The Role of Human Rights Organizations in China: CSHRS' Case

In China, there are many human rights organizations, because of their focuses and priorities related to human rights. China Society for Human Rights Studies(CSHRS) is the largest of them, which focuses on human rights research, popularizing and international exchanges. This paper takes CSHRS as an example to show the role of the human rights organizations play in China. From the practice of CSHRS, we can see the human rights organizations in China play a kind of constructive role through involving in very broad fields and engaging in the various activities of human rights protection. Their works include participating in drafting the National Human Rights Action Plans, giving constructive suggestions, working in human rights education, engaging in international exchanges and cooperation, taking part in the work of UPR, raising fund and implementing projects, and so on. They are trying hard to contribute to improve human rights situation in China.     

Prison Management Works Hard to Bring Human Rights under Good Protection

EDITOR＇S NOTE： Human rights protection in prisons is an important part of China＇s National Human Rights Action Plan and the human rights conditions in prisons constitute an important hallmark of the human rights protection level of the country. In order to get to know more about human rights protection in this special area, this reporter paid a visit to the No. 4 Prison in Henan Province, central China.     

New Understanding of the Socialist Human Rights Concept with Chinese Characteristics and its Practice: An Overview of the International Conference on the International Cooperation in Human Rights and the Chinese Perspective

The International Conference on the International Cooperation in Human Rights and the Chinese Perspective organized by the Institute of International Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, took place in Beijing, China from October 22-23, 2016. Both Chinese and foreign human rights experts convened to exchange their opinions on the new development of the human rights theories and practices, especially from the Chinese perspective. The socialist concept on human rights with Chinese characteristics was discussed intensively during the meeting and new terms such as "the Human Rights Model of the South" and "the Human Rights Perspective of the South" were raised. The participants interpreted and summed up the experiences and features of the Chinese socialist human rights cause. The drafting and implementation of the Chinese National Human Rights Action Plans and the progress in the promotion of rule of law in China were mentioned. They highly valued the constructive roles played by China in the international human rights cooperation field, especially under the United Nations(UN) human rights regime and for the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.     

Assessment of Human Rights Action Plans and Use of Its Results from a Global Perspective

Since the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993,more than a quarter of the participating countries have developed National Human Rights Action Plans(NHRAPs)to promote human rights.An assessment of the NHRAPs can help to understand the realities of the implementation,improve the quality of the follow-up plan,and improve the effectiveness of the plan in the implementation process.From the texts and practices of the NHRAPs,such an assessment includes the "self-assessments" of the plans' implementers,comprehensive assessments of inter-departmental committees(groups),and evaluations of policy objects,social organizations and human rights experts.The assessment methods include field research,qualitative evaluation,indicator measurement and process monitoring,among other things.The results of the assessment can promote the cohesion between the NHRAPs in different periods,promote the accumulation and transmission of the implementation experience of the plan,and promote the optimization and adjustment of related matters during the implementation period.     

Advancing Human Rights

Editor’s note:Amid the country’s ongoing efforts to work out the National Human Rights ActionPlan of China(2012-2015),WangChen,minister of the State Council Information Office, gave an interview to Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday about the new program. The following are excerpts of what he said:     

Study on the Joint Meeting Mechanism for the National Human Rights Action Plan

The joint meeting mechanism for the National Human Rights Action Plan(NHRAP)is a multi-faceted mechanism which unifies political,legislative,administrative,judicial and social sectors.It undertakes the responsibility of formulating,implementing,supervising and evaluating the NHRAP,promotes mutual learning,exchange and competition among member units in the protection of human rights.Over the ten years since it was established,it has proved to be a successful innovative mechanism for protecting human rights that is in line with China's national conditions.In order to improve the operation of the joint meeting mechanism the NHRAP,it is necessary to establish a more effective coordination mechanism within the joint meeting mechanism,and to subdivide the monitoring and evaluation functions into three levels.     

Diversity of Civilization and Development of the World Human Rights Cause——Summary of “2019 South-South Human Rights Forum”

From December 10 to 11,2019,the State Council Information Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly held the 2019 South-South Human Rights Forum in Beijing.Participants from more than 80 countries,regions and international organizations discussed and exchanged views on such topics as "the practices and experiences of human rights protection in the countries of the Global South","path of human rights development against the background of the diversity of civilizations","building a Community with a Shared Future for Human Beings and global human rights governance".Participants in the forum actively voiced their national human rights views,exchanged human rights development experiences,explored human rights development paths in developing countries,and reached broad consensus.In an international environment featuring the rise of unilateralism and hegemonism,the South-South Human Rights Forum issued a strong message of solidarity and cooperation among developing countries on human rights issues,and also conveyed to the world the firm determination of developing countries to jointly promote the healthy development of the world's human rights cause.     

On the Parliament Participation in the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights

Whether, and if so how, parliaments should participate in the Universal Periodic Review mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council is emerging. Due to their unique contributions to human rights protection and promotion, parliaments should participate in the process. Furthermore, some parliaments are already involved in this mechanism, including drafting national reports, engaging in interactive dialogues, and the implementation of review recommendations. In the past two rounds of reviews, China's National People's Congress has a positive record in this regard, but it should play a more active role in ratifying or acceding to international human rights conventions.     

More Tangible Human Rights

正At the 47th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council(UNHRC),which opened on June21,more than 90 countries expressed their support for China in regard to its stance on human rights.The vote of support thwarted attempts on the part of several Western countries to trip up China' s development by fueling misleading rumors about China' s overall human rights situation.     

On the Relations Between National Security and Human Rights Defined in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China

Counterterrorism, de-radicalization and anti-violence are the major tasks of the international community.As the arch enemy of human rights, terrorism destroys the constitutional order and endangers people's lives, freedom and safety.It is the obligation of modern countries and the core value of legal states to safeguard human rights.Human rights should be effectively safeguarded under the premise of building a sound constitutional order and national security.public order and social stability foster a sound environment for the protection of human rights.In the face of terrorism's severe threat to human rights, all countries are re-examining the order of human rights values and seeking mechanisms and procedures to balance National Security and Human Rights through their constitutions.The concepts of human rights and social order and the ways to explain the two are different due to different constitutional systems and cultural and religious traditions.However, they do have something in common, that is, counterterrorism and de-radicalization do not conflict with human rights protection.Efforts should be made to foster a view of human rights based on security and a view of security based on human rights, and a dynamic principle of proportionality established for counterterrorism and human rights protection, so endowing the traditional principle of proportionality with flexible, rich value connotation.     

“The 10th Anniversary of the Blue Book on Human Rights and the Concepts,Discourses and Theories of Human Rights in China” Symposium Summary

The China Society of Human Rights Studies and the Human Rights Research Center at Nankai University jointly hosted a seminar on "The 10~(th) Anniversary of the Blue Book on Human Rights and the Chinese Human Rights Concept,Discourse and Theory" on December 19~(th),2020.Experts at the meeting expressed their views and discussed the organization,style,and system of the Blue Book on Human Rights;the concept,expression,and dissemination of the Chinese human rights discourse;the paradigm,principle,and structure of the Chinese human rights theory;and the objectives,paths,and development of the Chinese human rights enterprise.     

China Attains Targets in National Human Rights Action Plan

Wang Chen, minister of the State Council Information Office,delivered a speech at the"Assessment Meeting of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010)"in Beijing on July 12. Following is the full text of the speech     

Summary of the 2018 Symposium on National Human Rights Education and Research

The 2018 Symposium on National Human Rights education and Research summarized the achievements in human rights education and research in china, in the past four decades of reform and opening-up, especially since the 18 th National congress of the communist Party of china The Meeting mainly concentrated on topics "new era of human rights education and talents cultivation" and "new era of human rights theory innovation and academic orientation" An overall outline of human rights education system have been constructed in china and details of the concepts from a macroscopic to a microcosmic perspective show the features of china's human rights education and research institutions The discussion of academic topics has predicted the development trend of theories of china's human rights in new era, and expanded relevant comparative research and empirical research.     

A Commentary on Lo Chung-shu's Human Rights Philosophy

In 1947, based on a questionnaire survey of luminaries from all over the world, the united Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization(uNESCo) put together an expert commission to study the philosophical foundations of human rights.Lo Chung-shu(Luo Zhongshu), a Chinese scholar who was part of the commission, contributed an article titled "Human Rights in the Chinese Tradition" to the program.He introduced traditional Chinese human rights concepts and proposed that every person in the world enjoys the rights to subsistence(the right to live), self-expression and happiness(the right to enjoyment).Lo's exposition of the basic principles underlying human rights and the specific human rights he proposed were eventually embraced by the universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international treatises on human rights, a testament to his foresight and vision .     

On the Making and Significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the first common commitment of the international community to human rights. It demonstrated the belief and determination of humanity to maintain peace, democracy and human dignity. The process of formulating the Declaration was difficult. But in the spirit of cooperation,countries finally succeeded in reaching a consensus on human rights.The making of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had great value and significance for promoting world peace and development,and it has had a far-reaching impact on the rule of law in international human rights and the development of the human rights legal systems in various countries. A re-examination and analysis of the process of formulating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will help us understand the purposes and objectives of the Declaration and review the great value of the spirit of the Declaration to the world today.     

Building a Community with a Shared Future for Human Beings: New Opportunity for South-South Human Rights Development Overview of the First South-South Human Rights Forum

From December 7 to December 8, 2017, the State Council Information Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly organized the first South-South Human Rights Forum in Beijing. With the topic of "Building a Community with a Shared Future for Human Beings: New Opportunity for South-South Human Rights Development," participants conducted in-depth discussions on topics including "global human rights governance", "inclusive development and South-South human rights cooperation", "China and the SouthSouth cooperation", "right to education for the countries of the Global South" and "poverty reduction, right to food and right to health", which achieved great consensuses and yielded results. This Forum was the first time that countries of the Global South have jointly discussed human rights issues.     

Human Rights Implications of Bringing the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects to a Successful Completion——From the perspective of the Developmentalism of Human Rights

The Developmentalism of Human Rights provides a broader perspective for a comprehensive and profound understanding of the human rights implications of bringing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects to a successful completion.From the perspective of the Developmentalism of Human Rights,bringing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects to a successful completion takes promoting the all-round development of human beings as the starting point and end point,which embodies the ultimate goal of human rights to guarantee everyone's free,comprehensive and coordinated development;the specific goals and tasks set by bringing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects to a successful completion respond to the four means rights to subsistence,freedom,participation and equal protection.The realization of the goals and tasks of completing the process of building a moderately well-off society in all aspects marks a higher level of safeguarding the right to development,and also opens a new journey for all members of the society to develop freely,comprehensively and harmoniously.     

How China Protects the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

China prioritizes the rights to survival and to development both in abstract terms and in practical terms in its human rights efforts. As early as the United Nations began to draft the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, China maintained that the right to development should be part of human rights. In the implementation of the Convention, China focuses on the people's livelihood, passes laws and makes policies that protect disability rights, and even prioritizes the protection as part of its economic and social development initiatives, particularly poverty reduction and the effort to make China into a moderately prosperous society. In the international community, China advocates the inclusion of disability rights into international development agendas, and plays a leading role in the implementation of the United Nations' Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China's unique way of protecting disability rights aptly demonstrates the country's efforts to realize the right to development for its people.     

Four Mechanisms for Safeguarding the Effectiveness of the Human Rights Action Plan: Based on African Experience

Since the 1993 World Conference on human Rights, nine African countries have implemented ten human rights action plans. An analysis of the texts and related implementation of these plans reveals that there are four mechanisms that play a key role in improving the effectiveness of the implementation of the national human Rights Action Plan, namely, the positioning and focusing mechanism for the country's core human rights issues, the integration mechanism between the action plans and the countries' development strategies, domestic economic growth and related resources utilization mechanism, and effective governance of domestic public conflicts and public order guarantee mechanism. defining and coordinating these mechanisms is of great practical significance for improving the effectiveness of human rights action plans in developing countries.     

Overview of the Symposium on Human Rights Cause in China in the New Era

The symposium on the "Progress of Human Rights Development in the New Era in China" was jointly hosted by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and the Publicity Department of the Guangdong Provincial Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and organized by Guangzhou University Institute for Human Rights in Guangzhou on 19 December 2017. Scholars and experts from more than 20 universities and institutes, as well as delegates from over 10 ministries and commissions under the State Council participated in the symposium. The symposium explored four themes: "Human Rights Connotations in Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", "The Progress of Human Rights Development in China after the 18 th National Congress of the CPC", "The Prospective of Human Rights Development in the New Era in China", as well as "Building a Community with a Shared Future for Human Beings and the Progress of the Human Rights Development of the World". This Paper is a record of the important opinions articulated during the Symposium.