Source: China News Network
Swiss jurist Sheng Yalu: Why is the view of human rights around only certain individual rights so narrow?
China News Service Brussels, May 1 Title: Why is the view of human rights around only certain individual rights quite narrow?
——Interview with Swiss jurist Sheng Yalu
China News Service reporter De Yongjian
From 28 February to 1 April 2022, the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council was held in Geneva, Switzerland. During the meeting, China made a joint speech on behalf of more than 50 countries, emphasizing the importance of development to the enjoyment of human rights and calling on all countries to adhere to the people-centered approach and promote inclusive and inclusive development.
On 1 April, the meeting adopted a resolution jointly submitted by China, Pakistan, Egypt, South Africa and Bolivia, calling for the international community to help developing countries better enjoy economic, social and cultural rights (ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS) and eliminate inequalities in the face of COVID-19. 66 countries participated in the joint proposal.
Taking the right to subsistence and the right to development as the primary basic human rights and attaching equal importance to the coordinated development of civil rights, political rights and economic, social and cultural rights are the distinctive characteristics of the concept of Chinese rights. At the un human rights council, the "more than 50 countries" and "66 countries" reflected the resonance of the vast number of developing countries in the concept of Chinese rights.
Outside the venue, the resonance was echoing. The Swiss jurist and sinologist Harro von Senger) in a written interview with China News Agency's "East and West" detailed why the human rights view around only certain individual rights is quite narrow, and China's "Belt and Road" initiative can be regarded as a "global human rights project" and has practical significance for European countries such as Switzerland to deal with refugee issues.
An excerpt from the interview is as follows:
China News Service: As a witness to China's reform and opening up, how do you view the tremendous progress of Chinese power over the past 40 years? What impressed you?
Sheng Yalu: China's progress in the field of human rights over the past 40 years is worthy of recognition. As an example, when I was a student at Peking University from 1975 to 1977, human rights were labeled "bourgeois conspiracies" and denied. At that time, only Peking University and Jilin University retained law departments in China, and the number of teachers and students in Peking University's law department ranked second from the bottom in the university, only larger than the library science department.
One day, I asked why there were still lawyers in China in the 50s, and then the profession was abolished, and I was told that because lawyers were "redundant," they "always wanted to assist criminals in criminal cases."
After 1978, China restored the lawyer system, in 1996 the "principle of presumption of innocence" was introduced into China's Criminal Procedure Law, and in 2004, Article 33 of the Chinese Constitution added a paragraph entitled "The State Respects and Protects Human Rights".
The Law School of the Business School of Yunnan Normal University conducted the graduation design defense of the "True Moot Court" at the Yunnan Provincial High Court. Photo by China News Service
China News Service: As a jurist, sinologist and "China communicator", how do you understand China's concept of human rights?
Sheng Yalu: More than 2,000 years ago, there were philosophers in China who said that "the barn is realistic and knows the etiquette", and the famous German dramatist and Marxist Brecht also famously said, "First eat enough and then talk about morality". It is not surprising that China believes in Marxism and focuses on economic development and economic human rights. In March 2001, China ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (reporter's note: it entered into force for China in June of the same year), which is a good illustration of the focus of the Chinese view of rights.
The Twentieth Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress voted to adopt the Draft Resolution of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the Ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Photo by Mao Jianjun, reporter of China News Service
China News Service: You attach great importance to human rights such as the right to development and the right to economic, social and cultural rights, and criticize the human rights concept of only focusing on the human rights of certain individuals, and recently wrote an article in the Swiss media pointing out that China's "Belt and Road" initiative can be regarded as a "global human rights project" and is of practical significance to Switzerland and other European countries in dealing with the refugee problem.
Sheng Yalu: For the human rights concept that revolves only around the human rights of certain individuals, I will give you an example, according to the Official Swiss China Strategy document released in March 2021, China has "lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty" for decades and made "significant contributions to global poverty reduction", but the China Strategy document only regards these achievements as economic achievements, and avoids talking about these achievements as human rights achievements, that is, economic human rights achievements.
In Maigeti County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the "hometown of Chinese Daolang peasant paintings", peasant painters have increased their family income and lifted themselves out of poverty through their wisdom and creation. Photo by China News Service reporter Tomita
Switzerland's "China Strategy" document also pointed out that China's "Belt and Road" initiative is a "global-oriented development model", aiming to accelerate the development of poor provinces in western China, build transportation, energy, communications and other infrastructure in third countries, and strengthen the interconnection between Asia and Europe and Africa. My understanding is that since it is to promote the economic development of China and other participating countries, is not the Belt and Road Initiative also a "global human rights project" aimed at promoting economic human rights and the right to development?
The China-Europe Express (Yuxinou) departs from Tuanjie village station of Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park. China News Service reporter He Penglei photographed
In Switzerland, many parties and politicians have stressed the need to address the refugee problem, and since most refugees travelling to Europe are "economic migrants", it makes sense to promote the realization of economic human rights in Africa and other countries. If Switzerland's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative can address the issue of "economic migration", then such participation is consistent with the Swiss Federal Constitution, which stipulates that "the Federation shall work to alleviate suffering and poverty in the world and promote respect for human rights". Please note that the Swiss Federal Constitution refers first to "the Confederation shall endeavour to alleviate suffering and poverty in the world" and then to "promote respect for human rights". It can be seen that "the Federation should work to alleviate the suffering and poverty of the world" that is, the realization of economic human rights is the primary concern.
China News Service: You have said that in fact, China and the West have a consensus on many human rights issues, and the consensus is far greater than the differences. How should we enhance communication and exchanges between China and the Western view of human rights in the future?
Sheng Yalu: In Switzerland, for example, Switzerland and China were both members of the UN Human Rights Council from 2006 to 2009. During this period, the UN Human Rights Council adopted 286 resolutions, of which 209 were adopted unanimously without a vote, showing that Switzerland and China have similar views on many human rights issues.
The Swiss-Chinese consensus on human rights is long-standing. In 2018, Switzerland and China remained members of the UN Human Rights Council, and both countries agreed to resolutions on "terrorism and human rights", "promotion of human rights through sport and the Olympic ideal", "human rights and the environment", and "realization of economic, social and cultural rights in all countries", and a resolution on the right to food was adopted almost unanimously, with only one country voting against it, the United States. This meant that when it came to the right to food, Switzerland and China stood together at the time.
At the just-concluded 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, a considerable number of resolutions could also be seen adopted unanimously without a vote.
But both the Swiss media and Swiss officials discuss human rights without mentioning that Switzerland and China share similar views on many human rights issues, as do other Western countries. Within the UN Human Rights Council, Western countries often vote for resolutions on economic human rights and the right to development, which can be described as "open secrets", but they do not tell their citizens, this attitude is "dishonest", so that ordinary people in the West do not know the specific movements of the UN Human Rights Council.
As for how to enhance the communication and exchange of human rights concepts between China and the West, the answer is "very simple", suggesting that after the conclusion of each session of the UN Human Rights Council, China will issue a comprehensive conference report in English, French, German and other languages, especially to list the names of the resolutions and the voting status of Western countries, so that everyone can see that the attitude of Western countries to many resolutions is actually the same as China. Issuing such a report is something that China should do, because the West is certainly not willing to do it.
Of course, some controversial resolutions may make Western countries, including Switzerland, "foreign", such as in June 2017, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed the "Promote the Right to Peace" resolution, China and other developing countries voted for it, the United States and other Western countries voted against, Switzerland abstained. Ordinary Americans and Swiss people would be very surprised to learn that their country does not support the "right to peace", and they would most likely turn their attention from China to their own country, from "the little man asks for others" to "the gentleman asks for himself". (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Sheng Yalu, Swiss jurist and sinologist, tenured professor of sinology at the University of Freiburg, Germany, Chinese legal adviser at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law; published a monograph on China's Thirty-Six Schemes in 1988, "Wisdom (Volume I)", followed by "Wisdom (Volume II)" and "Strategy" and other works, translated and published the German version of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" in 2011, "The Swiss Way" in 2017, "36 Plans for Legal Persons" in 2020, and "Inheritance Law in the Chinese Civil Code" in 2021. He is proficient in Chinese law, the history of China's legal system, the history of Chinese legal thought, etc., and has published a large number of articles on The theme of Chinese law and Sino-Western cultural exchanges over the years.