, said that emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, boast huge power to promote the development of human rights. In the seminar, the attendees at home and abroad demonstrated the protection and promotion of human rights by science and technology from multiple levels and perspectives. Without the development of human rights, there would be no sci-tech progress, and without sci-tech progress, the development of human rights will lose steam.

 

 

It cannot be denied that sci-tech has great benefited the development of human society. However, the continuous progress of technology may also damage human rights and lower the threshold for “evil acts.” For example, internet crimes are becoming more and more hidden and harmful. Therefore, the development of sci-tech innovation should not only be considered from the dimension of instrumental rationality, but also cannot be separated from the value rationality, the humanistic rationality, and the guidance of “Tech for Social Good.” Under the current tide of high technology, we should not only pay attention to the promotion of sci-tech development to the development of human rights, but also focus on the balance between sci-tech and human rights, so as to make human rights serve as the benchmark for sci-tech development, and uphold and promote the common values of all mankind.

 

 

As of now, respecting and protecting human rights has become one of the core objectives of the national economic, political, cultural and social development. In the great historical process of comprehensively deepening reform and advancing the rule of law, human rights is of value benchmark significance. Professor Han Dayuan, director of the Center for Human Rights Studies of the Renmin University of China, believed that safeguarding human dignity is the basic value pursuit of human society and the basic mission of sci-tech development. Sci-tech is the product of the value concept of “people-oriented.” It has emancipated people from the shackles of gods and religion, and greatly enriched the material life of human beings, which proves that its value pursuit is consistent with that of human rights. Based on the practice of sci-tech and human rights in Egypt, Meg Nada Osman, a researcher at the Boltzmann Institute for Chinese and Southeast Asian Research in Vienna, emphasized the importance of reconstructing and developing human rights concepts in internet technology, so as to enable individuals to defend their rights, and create internet technology platforms that can effectively help people use technology to defend human rights.

 

The field of gene technology has become a field of human rights greatly affected by sci-tech development, and many experts and scholars have put forward their views on it. Professor Mao Junxiang, Executive Director of Central South University Human Research Center, indicated that human gene editing technology has helped humans to overcome the difficult problems of genetics, but it has potential violations of some human rights, such as the right to life and health, the right to independent decision-making and the right to equality. It is necessary to construct the norms of technological R&D and application based on human dignity. From the perspective of the rights of future generations in human germline gene editing, Zhang Xiaoxiao, a doctoral candidate at Law School of Wuhan University, advocated drawing lessons from international legislation, to improve the legal system related to the rights of future generations in human germline gene editing, by strengthening the supervision of germline gene editing, clarifying the principles and contents of the protection of the rights of future generations, and promoting the implementation of the Biosafety Law. In short, the development of science and technology cannot be separated from the guidance of the value of human rights. It is undesirable and even harmful to deviate from or abandon the value of human rights.

 

 

Sci-tech development has promoted the freedom and liberation of humans, while laying the material foundation for their all-round development. For example, the use of machines has changed the role of labor in the field of production, liberating social productivity to the maximum extent, increasing production efficiency, and providing material support for people’s own development. Since modern times, sci-tech has become the core force of the human-oriented enlightenment movement, and China regards the people-oriented scientific outlook on development as a basic national policy. Zbigniew Viktor of Wroclaw University in Poland analyzed the nature and reality of human rights and their role in the contemporary world from two different institutional perspectives: capitalism and socialism, pointing out that the progress of human rights is closely related to economic development. Sci-tech is becoming more dominant in the development of modern society. Professor Qian Jinyu, executive deputy director of the Institute for Human Rights, Northwest University of Political Science and Law, said that it is necessary to re-understand and explain the importance of the rights to survival and development for all mankind in the context of the global risk society, and reconstruct the human rights theory system and discourse system in the structure of global human rights governance based on the concept of a community with a shared future for human beings. Chen Youwu, professor at the Institute for Human Rights of Southeast University, pointed out that sci-tech innovation is the source of power for human rights protection in contemporary China, laying a sci-tech foundation for human rights protection. Meanwhile, sci-tech innovation promotes the conditions of realizing human rights protection. In order to fully realize people’s well-being, human rights protection in contemporary China requires Tech for Social Good, which puts forward higher value pursuit for sci-tech innovation, and relies on the rule of law and the policies to promote the integrated development of human rights protection and scitech innovation. Sci-tech has great power to promote social development and human civilization progress.

 

 

Sci-tech development and human rights protection are closely intertwined. As early as the Tehran Declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1958, it was pointed out that scientific discovery and technological progress open up broad prospects for economic, social and cultural development, but may also endanger individual rights and freedoms.² This marked the point when the international community began to focus on the negative impact of science and technology on human rights. In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Use of Scientific and Technological Progress in the Interests of Peace and for the Benefit of Mankind, which explicitly required that all states take the necessary measures to ensure that the utilization of scientific and technological achievements promotes the fullest realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms and to prevent and prohibit the use of science and technology to violate human rights and fundamental freedoms and human dignity.³ The need for a balance between sci-tech and human rights was been discussed in the seminar.

 

From the government’s point of view, Graham Perry at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing argued that in terms of the balance between sci-tech and human rights in China, the government needs to prevent foreign opponents of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government from using extended technology for anti-Party and anti-government activities while expanding the reach of information technology to make instant communication available to those who might otherwise be isolated, lonely and unaware of how to use technology. Professor Han Dayuan pointed out that every kind of science and technology has two sides, and China should give full play to the role of the Constitution, incorporate the conflict between the two into the Constitution, and establish the procedure and mechanism to keep the balance between the two on the track of Constitution. The restrictions on science and technology in the Constitution are reflected not only in the restrictions of sci-tech development, but also in the restrictions on the use of science and technology. The freedom of sci-tech research protected by the Constitutional should be reasonably restricted, and the policy of sci-tech development should be regulated in the spirit of the Constitution, to ensure that sci-tech can better play its function of safeguarding human dignity.

 

In short, to promote the balance between sci-tech innovation and human rights protection, boost the cause of global human rights and advance global human rights governance, it is crucial to properly handle the relationship between sci-tech and human rights. Human rights and science are closely related. In nature, it is the dialectical unity of “moral rights” and “legal rights,” “natural rights” and “social rights.”⁴ It is necessary to take human rights as the fundamental value pursuit of sci-tech development, and sci-tech development as the fundamental driving force to protect human rights, so as to establish a balanced mechanism between sci-tech development and human rights protection.

 

 

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Right to Development in 1986. In Article 1, it declares that the right to development is an inalienable human right and Article 2 states that human beings are the subjects of development and, therefore, shall be the active participants and beneficiaries of the right to development.⁵ The right to development is a universal and indivisible part of basic human rights, with human beings as the foundation and core. The right to development is affected all the time by being closely intertwined with science and technology.

 

 

The right to development is the right of people of all countries to achieve comprehensive development and social justice in economic, societial, cultural, educational, health, social welfare and other aspects.⁶ The seminar held a special forum on the topic of science, technology and the right to development, in which experts and scholars had extensive discussions.

 

He Shaowei, deputy director of the Social Education Program Center of the Central Radio and Television Station of China told the story of the CCTV science and education channel in 2019 when it set up a systematic platform for the popularization of sci-tech programs covering the history of science, the charm of science and technology, the frontier of science and technology, and innovation-driven development in the new era have been formed. He vividly described the practice of the media to help realize the right to development by spreading and popularizing sci-tech achievements.

 

Professor Lu Haina, executive director of the Center for Human Rights Studies of the Renmin University of China, analyzed the manifestations and underlying causes of the gender digital divide, pointing out that the gender digital divide is the result of social construction. To solve the problem, we must start by breaking this social construction and eliminating the root causes of the gender digital divide with the combination of relevant international legal documents and the reference to the existing practices, and discuss how to reduce the gender digital divide and better protect women’s right to work through institutional arrangements of laws and policies in the post-pandemic era. From the perspective of artificial intelligence, Hai Er, senior researcher of the Academy of China Open Economy Studies of the University of International Business and Economics, pointed out that technology plays an extremely important role in shaping the economic and geopolitical order. Artificial intelligence can improve the productivity of the global economy, thus enhancing the global gross national product, but it may also widen the efficiency gap between countries.

 

 

The progress of science and technology is for the benefit of mankind. The right to subsistence, as a fundamental right to development, is a prerequisite for the realization of the right to development.⁷ From the perspective of biomedical research, Professor Man Hongjie from the Human Rights Research Center of Shandong University proposed to protect subjects’ rights to life and health through ethical reviews. Their People’s personal safety and health rights should be placed in a position superior to scientific and social interests, and vulnerable groups should be given special protection. Professor Gerd Kaminski, executive chairman of the Austria-China Friendship Association, head of the Boltzmann Institute for Chinese and Southeast Asian Research in Vienna and director of the European Research Center of the Institute for Human Rights and Law of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, pointed out that from the perspective of social credit that as the main body of market economy induced by technology, human beings need to be taken seriously, and the social credit system is conducive to social governance, but it also has potential risks of violating human rights. At present, it is not clear how to comprehensively, profoundly and effectively promote the concrete implementation of this system, but human rights factors must be taken into account. Taking a look at the use of technology in China’s anti-poverty efforts, Zhang Zhihao of China Daily cited a mushroom farm in Jinmi village in Zhashui county, Shaanxi province, which is equipped with high-tech equipment such as high-definition cameras, sensors, automatic ventilation and irrigation systems, to show how local farmers keep high yields against the background the pandemic. The county’s fungal industry produces about 5,000 tons of agaric and mushrooms annually, which is worth 300 million yuan, helping residents here lift themselves out of poverty in 2019. This vividly shows that the goal of science and technology to realize the right to development can have a more profound connotation and significance.

 

In a world featuring centennial changes and the outbreak of COVID-19, global development has been severely impacted, inequality in global development has become more acute, and the right to development is facing severe challenges.⁸ Countries should strengthen cooperation to ensure development and remove obstacles to development. The international community should also promote effective international cooperation to realize the right to development and remove obstacles to development.

 

 

Human rights is a historical concept. With continuous social change, the concept of human rights varies accordingly. As the world is undergoing rapid development and change, big data, artificial intelligence, virtual economy, the internet and other technologies have profoundly changed the way of human life. It is necessary to discuss the concept of ensuing “digital human rights” under the current background.

 

 

In 2020, the China National Committee for Terminology in Science and Technology approved the release of the first batch of new words for big data, including “digit human rights,”⁹ marking a further recognition of digital human rights. But the Committee did not explain the term. As for the specific meaning of “digital human rights,” the participants also had an extensive discussion.

 

Professor Zhang Wenxian, director of the Academic Committee of China Law Society, put forward the concept of “No Numbers, No Human Rights” in the digital era.¹⁰ Professor Ma Changshan of East China University of Political Science and Law believed said that with the accelerated integration and development of network technology, information technology and artificial intelligence technology, the way of human information existence has endowed human rights with the digital attribute, and the attribute of human rights has broken through the biological attribute and physical space of human beings, and stepped forward to the attribute of information and virtual space. The emerging digital human rights break through the theoretical framework and protection mechanism of the existing three generations of human rights, and generally belong to the “fourth generation of human rights.”. Professor Gong Xianghe, executive director of the Institute for Human Rights of Southeast University agreed and held that the attribute of digital human rights should be considered in combination with the virtual digital society. It is not enough to study the human rights theory of traditional society, since the digital society has expanded the social property of human beings and possessed a “digital attribute.” Based on this, digital human rights is a new type of human rights developed from the “digital attribute” of human beings.

 

Liu Zhiqiang, a professor at Guangzhou University Institute for Human Rights, took a different view. He believed that from the principle of generational division, “digital human rights” refers to the increase in the number of human rights, which has not exceeded the existing human rights system, let alone broken through the three-generation pattern of human rights. From the perspective of the moral attribute of human rights, “digital human rights” do not have the moral foundation of human rights or “humanity” as the core value and moral basis, an so they should not be regarded as basic human rights. From the perspective of basic rights, “digital human rights” lacks the normative basis of the Constitution, and fail to conform to the standards of “human dignity” and “minimum basic” standards, so they do not belong to the basic rights not listed in the Constitution. Therefore, “digital human rights” do not constitute the fourth generation of human rights.

 

Although the above views differ on whether “digital human rights” belong to the foundation of human rights and constitute the fourth generation of human rights, Professor Liu Zhiqiang didn’t deny the digital rights of natural persons, which is not in conflict with the views of Professor Ma Changshan and Professor Zhang Wenxian that digital human rights are human rights.

 

 

Currently, digital technology is widely used. While enjoying the convenience brought about by the digital economy, problems such as irregular competition in the platform economy, “big data-enabled price discrimination against existing customers,”, information divides, information cocoons and algorithm discrimination have profoundly affected human development and personal dignity.¹¹ Hannes A. Fellner, an associate professor at the Department of Linguistics of the University of Vienna, believed that we are experiencing the co-evolution of technology and humans. The tide of data, algorithms and computing power is undermining the most basic structures of society and blurring the lines between human and machine by altering human interactions, social institutions, economies and political structures. Our task is not only to contain the drawbacks of information and communication technologies, but also to encourage people-centered innovation. He also called for digital humanism capable of describing and analyzing, with a view to achieving better societies and lives, with full respect for universal human rights.

 

In the digital era, metaverse, brain-computer interface, data compliance, face recognition, algorithm interpretation rights, platform economy, network security review and so on have become the focus of attention. The digital age is not only facilitating people’s lives but also challenging traditional theories of human rights. Professor Xiao Junyong, deputy director of the Center for Sci & Tech and Human Rights Studies at the Beijing Institute of Technology, believed that the real impact and hidden threat of large-scale application of artificial intelligence on human rights lies in the inaccurate monitoring and deletion of content by artificial intelligence algorithm, the low recognition rate of artificial intelligence for minority groups, and the discrimination in recommendation and screening based on user portrait technology, the difficulty in complaining against the decisions made by artificial intelligence, and the imperceptibility of the decisions made by artificial intelligence. He also proposed measures to strengthen administrative supervision.

 

 

In the digital age, digital human rights and digital governance are the development of human rights governance in the digital space. Digital human rights are both the way and the goal of digital governance, and a series of human rights protection requirements related to the digital scenarios are made.¹² China’s fourth National Human Rights Action Plan, the Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025), has also added many new contents related to digital human rights.¹³ For example, bridging the digital divide between urban and rural areas has been added to the right to basic living, and preventing the digital divide in online education has been added to the right to education, proving that China pays attention to digital human rights governance and 

protection.

 

According to Professor Chang Jian, research on human rights protection in the digital age should first carefully examine its theoretical basis. In line with the Marxist basic principle that “social existence determines consciousness,”, we should start with the exploration of what are the new changes in the way of basic living in the digital age, analyze the impact of this new change on the protection of human dignity, and probe into the human rights in the digital era on the basis of the characteristics and attributes of this influence. Professor Tang Yingxia, deputy director of the Human Rights Research Center of Nankai University, made an analysis of the human rights due diligence in the digital supply chain, summarized that the obstacles to human rights due diligence in the digital era lie in the risk of data and the unpredictability of business, and explored a human rights due diligence approach adapted to digital supply chains from existing human rights law and data law. Professor Zheng Zhihang, executive director of the Human Rights Research Center of Shandong University, discussed the protection of human dignity from the perspective of the balance of interests between the data subject and data controller in automated decision-making.

 

 

It is the common pursuit of human society to safeguard human values and dignity and realize the enjoyment of human rights by all. The era of science and technology has brought opportunities accompanied by hidden dangers for human rights protection. How to make science and technology play an instrumental value role in promoting and safeguarding human rights with people as orientation is not only an issue that should be considered in sci-tech development, but also one that should be paid attention to in the cause of human rights. Human rights, as a value criterion for sci-tech development, requires more for the protection of human rights. The cause of human rights is not only a persistent pursuit of all countries, but also a long-term task around the globe. As Heinz Fischer, former President of Austria and Chairman of the Austria-China Friendship Association, said, the world is rapidly changing and developing, and the internet, big data and artificial intelligence have totally changed our lives and brought us new opportunities and challenges, including in the field of human rights protection. It is important that if we want to share ideas, communicate more, and promote mutual understanding among countries around the world, we should forge technology based on human values and needs, rather than make technology shape humans. This seminar represented an important effort to achieve this noble goal.

 

(Translated by XU Chao)

 

* TENG Rui ( 滕锐 ), Secretary-general of the Institute for Human Rights Law of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Doctor of Laws.

 

** WEN Ting ( 温婷 ), Master degree candidate of the Law School of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

 

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