On June 21, the "2019 Sino-European Symposium on Human Rights” sponsored by China Society for Human Rights Studies and the Austrian-Chinese Friendship Association, organized by the School of Law of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and the Institute of Human Rights Law of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, was held at the Federal Ministry of Justice of Austria. More than 100 well-known experts and scholars from China, Austria, Germany, France, the Netherlands and other countries in the field of human rights held discussions and exchanges on the theme of "A comparison of human rights values between the East and the West".
The opening ceremony of the seminar was presided over by Lu Guangjin, Secretary-General of China Society for Human Rights Studies; Fischer, former President of Austria and Chairman of the Austrian-Chinese Friendship Association; Kaminski, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Austrian-Chinese Friendship Association; Li Xiaosi, Chinese Ambassador to Austria; Claude, General Inspector of Austria, Fu Zitang, Vice-Chairman of China Society for Human Rights Studies; Shen Yongxiang, Vice-Chairman of China Society for Human Rights Studies; Xu Xiaodong, Vice President of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, attended the opening ceremony.
In his opening speech, Vice President Xu Xiaodong, on behalf of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, warmly welcomed and sincerely thanked the participants. He said that, as the organizer, the School of Law of Huazhong University of Science and Technology has kept pace with the process of legalization in modern China and achieved rapid development in a relatively short period of time. It has built a school-running system with reasonable structure, complete disciplines, outstanding characteristics and distinct advantages, and maintained close cooperation with top-ranking scientific research institutes in more than 20 countries and regions. The Institute of Human Rights Law of HUST has been in the leading position in the field of the right to life and the right to development. Interdisciplinary researches on information rights in the fields of artificial intelligence and big data as well as human rights in intellectual property rights have achieved outstanding achievements, which have been widely recognized by the international community. In the era of globalization, human beings are facing many common problems and challenges, and need to seek answers in dialogue and communication. In the field of human rights, Chinese and European scholars should respect each other, treat each other honestly, fully exchange their research results, get cross the gap of understanding, enhance mutual trust and provide academic support for the development of human rights in China and Europe.
After the opening ceremony, delegates made keynote speeches. Wang Xigen, Dean of the School of Law of HUST, Dean of the Institute of Human Rights Law, and the Yangtze River scholar Professor, made a speech on the theme of "Value Differences and Possible Consensus between the East and the West on the Right to development". He mentioned that human rights meant that everyone could live a decent life. However, in today's world, due to serious imbalances in development and growing polarization between the rich and the poor, the mankind are threatened at all times by hunger, diseases and wars. Development and human rights have become key global issues. However, there are still sharp differences on the right to development. The United Nations has recognized the right to development as a human right. The vast majority of Western countries, including the European Union, have agreed to take practical actions to implement the right to development, but oppose the formulation of International Convention on the Right to Development or other documents with mandatory legal effect. Different countries have different understandings of equality, freedom, order and subject. However, there are still some common understandings between the East and the West, such as human dignity in the origin of value, fraternity on the basis of value, fairness and justice in the core of value, globality in the field of value, social connection in the relationship of value and new development concept in the dimension of value.
On the afternoon of the same day, scholars and experts at the meeting expressed their opinions on the universality and particularity of human rights, the significance of human rights in the community of human destiny, the history and evolution of human rights values, human rights practice in new China and its world significance, and discussed in depth the key, difficult and hot issues in the field of human rights.
It is reported that the “Sino-European Seminar on Human Rights” was founded by China Society for Human Rights Studies. Since 2015, four rounds of seminars have been held, focusing on the themes of "children rights protection", "minority rights protection", "rights protection of persons with disabilities" and "diversity of civilizations and human rights protection". In the field of human rights, it has played an active role in enhancing understanding, expanding consensus and promoting the development of human rights in both sides and the world. Both the School of Law and the Institute of Human Rights Law of HUST will also continue to further promote human rights research, strengthen international exchanges and research cooperation in the field of human rights, and enhance academic international influence and the voice in the field of human rights.
