Hefei symposium focuses on human rights protection

China has been vigorously promoting its human rights development and continuously enhancing legal protection for human rights, according to human rights experts.

The opinion was expressed by the experts attending a symposium focusing on comprehensive rule of law and human rights protection in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province, on Friday.

Organized by the China Foundation for Human Rights Development, the symposium attracted nearly a hundred participants, including renowned experts and scholars in the field of human rights from various universities and research institutions nationwide.

The participants discussed topics such as legislation and administrative and judicial protection of human rights, reviewed the fruitful achievements China has made in adhering to the legal protection of human rights in recent years.

"Relying on the rule of law to safeguard human rights has become a basic feature of China's human rights development and legal construction," said Ma Huaide, president of the China University of Political Science and Law.

The most important and fundamental legal basis for human rights protection in China was laid 20 years ago.

The Second Session of the Tenth National People's Congress passed the Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China on March 14, 2004, incorporating "the State respects and guarantees human rights" into the Constitution as a constitutional principle. 

In 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee adopted a resolution on major issues concerning comprehensively advancing the rule of law.

In recent years, Chinese people have been enjoying more extensive, fuller, and comprehensive rights and freedoms, according to Zuo Feng, vice-chairman and secretary-general of the foundation.

"This is mainly achieved through scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, fair justice, universal law-abiding behavior, and the coordinated promotion of domestic and foreign legal systems," said Zuo.

He suggested jointly conducting diverse forms of human rights knowledge dissemination and education, especially among young people and civil servants to increase their legal awareness and human rights concepts of society as a whole.

"To build a high-quality legal work team with both integrity and ability, it is necessary to make human rights awareness a basic requirement for civil servants and effectively improve their human rights literacy," said Ma.

Chen Youwu, expert from Guangdong University of Technology, said that there is no best in human rights protection, only better.

The experts also discussed hot topics including the legal protection of human rights in emerging fields.

Xiao Junyong, a professor from Beijing Institute of Technology, said the whole world should take precautionary measures to prevent the violations of human rights arising from the development and adoption of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence technology.