May 19, 2016-- Sun Shiyan, the guest professor at the CASS came to the Institute for Human Rights and gave a lecture entitled "Law Thesis Methods" for the first-year master students and some Ph.D students.

The lecture was divided into two stages. In the first stage, it focused on the theme of “human rights law research methods and data” and described how to research a right by using article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As an example. Professor Sun Shiyan proposed that researching human rights law must pay attention to the first-hand information, this is what Chinese scholars missing exactly. For example, in recent years, Chinese scholars are doing a lot of researches on how to ratify and implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

 Although the research involved General Comment 31 of the Human Rights Commission, more than 200 reports of States parties copies of the concluding comments as well as more than 1000 individual communications，it did not give due attention, let alone such information as a starting point and focus of the study. Excerpts from the writings of foreign scholars or experts but rather a passage quoted another study mode. Furthermore, Professor Sun Shiyan lead the students browse the relevant bodies and source websites, he introduced and classified detailedly the primary and secondary data which appear in academic research. Also he provided great advice and help on academic research for the students.

In the second stage, Professor Sun Shiyan introduced English annotation rules in detail. And Prof. Sun Shiyan showed a solid academic foundation in humorous way. The classroom atmosphere was very active and reached a good interaction between the professor and students. The students learned a lot from the course and the lecture had a successful conclusion.

Written by Dai Wenhai