Twenty Years of the Implementation of the Human Rights Clause in the Constitution:Achievements,Implications,and Research Topics

On March 14,2004,the Second Session of the 10th National People’s Congress of China adopted the fourth amendment to the Chinese Constitution,the most noticeable highlight of which is the addition of the paragraph“the state respects and protects human rights”as the third clause in Article 33 of Chapter II“Basic Rights and Obligations of Citizens”in the Constitution.The inclusion of the clause of human rights in the Constitution is considered an important milestone in the history of human rights development in the People’s Republic of China.The implementation of the human rights clause not only showcases the values of the Party and the state in respecting and protecting human rights,but also promotes the development of human rights,shapes the culture of human rights,and endows the rule of law with a rich humanistic spirit.Over the past 20 years,the publicity,research and practice of the human rights clause have made the Chi-nese people realize that human rights are not only a“great term”,but also a common value shared by mankind.Amid the once-in-a-century changes of the world,although the development of human rights is facing various challenges,the humanistic spirit contained in the hu-man rights clause has become the internal driving force for building consensus in the whole of society.Reinterpreting the significance and value of the human rights clause can help us conscientiously draw on the experience in the implementation of the clause over the past 20 years and contribute Chinese wisdom and experience to global human rights governance with a more open mind and inclusive attitude.

Research on the Constitutional,Historical and Practical Logic of the Chinese Path of Human Rights Development——From the Perspective of the Inclusion of Human Rights Clause in the Constitution

The inclusion of the human rights clause in the Chi-nese Constitution is a concern and expression of the spirit of the Con-stitution,which has laid the institutional regulations of the fundamen-tal law for the development of human rights in China,provided the principles and value norms of the highest level of effectiveness for the legal protection of human rights,and built a profound constitutional basis for the formation and improvement of the Chinese path of human rights development.The human rights clause is not only a summariza-tion and affirmation of the historical practice of Chinese human rights development under the leadership of the Communist Party of China,but also a new starting point for the development of human rights in China under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.It marks that the development of human rights in China has entered a new era.The Party and the state have finally embarked on a path of human rights development with Chinese characteristics by formulating and implementing the Human Rights Action Plan of China,eliminating ab-solute poverty through the national poverty alleviation campaign,and promoting human rights protection through the rule of law.

The Connotations of the Constitutional Clause on Human Rights Protection From the Perspective of Foreign-related Rule of Law

The inclusion of the human rights clause in the Chi-nese Constitution is the core normative manifestation of the constitu-tionalization of human rights,and points to the relationship between international law and the Constitution in the sense of positive law.The inclusion of the human rights clauses in the Chinese Constitution itself is an inherent part of the development of China’s socialist constitution,and socialism has already contributed valuable concepts and practices of human rights protection to the modern world in its early stage.The constitutionalization of human rights protection does not necessarily lead to the superiority of international law over the constitutional order of a country,but rather to the convergence of international law and domestic law through the constitutional order.The relevant rules of international law will be effective only when they are transformed into domestic law through the Constitution and the human rights clause in the Constitution.Correspondingly,the domestic legal order is brought into line with the international legal order through the Con-stitution and its human rights clause.Behind the system of fundamen-tal rights in the constitutional order is the value foundation of the en-tire legal system.The advancement of foreign-related rule of law has brought new opportunities for China’s judicial practice to further pro-mote the protection of human rights.In the future,we should further integrate the human rights values embedded in socialism into China’s constitutional practice,enhance human rights protection around the country,and take a more active part in global human rights gover-nance.