China News Agency, Beijing, February 16. Question: Why must the development of human rights promote the common values of all mankind?
——Interview with Chang Jian, Director of Human Rights Research Center of Nankai University
China News Agency reporter Zeng Jingning
In recent years, many major challenges to global governance, such as traditional and non-traditional security threats such as the new crown epidemic, arms race, nuclear arms control, terrorism, cyber security, climate change, environmental problems, financial crisis, and global poverty, are all related to human rights. Security related.
Chang Jian, director of the Human Rights Research Center of Nankai University, pointed out in an exclusive interview with China News Agency "Dongxiwen" that the realization of human rights is the common goal of mankind, and the promotion and protection of human rights is the common cause of all countries.
Today's global governance and the development of human society need the guidance of the common values of all mankind more than ever before.
Chang Jian believes that contemporary international human rights concepts and norms are a collective expression of the common values of all mankind, and the common values of all mankind provide the value basis of legitimacy for contemporary human rights concepts.
The development of contemporary human rights concepts must promote the common values of all mankind, and at the same time enrich the connotation of the common values of all mankind.
China News Agency reporter: President Xi Jinping pointed out that "the full enjoyment of human rights for all is the great dream of human society"; in the face of current global governance problems, he has repeatedly emphasized that "peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, freedom, It is the common value of all mankind". How to understand the relationship between human rights and the common values of all mankind?
Chang Jian:
Human rights were originally a regional cultural concept from the West, reflecting only the local cultural values of some Western countries, rather than the common values of all mankind.
Modern western liberal thinkers regard human rights as a kind of "natural rights" based on the theory of "natural law".
However, the "person" mentioned in Western human rights political documents does not refer to all natural persons, excluding women, poor people who cannot pay taxes, ethnic minorities and colonial people, and the rights they talk about only include emerging assets Some basic civil liberties advocated by the class do not include the economic, social and cultural rights demanded by the majority of workers, which has great historical limitations.
With the acceleration of the globalization of the market economy, modern Western human rights concepts have spread to other parts of the world, and at the same time combined with different cultures in different regions, the subjects of human rights have gradually expanded from a few property owners in a few Western countries to people in various countries. The general public.
The "Village BA Basketball Game" kicked off in Shibadong Village, Huayuan County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province, attracting villagers to watch.
This is where China's "targeted poverty alleviation" was initiated.
Photo by Yang Huafeng
With the rise of the socialist movement of the proletariat against the oppression of the bourgeoisie, the content of human rights has also expanded from the isolated individual freedom rights in the past to economic, social and cultural rights, as well as national and people's self-determination rights, peace rights, development rights, and environmental rights. and other collective human rights.
This makes human rights gradually develop from a concept reflecting regional cultural values to a concept reflecting the common values of a wider range of people.
In particular, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various international conventions on human rights adopted by the United Nations after World War II, as well as the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, all brought together the common wisdom of people of all countries and reflected the the common values of all mankind.
In this sense, the common values of all mankind are the foundation of cultural values that justify human rights and the value support of contemporary international human rights concepts and norms.
As Xi Jinping pointed out in the "Congratulatory Letter to the Symposium Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" on December 10, 2018: "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document of great significance in the history of human civilization. The development of human rights has had a profound impact. The Chinese people are willing to work with people of other countries to uphold the common human values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, safeguard human dignity and rights, and promote the formation of a more just, reasonable and inclusive global Human rights governance, jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind, and create a better future for the world."
Eradicating poverty and realizing development are basic human rights.
The picture shows bamboo product enterprises in Longqiao Town, Lujiang County, Anhui Province, developing the deep processing industry of moso bamboo products, driving low-income groups to achieve a stable increase in income.
Photo by Wang Min
China News Agency reporter: The concept and norms of human rights in the contemporary international community are jointly constructed by all countries in the world through the mechanism of the United Nations. The Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, and a series of resolutions on human rights by the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council not only clarified and enriched contemporary human rights concepts, but also gradually established the human rights norms of the international community. How does the concept of human rights in the contemporary international community promote the common values of all mankind?
Chang Jian:
The human rights resolutions adopted by the United Nations promote the common values of all mankind, which can be roughly summarized in the following three forms:
One is to declare important values as specific human rights or human rights principles, such as the right to peace, the right to development, the principles of equality and non-discrimination, the right to a fair trial, the right to equal participation in public affairs and elections, and various rights to freedom.
The second is to specify the rights of specific subjects involved in important values as an important content of human rights protection, such as children in armed conflict, refugees and displaced people, poor people who are disadvantaged in development, women, migrant workers and their families, The elderly and the disabled, ethnic and racial minorities who cannot be treated fairly due to historical and social reasons, etc.
Nanjing, Jiangsu, the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.
Photo by Yang Bo
The third is to stipulate the conditions and methods for the realization of common values as an important measure to protect human rights.
Such as combating terrorism, strengthening the legal protection of human rights, establishing a reasonable and fair international economic order and democratic order, etc.
In this sense, the contemporary international human rights concepts and norms stipulated in various documents adopted by the United Nations General Assembly express and carry forward the common values of all mankind in a bundled manner, and are an important contemporary carrier of the common values of all mankind, embodying the common values of all mankind. The specific connotation of the value, the key protection subjects and the specific measures that need to be taken to realize these values.
China News Service reporter: The human rights concept and norms of the international community are an important expression of the common values of all mankind in the contemporary era. What contributions has China made in promoting human rights and carrying forward the common values of all mankind?
Chang Jian:
China has made continuous efforts to promote contemporary human rights concepts and norms, and to embody and promote the common values of all mankind.
As early as in the drafting process of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Chinese representative Zhang Pengchun, as the vice chairman of the drafting committee, proposed to embody the concept of "the benevolent man loves others" in Chinese culture in the declaration, using the "two-man-mindedness" (two-man-mindedness) To dispel the consciousness of isolated individuals in the Western concept of human rights, use the concept of "conscience" to balance "rationality", while advocating that everyone enjoys rights, it also emphasizes that everyone has responsibilities to society and others, and advocates canceling all human rights in the declaration. Phrases related to God and nature.
He also particularly advocated that the purpose of implementing the Declaration of Human Rights is not to punish, but to educate people and promote their development.
He advocated retaining the expression "All within the world are brothers" in Article 1 of the Declaration, and called on people to treat each other with a spirit of brotherhood.
A huge statue of Yuan Longping in the rice fields of Wufu Village, Jiangbei Town, Changsha County, Hunan Province.
Yuan Longping has made important contributions to global poverty reduction and the protection of the right to food.
Photo by Yang Huafeng
Since the People's Republic of China regained its legal status in the United Nations, it has actively promoted the reflection of the common values of all mankind in the United Nations human rights documents.
China participated in the formulation of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development and the Declaration on the Right to Peace, and supported the United Nations General Assembly in adopting the "promoting peace as a necessary condition for everyone to fully enjoy all human Human rights", "Concrete action for the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance", "Promoting a democratic and equitable international order", "Promoting equitable geographical distribution of membership in human rights treaty bodies", "Human rights and unilateral Coercive measures", "freedom of religion or belief", "elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief", "protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism" and a series of human rights resolutions.
Lhasa citizens are choosing to buy colorful prayer flag trees.
The colorful prayer flag tree is one of the must-have items for Tibetan people before the Tibetan New Year.
Photo by He Penglei
In the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping once again sincerely called on "all countries in the world to promote the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom for all mankind", which will provide a value basis for the construction of UN human rights concepts and norms.
At the same time, China has actively participated in global human rights governance, put forward the "Global Development Initiative" and "Global Security Initiative" to the international community, and contributed Chinese wisdom to the international human rights concepts and norms to more fully reflect the common values of all mankind.
(over)
Respondent profile:
Chang Jian.
Photo provided by the interviewee
Chang Jian, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Zhou Enlai School of Government and Management of Nankai University, director of the Human Rights Research Center (National Human Rights Education and Training Base) of Nankai University, executive director of the China Society for Human Rights Studies.
The main research areas are human rights theory and system, public governance and conflict management.
Published academic monographs such as "The Ideal, Paradox, and Reality of Human Rights", "Transformation of Rights Norms in Contemporary China", "Research on China's Human Rights Protection Policy", "Efficiency, Fairness, Stability and Government Responsibility", and compiled "General History of European and American Philosophy" (Modern Philosophy Volume ) "Modern Leadership Science", "Public Conflict Management", "Leadership Course", "Human Rights Book for Civil Servant Training", "Citizen Reader on Human Rights Knowledge", etc., served as the deputy editor-in-chief of "China Human Rights Development Report" (Blue Book), "Human Rights in Action in China" Editor-in-Chief of series of books, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Cross-Cultural Human Rights Review magazine, published more than 140 academic papers in professional academic journals, published more than 40 reviews and academic articles in People's Daily, Guangming Daily, and Chinese Journal of Social Sciences articles.
Participated in the drafting of several national human rights action plans and several government human rights white papers, and participated in and delivered speeches at the United Nations Human Rights Council meetings and side events as a member of the delegation of the Chinese Society for Human Rights Studies.