Adhering to Civilized Inclusion: the valuable spiritual wealth left by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
——Speech at the Seminar on "Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
Vice President of China Society for Human Rights Studies
Professor of Jilin University Law School
Lu Guangjin
Dear Jiang Jianguo, Executive Vice President,
Dear experts and comrades
Good morning, everyone!
In a few days, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As for the historical status of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Mary Ann Glanton wrote in the book "A Beautiful New Century: The Birth of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" that "the Universal Declaration of Human Rights presents a new blueprint for a bold human rights cause", and "the birth of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights marks that the human rights process has entered a new era". Indeed, the birth of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a landmark event in the history of human civilization, which has set up a monument of human rights values. In the history of human civilization, no human rights document has had such a broad and far-reaching impact on the development of human society as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although 75 years have passed, the role and influence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights still exist today, and it is still inspiring people to work hard to respect and protect human rights.
Why is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so important and influential? I think it is mainly because of the rationality, commonality and cosmopolitanism of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself. This rationality lies in that it advocates a human rights value that meets the requirements of human progress; This commonality lies in that it puts forward a universal ideal pursuit based on human basic morality; This cosmopolitanism lies in that it transcends a certain culture or civilization and establishes a global human rights standard. The rationality, commonality and cosmopolitanism of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the result of its adherence to the spirit of civilization and inclusiveness.
For the spirit of civilization and inclusiveness contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we can specifically understand it from the following four aspects:
First, from the cultural background of the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As we all know, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted by many people. Some diplomats and scholars, including Zhang Pengchun, the representative of China, who were directly involved in the drafting, came from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds, including Confucian culture and Protestant Christianity, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism. There are four Asian members of the Drafting Committee, namely, China, India, the Philippines and Lebanon, and these countries have their own cultural characteristics.
Second, it can be seen from the extensive solicitation of opinions in the drafting process of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In order to formulate a universal declaration of human rights that can be accepted by people in different cultural backgrounds, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has solicited the opinions of scholars, experts and influential politicians from many places in the world during the drafting process. The specific number of people is either hundreds or thousands. Only 150 responses were received in the end. Luo Zhongshu, a Chinese scholar, explained in his reply that although the concept of human rights was not mentioned in Chinese classics, the right of the people to resist unjust rulers has been recognized since ancient times. On the issue of cultural diversity, Luo Zhongshu advocated tolerance, not only for all religions, but also for atheists.
Third, from the content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Compared with the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the French Declaration of Human and Civil Rights in 1789, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights has many similarities, but also many differences. There are two recognized differences: first, the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 emphasized that human rights came from "the creator", while the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights did not include the creator; second, the 1789 French Declaration of Human and Civil Rights regarded "men" as rights holders, while the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights regarded "anyone" as rights holders As the holder of rights. Zhang Pengchun, the representative of China, advocated not to use such religious words as "creator", and hoped to pay attention to the Confucian idea of "benevolence", which was responded to by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to a certain extent.
The fourth is from the voting results of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When the General Assembly of the United Nations voted on the Declaration, 54 countries (there were 56 Member States of the United Nations at that time, Yemen and Honduras did not participate in the voting), 48 countries voted in favour, 5 abstained and 0 voted against it. This result exceeded the expectations of all those involved in the drafting of the declaration. Malik, the President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, said happily that "every Member State of the United Nations hopes to demonstrate its respect for and compliance with human rights".
It is precisely because of this spirit of civilized inclusiveness that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has universal significance. When voting on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, some country representatives accused its content of being imperfect. Syrian representative Kayali stood up and said, "There have been many human rights declarations in history, but those early declarations have neither perfect content nor perfect implementation, and the progress of civilization is always slow.". For today's Declaration, "it is not the work of several representatives of the General Assembly or the Economic and Social Council, but the result of human struggle from generation to generation."
It can be seen from the above that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights could not have been born without the participation of the drafters based on multiple cultures or civilizations, and without the inclusive coexistence of different cultures or civilizations. The vitality of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights lies in its valuable spirit of civilization and inclusiveness. This is the most valuable asset left to us by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and also the most important enlightenment left to us by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In the past 75 years, although the development of human rights in the world has made historic achievements, the goal of realizing human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is far from being achieved. In today's era, there are still many contradictions and problems in the development of human rights in the world. On the one hand, there are a large number of refugees due to regional conflicts, the poverty level has increased due to the widening of the development gap and the new coronal epidemic, the right to life of ethnic minorities has been trampled due to racial discrimination, and the development is unsustainable due to climate warming and ecological environment degradation, These problems make it difficult to effectively guarantee basic human rights and promote human welfare. On the other hand, some countries still pursue the "universalism" view of human rights, engage in human rights hegemony, and blindly politicize, instrumentalize, and weaponize human rights, treating human rights in an attitude of confrontation rather than solidarity and cooperation.
At an important historical moment of unprecedented changes in a century, China adheres to the spirit of civilization and inclusiveness. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the major concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind, proposed to promote the common values of all mankind, such as peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, proposed the global development initiative, the global security initiative, and the global civilization initiative, and advocated safeguarding human rights with security, promoting human rights with development, and promoting human rights with cooperation. China's ideas, initiatives and propositions have played an important leading role in promoting global human rights governance and promoting the development of human rights in the world.
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