Every December 10 is World Human Rights Day to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. This document, drafted by representatives from all over the world with different legal and cultural backgrounds, stipulates for the first time that freedom, equality and basic human rights should be universally protected.

On December 4, on the eve of World Human Rights Day, the seminar on "Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" hosted by the Chinese Society for Human Rights Studies was held in Beijing. More than 70 people attended the conference, including heads of central and state organs, relevant departments of central media, experts and scholars in the field of human rights, and representatives of social organizations.

Zhang Wenxian, member of the Party Leadership Group and director of the Academic Committee of the China Law Society, said at the meeting that the global development initiative, the global security initiative and the global civilization initiative proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping, based on common values, have innovated and broken through the limitations of previous human rights concepts, not only reflecting China's human rights concepts but also expressing the common aspirations of people around the world, It is of great guiding significance to build an international human rights governance system that is fair, reasonable and good governance.

It is worth noting that this seminar responded to the new challenges faced by the human rights cause in the digital era, such as the protection of user privacy under the generative AI technology, the information cocoon room and digital divide faced by minors, the disabled and the elderly. Many experts called for attention to the new challenges faced by human rights in the digital era, and suggested strengthening the ethical governance of artificial intelligence and improving laws and regulations to adapt to the development of the times.

Under the unbalanced global economic development and local turmoil, reaffirming the importance of the Declaration remains

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." This well-known phrase comes from Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Zhang Wenxian, member of the Party Leadership Group of the China Law Society and director of the Academic Committee, introduced at the meeting that freedom includes personal freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of religious belief, freedom of assembly and association, as well as human dignity and privacy; Equality includes equality before the rule of law, without any discrimination, equality of all nationalities, equality of the country, justice, etc; From these common human values, basic human rights such as the right to equality, democracy and freedom have been formed.

Tang Yingxia, director of the Human Rights Research Center of Nankai University, told reporters in Nandu that although the Declaration did not have strict legal binding force when it was adopted, after 75 years of development, many provisions and contents in the Declaration have evolved into customary international law and have universal binding force.

At the same time, she introduced that the Declaration also provided the source for the core international human rights conventions adopted by the United Nations successors, laid the foundation of international human rights law, and became the common standard for all people and all countries to strive to achieve. The values of pluralism, inclusiveness and openness contained in the Declaration also provide enlightenment for countries around the world to respect each other and realize human rights protection equally.

However, Lu Guangjin, vice president of the Chinese Society for Human Rights Studies and professor of the Law School of Jilin University, also pointed out at the meeting that although the world's human rights cause has made historic achievements in the past 75 years, there are still many contradictions and problems in the current development of human rights: a large number of refugees exist due to regional conflicts, The deepening of poverty caused by the widening of the development gap and the COVID-19 epidemic, the violation of the right to life of ethnic minorities caused by racial discrimination, and the unsustainable development caused by climate warming and ecological environment degradation.

Therefore, at a time when the global economy and the international situation are unstable, reaffirming the Declaration formulated 75 years ago is still considered of great value.

Bai Ma Chilin, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress and President of the Chinese Society for Human Rights Studies, said at the meeting that peace and security are the urgent aspirations of the people of the world at present, and he expected the international community to jointly implement the global security initiative, resolve differences and disputes through dialogue and consultation, and follow the path of peaceful development.

Baimachilin also pointed out that respecting and protecting human rights is an undertaking that is only ongoing but not completed. All countries should abide by the spirit of the Declaration, implement the global development initiative, enhance the coordination of rights protection, attach equal importance to economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights, and strive to promote inclusive development to promote human rights through development.

Specifically, in the practical level, Bai Ma Chilin believes that Chinese human rights researchers should continue to make efforts to actively offer advice and suggestions for the development of China's human rights cause, promote the improvement of the legal system that reflects fair rights, fair opportunities and fair rules, and better safeguard human rights and dignity. We should explore various forms of education and training, attach importance to human rights education for young people, attach importance to human rights knowledge training for public officials, especially leading cadres, and strive to popularize China's human rights values.

Nearly 100 million rural poor people in China have been lifted out of poverty, and more than 40% of the employed people are women

Bai Machilin said at the meeting that, looking back on the 75 year history, China has always been an intellectual contributor, an active advocate and a firm practitioner of the Declaration. The historic achievements of China's human rights cause provide a Chinese plan for carrying forward the spirit of the Declaration. Today, we review the spirit of the Declaration to clarify the coordinates and direction of global human rights governance, better safeguard world peace and promote common development.

Bai Machilin said that looking back on 75 years of historical achievements, China is a practitioner of the concept of the Declaration. Nearly 100 million rural poor people have been lifted out of poverty, and the world's largest education system, social security system, and medical and health system have been built.

Qian Xiaoyan, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, introduced the employment and social security situation in China at the seminar: since 2012, the number of new urban employment in China has continuously remained above 11 million, with an average annual increase of more than 13 million. From January to October 2023, 11.09 million new urban jobs will be created nationwide.

In terms of social security, Qian Xiaoyan said that China's social security system has clearly defined the objectives and requirements of a multi-level social security system that covers the whole people, coordinates urban and rural areas, is fair, unified, safe, standardized, and sustainable, and has built the world's largest social security system with the largest number of people. At present, the number of people covered by basic old-age insurance, basic medical insurance, unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance is 1.06 billion, 1.35 billion, 240 million and 290 million respectively, basically realizing the full coverage of legal social insurance personnel.

The protection of women's rights and interests is an important part of the national human rights cause. He Shuwen, Vice Minister of the Liaison Department of the All China Women's Federation, introduced at the meeting that 44.16 million rural women in China have got rid of absolute poverty, and the number of women participating in various social insurance has also increased significantly; The health level of women has been greatly improved. The average life expectancy of women in China has exceeded 80 years, which is basically the same as that in developed countries. The maternal mortality rate in China has dropped to 15.7%.

He Shuwen said that women accounted for more than 40% of the total number of employed people, more than 40% of scientific and technological workers, and 1/3 of new formats such as digital trade, e-commerce, and live broadcasting; Women's participation in decision-making and management has become more extensive and in-depth. The proportion of women deputies to the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, women deputies to the 14th National People's Congress and women members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference has increased to 27%, 26.54% and 22.4%, respectively.

Privacy leakage, algorithm black box and other violations of human rights, and it is suggested to strengthen scientific and ethical governance

Many experts and scholars feel that in the 75 years since the birth of the Declaration, people's awareness of human rights has been significantly improved in both international and domestic societies, and the social culture of respecting and protecting human rights has gradually formed. However, with the change of production technology, the cause of human rights is facing many new risks and challenges.

For example, "New technological forms such as generative artificial intelligence have brought convenience to human production and life. At the same time, scientific and technological ethical risks such as personal privacy disclosure, data security, algorithm black box, deep forgery, information cocoon room, big data killing, digital divide, 'data poisoning' and so on have also emerged and gradually increased, becoming a real human rights problem that countries must face. ”Han Xiutao, director of the Human Rights Research Center of Beijing University of Technology, pointed out at the seminar.

Han Xiutao believes that the promotion of international human rights governance in the digital era needs to further strengthen the ethical governance of artificial intelligence. He suggested that ethics should be integrated into the whole life cycle of AI, actively guide responsible AI R&D and application activities, and promote the healthy development of AI. In particular, we need to strengthen legal supervision, strengthen ethical review, and promote governance according to law.

Tong Lihua, director of the Beijing Youth Legal Aid and Research Center, views human rights issues in the digital era from a macro perspective. He believes that in the digital era, platform enterprises rely on strong capital and technological advantages to quickly become new power owners, and human society rapidly evolves into a "triple governance model" of national public power, platform enterprise digital power and civil rights. How to build a new human rights ideology and mechanism in the complex interaction between national public power and platform enterprise digital power is a new challenge facing the current human society.

Tong Lihua said at the meeting that the most direct impact of this model is the issue of user rights, and pointed out that there are essential differences between user rights and consumer rights in the industrial era.

After the meeting, he explained to reporters in Nandu that theoretically, consumers and operators are equal, but the platform and users have a relationship of management and being managed. This unequal state makes it difficult to avoid infringing the rights of users, especially minors, the disabled, the elderly and other vulnerable groups, and has a long-term and far-reaching impact on their lives.

Tong Lihua cited minors as an example. Future children will be born in the digital age. Digital technology and the Internet will permeate all aspects of their lives. At the same time, minors are also participants in network construction. During their growth, they may encounter problems such as privacy disclosure, Internet addiction, single value orientation caused by information cocoon room, and even online obscenity As well as serious problems such as online luring and offline infringement of criminals.

Tong Lihua said that in terms of online protection of minors, Chinese laws are in the forefront. The newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors in 2020 added a special chapter on "online protection", and for the first time put forward the concept of "online literacy" in national legislation, which includes cultivating and improving the online literacy of minors as an important content. "But in fact, it is not just minors. In the digital era, every user may be affected, which is an inevitable result of the transformation of an era," he said.

However, Tong Lihua told the reporter in Nandu that at present, no one in the United Nations human rights discourse system has put forward the concept of "user rights", and many people have not realized the significant impact of this issue on the development of human rights. "This issue is very urgent, and we should have the courage to think about how to build a new system of global human rights governance in the digital era," he said.