The 2023 China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights was successfully held in Rome, Italy on September 20, 2023. At the seminar, which took "Modernization and Diversity of Human Rights among Civilizations" as its theme, more than 130 experts and scholars, government officials, diplomatic envoys, representatives of political parties and social organizations from China, Italy, the United States, Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and other countries attended three parallel forums around the sub-themes of “exchange and mutual learning between civilizations and the development of modern human rights concepts”, “modernization and the free and all-round development of human beings”, and “sustainable development in the process of modernization and the evolution of human rights civilization in the digital age”.
Mr. Padma Choling, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress and President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, and Mr. Jia Guide, Chinese Ambassador to Italy, delivered opening speeches at the opening ceremony of the seminar. Mr. Tang Xianwen, Secretary General of China Society for Human Rights Studies, Mr. Lu Guangjin and Mr. Fu Zitang, vice presidents of China Society for Human Rights Studies, and Mr. Zhang Yonghe and Mr. Qi Yanping, members of the Executive Council of China Society for Human Rights Studies, each delivered a keynote speech at the seminar.
Professor Liu Huawen, a member of the Executive Council of China Society for Human Rights Studies and deputy director of CASS Institute of International Law, made an online speech on "Scientific and Technological Progress and Human Rights Protection Against the Background of Digital Age" at the sub-forum on "modernization and all-round and free development of human beings". In the speech, he pointed out that science and technology have a profound impact on economic development, social progress, legal reform and human rights protection. They help realize various human rights, are conducive to human rights supervision, and can effectively promote human rights governance.
Ms. Wang Huiru, an assistant research fellow at CASS Institute of International Law, gave a speech entitled "Contribution of the Whole-Process People's Democracy to Political Civilization and Human Rights Civilization" at the sub-forum on "exchange and mutual learning between civilizations and the development of modern human rights concepts". In the speech, she expounded the Chinese characteristics, comparative advantages, legal guarantee mechanism and practical path of the whole-process people's democracy, and analyzed the important contribution made by Chinese democracy to the progress of political civilization and human rights civilization.
At the closing ceremony, Wang Huiru, as the representative of the first sub-forum, summarized and commented on the speeches given at this sub-forum. She pointed out that these speeches, which focused on the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western human rights views, the research and interpretation of human rights theory, the path of human rights practice, the construction of human rights legal guarantee, advice and consultation, and international exchanges and cooperation, enhanced the exchanges and mutual learning of human rights civilizations between the East and the West.
Initiated in 2015, the China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights is an institutionalized academic platform for exchanges and cooperation between China and Europe in the field of human rights. This year’s forum was co-sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and Rome University in Italy and jointly organized by the Institute of Human Rights of Southwest University of Political Science and Law and the Sino-Italian Economic and Cultural Exchange Center in Italy.
