President of International Progress Organization calls for Global Dialogue on Human Rights

“Human Rights and Peaceful Co-existence among States: Universality – Diversity – Dialogue”

Changchun, China, 8 April 2021
RE/27957c-is

At an international human rights conference in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province in Northeastern China, Dr. Hans Köchler, President of the Vienna-based International Progress Organization, earlier today emphasized that human dignity is the inter-cultural foundation of human rights. He explained that Confucian, Christian and other religious, but also secular traditions, including Marxism and European Enlightenment, share the concept of dignity of the human being.

In a keynote speech under the title, “Human Rights and Peaceful Co-existence among States: Universality – Diversity – Dialogue,” he said that, under conditions of increasing interdependence in our global era, differences of cultures and civilizations must not be allowed to become a threat to international stability. The diversity of human rights perceptions must be discussed rationally, and on the basis of mutual respect. The United Nations Human Rights Council should facilitate a global dialogue on human rights. Dr. Köchler referred to the recent inaugural speech of the President of the Council, H.E. Ms. Nazhat Shameem Khan, and said that human rights monitoring and the worldwide promotion of human rights require impartiality and inclusivity in order to be credible and effective.

More than 100 participants from China and abroad attended the one-day hybrid conference, sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and organized by the Jilin University School of Law and Jilin University Human Rights Center. The President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, Qiangba Puncog, delivered the inaugural speech. Ms. Li Xiaomei, Special Representative of Human Rights Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, briefed the experts on China’s participation in the work of the UN Human Rights Council. Scholars and journalists from Austria, Burundi, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, and United States shared their observations on the diversity of human rights traditions in China and their respective countries. Among the speakers were Tom Zwart, Director of the Cross-cultural Human Rights Centre at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands); Anthony Carty, Professor of Public Law at the University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom); Rune Halvorsen, Professor of Social Policy and Co-director at the Centre for the Study of Digitalization of Public Services and Citizenship, Oslo (Norway); and Harvey Dezodin, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization and a former legal adviser in the Carter administration (United States). Foreign media and social science professionals based in China spoke about their experiences concerning the human rights situation in the country.

The participants of the conference agreed that a self-critical attitude – on all sides – is indispensable for a fruitful global debate on human rights. In the closing session, Chinese delegates addressed the tension between East and West and emphasized the need to overcome misunderstandings through fact-based analysis. The Executive Director of the Human Rights Center at the University of Jilin (China), Prof. He Zhipeng, organizer of the conference, summed up the debates, stressing the cross-cultural perspectives of human rights and expressing the hope for continued dialogue between Chinese and foreign experts.