The Historical Position and Value Dimensions of Human Rights Civilization

Human beings are the mainstay and the ultimate goal of civilization.The history of human civilization is a continuous struggle to realize the respect,liberation,protection,and development of humanity.Human rights are an achievement of humanity and a symbol of progress,and the human rights civilization is an important component of human civilization.Understanding and interpreting human rights from the perspective of human rights civilization means that human rights are not only a concept or an idea but also a grand historical and long-term social practice.Up to now,the development of human rights civilization has roughly experienced four awakening eras:initialization,revolution,popularization,and globalization.In terms of its value dimensions,it has the characteristics of progressiveness,diversity,commonality,inclusiveness,indivisibility,openness,and so on.The historical position of human rights civilization and the development of its value dimensions have shown to the world that human rights are the common wealth of humanity,and human rights belong to all mankind;human rights are historical,concrete,and developmental;the concept of human rights is constantly evolving,and its connotations and categories are constantly expanding;achieving the free and well-rounded development of every person is the highest value realm of human rights civilization.The Chinese modernization endows Chinese civilization with modern strength and opens up new horizons for human rights civilization.The new pattern of human rights civilization to be created by Chinese modernization not only possesses the common characteristics of human rights civilization but also enjoys Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions,enriching and developing the diversity of human rights civilization for all mankind.

Pioneering a New Realm of Human Rights Civilization in the Chinese Path to Modernization——An Overview of the Symposium on“The Chinese Path to Modernization and the Promotion of Free and Comprehensive Human Development”

On October 14,2023,a symposium themed“The Chinese Path to Modernization and the Promotion of Free and Comprehensive Human Development”was held in Changchun,Jilin Province,China.More than fifty experts,scholars,and researchers from national institutions and universities engaged in discussions and exchanges on human rights on the Chinese path to modernization,including the path,practice,knowledge systems,and civilization forms of human rights.This symposium played a significant role in advancing the construction of the disciplinary system,academic system,and discourse system of human rights in China.

Modernization and the Diversity of Human Rights Among Civilizations--Review of the 2023 China-europe Seminar on Human Rights

Human rights are an achievement of humanity and a symbol of progress.Respect for and protection of human rights are basic principles of modern civilization.Around the world,countries and regions have chosen different paths to modernization,which are rooted in their unique civilizations.to promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations,facilitate human rights exchanges and cooperation between different countries,and advance the global development of human rights,on September 20,2023,the 2023 China-europe Seminar on Human Rights was held in Rome,the capital of Italy.Under the theme of“Modernization and the Diversity of Human Rights Among Civilizations,”the seminar focused on discussing topics such as exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations and the development of modern human rights philosophy,modernization and the free and well-rounded development of every person,sustainable development in the process of modernization,and the evolution of the civilization of human rights in the digital age.participants reached the following consensuses at the event:First,the participants from various countries spoke highly of the great achievements that China has made in human rights cause and fully recognized China’s contributions in promoting the development and progress of the global human rights cause;Second,the participants from all countries agreed that it is necessary to discard the concept of“Western-centrism,”transcend the mindset of“cultural superiority,”promote human rights exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations on the basis of equality and mutual respect,and inject new impetus into the diversity of human rights among civilizations;third,participants reaffirmed that human rights represent an open concept,and that we should discuss the development of human rights with an open mind and jointly promote the progress of human rights in the world.

Analysis of the Focal Issues of the Implementation of the Block System Reform in China--From the Perspective of the Protection of Civil Rights

In February 2016, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council of China issued the "Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Further Strengthening the Management of Urban Planning and Construction", stating that, in principle, closed residential areas will no longer be constructed and will be replaced by the promotion of the block system. This change in policy has aroused a great deal of controversy in various circles of society in China. In 2017, Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province, made an innovative attempt to implement "small block regulations." In 2018, the first "block system" public rental housing district appeared in Beijing, the capital of China. These innovative practices have promoted the pace of block system reform in China, but in general, the implementation of block system reform is difficult. From the perspective of public opinion, it seems that many citizens misunderstand the block system. This may be due to the complex interactions among community environmental management, public security, privacy, and other factors where individual interests and public interests meet. This article, from the perspective of the protection of civil rights, analyses the advantages and disadvantages of the block system at the value level, distinguishes the differences between the block systems of China, the UK and the US and then puts forward the theory that the block system reforms for newly built and existing residences are different and should be implemented independently. Concerning the key point of the block system reforms, the "greater difficulty in the implementation of the block system reform in the existing residential quarters" is the proposal to expropriate the commonly owned internal roads and appropriately compensate the residents. Finally, to cope with the core issues effectively, this article advocates gradual implementation of the block system reforms in China, including legislation, policy transformation, cultural construction, and pilot trials to promote the success of the implementation.

Human Rights Implications of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China

Putting the people first in human rights protection is the most distinctive feature of the outlook on human rights in contemporary China. The codification of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China reflects the people’s legislation for themselves, which is guided by the principle of putting the people first in its external system and internal values. Functionally, the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China reflects the obligation of the country to protect human rights, constructs the framework relationship between the country and individual people, and perfects the mechanism for human rights protection. The continuous expansion of the types, contents, and functions of civil rights in the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China is required by the broad scope of human rights, with an aim to realize a happy life for the people, the most important human rights, and protect people’s personal rights, property rights, and right to dignity through specific rules. The universal sharing of human rights requires the universality of the subjects of civil rights. The equal sharing of human rights requires the equality of forms of civil rights protection. Meanwhile, it further requires the substantive equality of civil rights protection. Attention is paid to protecting the rights and interests of specific groups in external and embedded ways.

The Empirical Investigation and Improvement Path of Judicial Protection of Civil Litigation Rights in China

The close coupling of civil litigation rights and human rights mean how well litigation rights are realized can directly or indirectly affect the judicial protection of human rights.Therefore,human rights protection in the field of civil litigation should take the right of civil litigation as the starting point and core.Based on a sample questionnaire survey of judges and lawyers,this paper conducts an empirical analysis and proposes that the exercise of this right should be taken as the main line to build a comprehensive protection mechanism for this right to realize its role in providing an institutional guarantee for human rights protection.It specifies three aspects:first,the process of filing a case should uphold the freedom and equality of the right to initiate litigation,remove substantial obstacles that affect the filing of the case,and ensure access to justice for disadvantaged groups;second,the trial procedure should have strengthened checks and balances on judicial power to ensure the right of litigation is compromised,and respects the procedural subject status of the two parties to realize equal protection of both parties;the third is to promote the implementation and improvement of relief for this right in the supervisory procedure,clarify the boundary of its relief by procuratorial supervision,and enhance the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the relief.

China's Criminal Law Reform from the Perspective of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights reflects the world’s perception of human rights, and is of vital importance in the field of international human rights. The Covenant has been signed by Chinese government. Although not ratified yet, it will definitely have an impact on the reform of China’s Criminal Law. Therefore, it is necessary to further change our notion of the criminal law system by defining the boundary between public power and civil rights and developing the view of human rights protection. In terms of the specific system, it is necessary to further reduce the number of crimes punishable by the death penalty and limit the application of the death sentence, improve China’s Criminal Procedural Law to protect the fundamental rights of suspects and defendants in terms of compulsory measures, investigation means and judicial form, and add some charges like enslavement and illegal human experimentation, which are criminalized around the world, so as to be in line with the requirements of international human rights protection.

The Modernization of State Governance Will Promote Protection of Civil and Political Rights

The modernization of state governance and innovation in governing measures will strengthen the protection of human rights in China, including civil and political rights. Firstly, legal control over public power will reduce arbitrary restrictions on civil rights. Secondly, public participation in policy-making will provide more opportunities for citizens to exercise their political rights. Thirdly, governing by law will better guarantee equal protection of law for all people. Fourthly, an effective accountability mechanism will reinforce people's right of supervision. Lastly, innovation in governing measures will help identify and satisfy citizens' demands.

Civil Society to Be More Active in Human Rights Affairs

Nobody can become an expert on the United Nations in one week. But a week-long training workshop on international human fights treaties in Geneva, Switzerland may herald more active participation of China＇s civil society in the country＇s commitment to these principles.

Universality and Relativism of Human Rights from Perspective of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

There has been much discussion in the recent decade on the universality or particularity or relativism or on the relations between the universal values and standard systems and cultural diversity or pluralism. But most of the discussions are concentrated on the abstract or conceptual terms, with few touching upon international human fights standards. This is strange, because the disputes will never end and it is impossible to arrive at any conclusions of value if discussions only focus on the different concepts and systems of different countries or civilizations instead of on what has been universally accepted or at least on the international human rights treaties and the customary international human rights laws that are binding to the great number of state parties.

Constructing China’s Human Rights Science:Cause,Cognition,and Paradigm

“China’s Human Rights Science”is undoubtedly a brand-new concept.Just as China has its own philosophy,literature,history,law,political science,and sociology,it should also have its own human rights science.China’s Human Rights Science refers to the cognitive science of human rights in China.Developing its disciplinary system,academic system,and discourse system,and constructing an independent Chinese human rights knowledge system,are essential requirements for promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization and creating a new form of human civilization.China’s Human Rights Science originated in China,grew in China,and deepened through China’s human rights practices.China’s Human Rights Science adhere to the universality of human rights principles and possess distinctive characteristics.It works as the knowledge-based organization,academic refinement,and theoretical expression of the path of human rights development that conforms to the trend of the times and suits China’s national conditions,as pursued by the Communist Party of China in leading the people.China’s Human Rights Science can enrich and develop the theory of human rights civilization,and should become a global public product of human rights.

Civil Affairs Authorities Bent on Protecting People's Basic Rights

In response to the global financial crisis,China’s civil affairs au-thorities redoubled their effort in 2009 to improve the livelihood of the Chinese people and protect their basic rights and interests under the constitutional principle of respectingand protecting human rights.

Promote the All-round Development of China's Human Right Cause in the New Era——Summary of the Symposium on “Deeply Studying and Implementing the Spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and Adhering to the Chinese Path of Human Rights Development”

On November 8, 2022, the symposium on “Deeply Studying and Implementing the Spirit of the 20thCPC National Congress and Adhering to the Chinese Path of Human Rights Development” was held by the China Society for Human Rights Studies in Beijing. Focusing on “the leadership of the CPC and human rights development”, “adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times and human rights theories in contemporary China”, “the Chinese path to modernization and the new form of human rights civilization”, “Chinese human rights solutions and global human rights governance”, “making a better China’s story of advancing human rights and constructing human rights discourse system”, and other topics, the participants reached broad consensus after discussion, and the symposium achieved fruitful results.

The Human Rights Discourse and its Changes during the Early Establishment of the Communist Party of China: From 1921 to 1927

during the early establishment of the Communist Party of China,human rights became the ideal and goal pursued by the Chinese Communists,and the discourse of human rights was vividly reflected in multiform Party documents.The centennial history of the CPC parallels that of the Chinese people’s exploration,struggle,and practice of human rights.Based on the literature review of the changes of the CPC―human rights discourse from its founding period to the Great Revolution period,this paper expounds on the CPC’s human rights discourse and its expressions in the early days after the Party was founded.

The Justification Logic of Human Rights in Chinese Modernization

As the fruits and symbols of human civilization, human rights are pursued by people all over the world. Respecting and protecting human rights is the basic spirit of modern civilization, so it is something inherent in the concept of modernization. Chinese modernization is socialist modernization pursued under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It contains elements common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features unique to the Chinese context. It is a new path to modernization and creates a new model for human advancement. on the road to promoting Chinese modernization, China cultivated innovative human rights jurisprudence, constructed an optimized human rights system, opened up a developmental human rights approach, established a harmonious human rights relationship, and continuously promoted the well-rounded development of the people. China created a theoretical,institutional, and practical paradigm for respecting and protecting human rights that follows the principle of universal human rights and suits the local conditions, opening up a new realm of human rights civilization of mankind. The successful promotion and expansion of Chinese modernization have justified that China has found a path of human rights development that conforms to the trend of the times and suits its national conditions. The modernization of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people, a number larger than the total population of all developed countries in the world today, and the new path of human rights development will change the basic pattern of human rights development in the world and profoundly influence the process and trend of human rights civilization of mankind.

Berkeley Apartheid： Unfair Housing in a University Town

This essay suggests that in 1962-1963, before Birmingham and the March on Washington, a coalition of Black and White civil rights activists, labor, and religious leaders were in the vanguard of the struggle both on the Pacific Slope and in the nation. Berkeley＇s battle for fair housing represented an important phase of the civil rights struggle on the west coast and in cities where racial segregation was not based on law, but part of a conspiracy, silent but quite effective, among realtors, mortgage lenders, and renters, against Blacks and other minorities. Encouraged by state antidiscrimination legislation, Berkeley activists embarked upon a fair housing campaign based on surveys of the problem, efforts to enact legislation, and direct action. The irrationality of racists who defended their right to discriminate was one of the most singular aspects of the fair housing struggle. Though they lost at the local level, the coalition of new political forces succeeded a few months later at the state level and represented an effective force in liberal politics in the city for years to come. Because of the stiff opposition and the limits of reformers＇ liberal fair housing regulations, however, working class and poor African Americans still faced severe housing problems.

The Legacy of 1968： The Prague Spring, the Invasion of Czechoslovakia, and Poland＇s March Events

The year of 1968 was a pivotal year that impacts the United States and the world to this very day, forty years later. It was a year in the United States that witnessed the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., in April and of Robert Kennedy in June, ongoing student protests against the war in Vietnam, the Tet offensive and the My Lai Massacre, the upheaval of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, as well as the civil rights movement and the initial manifestations of the women＇s movement and the environmental movement. Moreover, beyond the borders of the United States, student demonstrations against government oppression occurred in Warsaw in March, in Paris in May, and in Mexico City in September tied to the Olympic Games that year in Mexico. The researchers also witnessed the joy of the Prague Spring from January until the subsequent Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia at the end of August. Richard M. Nixon was elected president of the United States in November, the counterrevolution of conservatism, if you will, that may have run its 40-year course with the administration of George W. Bush and the election on November 4 2008 of Democratic Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

A Reflection of Minimum Adequate Education in South Carolina More Than Fifty Years Later

The issues and challenges of minimum adequate public school education in the State of South of South Carolina has been a struggle between lawmakers and taxpayers for more than fifty years. The enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 led to forced school integration, busing, and led to whites＇ physical moving out of selected school districts. Selected public schools filed a lawsuit against the State of South Carolina to the Supreme Court with the claim of failing to provide adequate and equal education to all children in the state. This reflection focuses on the Abbeville case in context, funding issues, and inadequate facilities, which concludes with a reflective view of the Brown v. The Board of Edueation 1954 decision.

Society's support for the aged in China:a cultural perspective

This article is concerned with the influence of welfare culture on society＇s old age support institutions and practice. It examines the development of old age support programs in contemporary China from a cultural perspective in an attempt to reveal the interaction between social welfare patterns for the elderly and social policy-makers＇ conception of social welfare and traditional social welfare culture. What stands in the way of the transition of Chinese social welfare for the elderly fi＇om a residual to an institutional model is a value system founded on restrictions and lack of awareness of civil fights. These factors limit the role of social welfare in narrowing the gaps between different social strata in the aged population and lead to inequitable welfare resource distribution. Although an aging population and the diffusion of welfare state culture are pushing the Chinese social welfare system toward diversified development, its final establishment still depends on a reexamination by the public and policy-makers of the relationship between individual citizens and the state.