Chen Youwu: “the Internal Law of the Development of the Relationship Between Human Rights Research and Education in China”

Chen Youwu: “the Internal Law of the Development of the Relationship Between Human Rights Research and Education in China”

On the morning of March 17, 2022, under the chairmanship of Professor Zhang Wei, co-director of the Institute for Human Rights of China University of Political Science and Law, a series of lectures of the “global human rights forum” were held online in the campus of Xueyuan Road of CUPL. Professor Chen Youwu, vice president of Human Rights Research Institute of Southeast University and part-time professor of CUPL, gave a special lecture for teachers and students of the Institute for human rights with the theme of "the internal law of the development of the relationship between human rights research and education in China".

At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Chen introduced the main contents of the important speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping in the 37th collective study of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of CPC on February 26, 2022, addressed that it has consequential guiding significance for the development of human rights research and education in contemporary China. Then he briefed the main contents of the lecture, including three aspects: the development of the relationship between human rights research and education in China; the historical development and achievements; the motivations and the prospect.

First of all, Professor Chen raised a question: how to divide the stages of the development of the relationship between human rights research and education, or what are the criteria for its division? Professor Chen believes that it should be divided into three stages according to the standards of the constitution, laws and other documents related to human rights of the party and the government, namely separation stage, running-in stage and combination stage. Professor Chen believes that in the separation stage, theorists have begun to pay attention to human rights issues, the issue of human rights has begun to enter the vision of Party and state leaders. In the running-in stage, the introduction of the White Paper Human Rights in China (1991) has laid the foundation for the development of human rights research and education in contemporary China, which fully shows that human rights issues have been affirmed by the state in the top-level design. At this stage, China's human rights cause has made great progress, human rights research has been carried out in an orderly manner, human rights social training has achieved certain results, human rights law has been established as a secondary discipline, and the talent team of human rights research and education has gradually formed. In the combination stage, Professor Chen pointed out that the National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2010) is a milestone in the field of human rights education. Especially since the 18th National Congress of CPC, the combination of human rights research and education in contemporary China has been so close that has become an important factor in the development and progress of China's human rights cause. The publication of Xi Jinping's discourses on respecting and safeguarding human rights in December 2021 and General Secretary Xi Jinping's emphasis on unswervingly following the path of China's human rights development in February 2022 fully show that the human rights the cause has been highly valued by the party and state leaders, and the human rights research and education in contemporary China has entered a new historical stage.

Secondly, Professor Chen reveals the motivation of the development of the relationship between human rights research and education in China. He believes that “the challenges brought by the tendency of human rights politicization”, “the dilemma of global human rights governance reform” and “the internal demand for the development of China's human rights cause” constitute the motivation for the development of the relationship between human rights research and education in China. Professor Chen proposed that the development of human rights research and education is an effective response to the challenge of human rights politicization. With the fluctuating challenge of human rights politicization under the background of the fluctuating development of China-US relation, promoting human rights research and education appears to be a basic response. At the level of global human rights governance, we should actively participate in global human rights governance on the premise of recognizing sovereign equality, and shape China's human rights discourse system under the guidance of the concept of “a community with a shared future for human beings”. Finally, Professor Chen believes that fundamentally, the development of the relationship between human rights research and education in contemporary China is an internal requirement of the development of human rights in contemporary China. The great achievements made in the development of human rights cause in China need to be explained in theory and disseminated in consciousness.

At the end of the lecture, Professor Chen made a prospect for the future development of the relationship between human rights research and education in China, and believed that the integration of human rights research and education in contemporary China will be marked by the development of human rights discipline, especially the formation of human rights as a first level discipline. He stressed that the development of human rights discipline is a firm response to the urgent need to cultivate high-end human rights talents with solid foundation in theory, academic level of excellence, proficiency in international rules and ability to tell Chinese human rights stories, and pointed out that the conditions for the development of China's human rights discipline system, academic system and discourse system have been basically mature. This view aroused extensive discussion among the students of the Institute for human rights. Mr. Chen answered the questions of the students one by one and encouraged everyone to contribute to China's human rights cause.

The lecture ended successfully with everyone's applause!