The Celebration of the 64th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ceremony of the 10th anniversary of the Institute for Human Rights at CUPL was held in the academic lecture hall of the university library on December 10th, 2012. More than one hundred experts and scholars attended the celebration. They were from China University of Political Science and Law, the EU delegation, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Beijing office of Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of Lunds University in Sweden, Beijing University, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Geely Group, Jing Du Law Firm, Zhong Wen Law Firm, the journal of Human Rights and other organizations.
The commemorative activities officially started with the melodious violin solo of "Schindler's list" by Xu Wenjing, an undergraduate student from our university. The ceremony was divided into two parts. The first part is to commemorate “the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and was hosted by Professor Li ShuZhong, the vice-president of China university of Politics and Law.
The first activity was to play a short documentary film on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The film provided a vivid recount of the birth of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its main contents. After watching the film, some of the guests and together with over thirty students from Human Rights Institute read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights out loud, under the proposal of Professor Zheng YongLiu from China-EU school of law. The passionate reading against melancholy music allowed the guests to once again appreciate the sacred and noble meaning of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The venue’s atmosphere was harmonious, positive and uplifting.
Professor Huang Jin, president of CUPL and dean of Human Rights Institute, delivered the opening speech. He first warmly welcomed all the guests who attended the event. Then he reiterated the significance of the birth of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and summarized the current state of China’s Human Rights development, and at the same time affirmed the contributions made by Human Rights Institute of China University of Political Science and Law to the development and promotion of human rights in China.
Ms. Camen Cano, the deputy director of the EU delegation, congratulated the occurrence of this commemorative activity and wished to continue the cooperation with China and to work together to promote and develop the human rights enterprise in China.
The second party of the event was to commemorate “the tenth anniversary of Human Rights Institute of China University of Political Science and Law", and was hosted by Professor Zhang Wei, executive vice president of Human Rights Institute of CUPL. Professor Ban WenZhan, vice President of Human Rights Institute, summarized and reviewed the ten-year history of Human Rights Institute since its establishment in 2002. Many other experts and scholars also gave speeches that looked into the future development of the Human Rights Institute and wished the institutions to continue its great work.
Professor Gao HuanYue, vice secretary of Party Committee of China University of Political Science and Law made the closing speech. She thanked the public for their generous support of the studies in human rights and expressed best wishes for a bright future of the Human Rights Institute of China University of Political Science and Law.
Finally, student representatives Song XiaoHui and Lu Chao from Human Rights Institute of China University of Political Science and law gave their thanks to the society and their university and determined to make contributions to the progress of China's human rights enterprise.
The commemorative activities ended with the chorus by faculty members and students of Human Rights Institute of CUPL.