Year Established: 1999
Short Historical Background
The Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center (BCLARC) is the first Chinese civil society organization(CSO) on children’s legal aid and research. The BCLARC was founded in 1999 as the Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center through the joint efforts of the Beijing Zhicheng Law Firm and the China Association for Research on Juvenile Delinquency Research. In 2003 the organization registered with the Beijing Bureau of Civil Affairs as an independent CSO with the name of Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center. Also in 2003, the BCLARC became the administrative office of the Special Committee on Child Protection of the All China Lawyers Association. Since its founding, the BCLARC has played a leading role in encouraging and guiding lawyers across China to engage in child protection work. It was granted special consultative status by the Economic and Social Council in 2011.
Objectives
The BCLARC’s mission is to promote child welfare in China. Its goal is to encourage lawyers’ participation in child protection, to set up an integrated network of professionals, organizations and government departments in the field of child protection and to enhance child law research and legislation in this field.
The objectives of the BCLARC are:
Programs
The BCLARC conducts a large variety of programs ranging from the direct provision of legal services and aid to children and their families, to conducting research and participating in legislation, policy making and education.
In 1999, the BCLARC established the Chinese Network of Children’s Legal Aid Lawyers in order to establish a professional team of child protection lawyers. The Lawyers Network is to provide children whose rights have been infringed with access to professional legal aid lawyers, with the ultimate aim of effective protection of the rights of children around the country. Currently, the Lawyers Network consists of more than 8,900 lawyers from 31 provinces (autonomous regions/municipalities) .
Activities
In addition to the programs above, the BCLARC engages in the following activities:
Special Concerns
Though the BCLARC takes cases and conducts research in a variety of areas, recently the following areas have been the subject of special attention:
Publications
The BCLARC considers publication and research one of its main missions, and has published more than 50 books and a hundred articles:
Books Published
Journal
Articles Published
Address
Zhicheng Public Interest Law Building
No. 198 Fengtailukou dongli , Fengtai District, Beijing 100161 China
ph: 8610-6381-3995; 8610-6383-5845;
fax: 8610-6383-5279
e-mail: iiccp[a]126.com
www.chinachild.org
Year Established: 2005
Short Historical Background
The Beijing Zhicheng Migrant Workers’ Legal Aid and Research Center (BZMW) is the first non-profit organization to provide fulltime, professional legal aid to migrant workers in China. It was first established as the Beijing Legal Aid Office for Migrant Workers (BLAOMW) on 8 September 2005 with the help of the Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center and Zhicheng Law Firm.
The office was staffed by a team of lawyers dedicated to providing free legal aid services to migrant workers. In July of 2009, BLAOMW was registered with the Beijing Ministry of Civil Affairs as what it is now known today. To promote more and more lawyers’ participation in migrant workers’ rights protection work, the BZMW has established to date 31 specialized and affiliated offices all over the country with a total of 83 fulltime lawyers and other staff. It was granted special consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 2011.
Objectives
BZMW aims to promote migrant workers’ welfare in China through direct legal aid, research, and reform. Migrant workers constitute a unique group in China that faces a large array of problems in the cities that they move into, including: unequal unemployment, inequitable or late payments, inadequate workplace health and safety protection, and lack of social and medical insurance, education and training. BZMW is committed to promoting the protection of migrant workers’ legal rights and interests, and improving the capacity of individuals to protect their rights.
Programs
The BZMW implements the following programs:
Activities
In addition to the programs described above, the BZMW engages in the following activities on a long-term basis: Legal Consultation: BZMW provides migrant workers with free legal advice in various ways: two hotlines that provide timely and effective legal consultations (010-63813362, 63859982), and in-person, mail-in and web consultations (http://www.zgnmg.org).
Legal Representation for Migrant Workers: BZMW represents for free the migrant workers in mediation, arbitration, litigation, and other available legal channels for protecting their rights and interests.
In addition to general legal aid cases, the BZMW has also acted in special impact cases such as Xu Yange vs. KFC, about KFC’s nation-wide practice of discriminatory use of labor dispatch involving migrant workers.
Promotion of Lawyers: The BZMW promotes public interest lawyers engaged in the protection of migrant workers’ rights across the country and pays particular interest on training practitioners with the skills and expertise it has developed. Accordingly, the BZMW has organized various capacity-building seminars and workshops for lawyers on protection of migrant workers’ rights and NGO management.
The BZMW’s lawyers have given lectures at universities and participate regularly in university education seminars.
Legal Research and Reform: The BZMW conducts evidencebased research on labor laws and policies based on consultations and cases it has handled. Its research efforts include publishing legal articles, books and survey reports, and conducting research on legislative issues related to migrant workers. These publications aim to raise public awareness about migrant workers’ rights and have influenced law and policy reform, including the formulation of and revisions to the Law on Mediation and Arbitration of Labor Disputes, the Work-Related Injury Insurance Regulations, and the Social Insurance Law. The BZMW also provides the government with a large number of constructive recommendations on the basis of practical cases and lobbies the legislature to improve legal protection for migrant workers.
Legal Education: The BZMW empowers migrant workers through education programs to raise their awareness of the law, thereby improving migrant workers’ protection. The Center has organized numerous know-your-rights training sessions and distributed thousands of legal handbooks to migrant workers. In addition, the BZMW has also carried out training of trainers (TOT) programs for college students, barefoot lawyers and migrant workers, who amplify the organization’s impact by assisting workers in their local communities.
Community Outreach: The BZMW has developed a positive working relationship with many well-known media outlets, through which it advocates on behalf of migrant workers. Its cases and lawyers’ stories regularly appear in newspapers or on television programs.
The exposure helps the BZMW in carrying out public campaigns for the protection of migrant workers’ rights.
National Cooperative Network: In order to mobilize broad participation of lawyers in migrant workers legal aid work, the BZMW has established a national cooperative network for migrant workers coordinated by full-time lawyers with the participation of volunteer lawyers. This network was established with the support of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Commerce, financed by the Legal Aid Foundation of China and the UNDP, with efforts of the All China Lawyers Association and the Bar Association of different provinces. It includes a wide range of coverage, and focuses on fostering the first generation of full-time migrant workers’ lawyers.
Promotion of uniform practice: As the national headquarters of the migrant workers legal aid offices, the BZMW established best practice procedures and promotes these at all of the satellite offices through training and guidelines in an attempt to create a uniform, nationwide legal aid practice. The Center offers all new staff at satellite offices the opportunity to complete two weeks of on-the-job
training at the BZMW’s main office.
Publications
The BZMW conducts in-depth research on problems that emerge from its cases and as well as the existing flaws in the current labor laws related to migrant workers.
Books
Address
Beijing Zhicheng Migrant Workers’ Legal Aid and Research Center (BZMW)
Zhicheng Public Interest Law Building
No. 198 Fengtailukou Dongli, Fengtai District, Beijing 100161 China
ph: (8610) 6381-3362; 6383-5779
fax: (8610) 6383-5279
e-mail: Wangfang19791979[a]yahoo.cn
www.zcpi.org; www.zgnmg.org
- Renmin University
Year Established: 1998
Short Historical Background
The Law and Globalization Research Center, affiliated with Renmin University, was founded in 1998 with fifteen researchers, among of which are ten professors, and five associate professors. The Center was the successor to the Jurisprudence Department, and has been permitted to grant masters and doctoral degrees by the Ministry of Education since 1986.
Objective
The Center aims to combine the general theory of law and globalization with both practical and academic research.
Programs and Activities
The Center concentrates on law and globalization research and international exchange, whose main direction includes the general theory of law and globalization, globalization and human rights, globalization and Chinese legal system development.
Since its establishment it has been holding many international academic meetings, consisting of an international academic colloquium on the law and globalization, an international academic colloquium on post-modernism and the modernization of China’s legal system, an international academic colloquium on law and globalization - the theory behind the practice, and an international academic colloquium on Marxist law and contemporary international relations, etc. It holds a “jurisprudence forum” where invited well-known domestic and international scholars give lectures. It engages in international research and communication projects supported by the Asian Development Bank, China and Europe’s higher education project, the Ford Foundation, etc.
It has undertaken a large number of social science research projects. In a research project supported by the Ministry of Education Key Research Base, the Center undertook a research on European Union’s policy on China’s human rights situation and China’s counter-policy.
Address
The Law and Globalization Research Center
Renmin University
59 Zhongguancun Ave, Beijing 100872 CHINA
ph: (86-10) 82500352
e-mail: putianren[a]163.com
www.law.ruc.edu.cn/english/research/globalization.htm
- Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Year Established: 2002
Short Historical Background
The Center for Gender and Law Studies (CGLS), Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, established in September 2002, engages in promoting research on theoretical and practical issues in the relationship between gender and law. Its research projects and by multi-disciplinary approaches aim to build up an exchange forum and a research base for the study of gender and law, to advance multi-approach-oriented legal research, and to promote gender mainstreaming in the legal community in China.
Objectives
The CGLS aims
Programs
Research projects
1. Comparative study on gender and law
The project “Comparative Study on Gender and Law” (April 2003 —July 2005) serves as the basis for the establishment of CGLS and various activities implemented since then. The project has utilized the new method of incorporating gender perspective into legal research. The main activities carried out included: seminars, lectures, gender training, participating in legislative process and exchanges of scholars at home and abroad.
2. Amendment of the Law on Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests (LPWRI)
To improve the LPWRI in effectively guaranteeing women’s human rights during the transitional period of China, and to promote gender equality and sustainable development of society, CGLS conducted the project “Study on the Amendment of the LPWRI: Draft Proposal of the Law on Gender Equality” (October 2003—October 2005).
On the basis of research results already accomplished and first-hand materials accumulated, the members of CGLS, together with experts invited from other institutions, discussed in detail and completed the draft proposal on the amendment of LPWRI. Meanwhile, CGLS also published a monograph, Studies on Basic Framework of the Law on Gender Equality.
3. Theoretical and Action Research on Gender and Law
The project “Theoretical and Action Research on Gender and Law” (2005—2009), funded by the Ford Foundation, is the continuation of the project “Comparative Study on Gender and Law.” The overall goal of the project is to improve theoretical and action research, and to give an impetus to gender mainstreaming in the legal field. The main activities carried out included: building up and strengthening a national-international cooperative network of gender and law studies; creating and improving the first website focusing on gender and law in China——China Website of Gender and Law; holding domestic and international conferences; publishing books and translation works; conducting surveys and legal analysis; and conducting comparative study on gender and law.
4. Study on Gender Equality Issues Arising in the Course of Legal Construction
The project “Study on Gender Equality Issues Arising in the Course of Legal Construction” (2006—2009), entrusted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, aims to analyze gender bias or discrimination existing in the legal system in China, and to explore their causes and forms of expression in order to provide legal proposals. The methodology relied upon included examination of gender blind points and “areas of error” in public policy, legislation and judicial practice, and empirical survey on the status of gender equality in these areas.
Activities
CGLS hold the following activities:
1. Seminars
Since its establishment, CGLS has conducted academic exchanges with scholars and experts both from China and abroad, sponsored a range of roundtables and seminars, with a view to promoting and deepening studies on relationship between gender and law, and to strengthening international exchanges and cooperation.
In December 2003, CGLS held a roundtable discussion on “Gender and Law” with Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and Ms. Rangita de Silva de Alwis, Advisor, Racial Discrimination Committee, and International Program Director, Spangenberg Group, US.
In April 2004, its organized a roundtable discussion on “Operation of State Mechanism of Gender Equality: from an International Perspective” with participants from domestic institutions, and Northeast University in the US.
In September 2004, CGLS and the Institute of Law jointly held the Seminar on “Women’s Human Rights: Gender and Law” under the China-EU Human Rights Network. Participants came from China and European Union countries.
In April 2005, it held a roundtable discussion on “Anti-discrimination Act and Countermeasures in Domestic Violence Field” with Professor Elizabeth M. Schneider of the Brooklyn Law School (US) and Dr. Rangita de Silva de Alwis participated as key speakers.
From August to September 2005, members of CGLS attended the Beijing 95’+10, and hosted special meetings respectively for government representatives and non-government forums. During the conference, CGLS planned and organized the forum of “Women’s Human Rights and the Law.”
In December 2005, CGLS coordinated a roundtable discussion on “Gender Mainstreaming in the Law”, which was sponsored jointly by the Institute of Law and the Madrid Club, Spain. Participants included Ms. Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and the former United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Huang Ping, Director of the Bureau of International Cooperation of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Professor Chen Zexian, Deputy Director of the Institute of Law, as well as representatives from the UN offices in Beijing, European Union office, and Ford Foundation.
In December 2006, CGLS held the Asian Regional Seminar on Gender and Law in Beijing, being the first one ever held in the Asian region. Participants, from six Asian countries, and from different parts of China, had heated discussions concerning gender sensitivity and gender mainstreaming in legislative, judicial, legal research and legal education fields. Professor Li Lin, Director of the Institute of Law, program officer of the UNIFEM and program officer of the Ford Foundation also participated in the seminar.
2. Lectures
CGLS held a series of lectures in order to set up a domestic and international exchange platform to facilitate research on gender and law using multi-disciplinary approaches, to train a contingent of research personnel to form the research base, and to gear up to efforts on gender mainstreaming internationally.
It invited many Chinese and foreign experts for the lectures that covered the legal significance of gender, gender equality and amendment of LPWRI, international human rights treaties and gender, law and indigenization of gender, battered women syndrome: a jurisprudential analysis, the basic state policy of gender equality and legal research, western feminist legal schools, strategy of gender mainstreaming, “Beijing95’+10” and framework of women’s human rights; equality and non-discrimination principles, critique of law on sexual crimes in contemporary China, private law protection of sexual autonomy, gender bias in legal profession, gender analysis of laws in the US and other countries, and anti-sexual harassment and anti-gender-discrimination.
3. Training
Since its establishment, CGLS has actively advocated gender awareness and made persistent efforts to incorporate gender perspective into legal research and education through various training activities.
In August 2004, CGLS launched a three-week Training Course for Comparative Study on Gender and Law, with members of CGLS and over forty teachers from thirteen institutions of higher learning enthusiastically participating in it. The event has laid down a sound foundation for using gender perspective in legal research and education. Experts from the UN and other countries discussed feminist theories, gender-based discrimination in the law, women’s human rights and feminist analysis, and Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its implementation at domestic level.
In September 2004, members of CGLS and experts from EU countries organized an Advanced Training Course for Comparative Studies on Gender and Law in Gui Zhou Province. Participants came from the local police, procuratorate, courts, research institutions and institutions of higher learning.
In July 2006, CGLS sponsored a participatory training aimed at raising the gender awareness of the trainees. The training provided knowledge, methods and skills required for conducting surveys using questionnaires.
4. Study Course
CGLS conducts study courses regularly. Taking into account problems and needs that emerged in the process of implementing various projects, different study courses were offered on different academic works, such as classical feminist works and course book of gender and law, for the purpose of equipping participants on relevant theories.
5. Writing Teaching Materials
On the basis of consultation and discussions with experts from different branches of law at the institute of law, CGLS cooperated with experts in writing teaching materials concerning gender and law. The general framework of teaching materials involves gender and constitution, gender and civil law, gender and criminal law, gender and procedural law, gender and family law, gender and social law, gender and international law, and so on.
6. Survey
Together with sociologists, CGLS has designed the “Questionnaire on Status of Legal Workers” in China, and surveys were made among people from the police, procuratory, courts, law firms, institutions of higher learning, and research institutes in cities of different administrative levels in four regions, covering the eastern, middle, northern and southern parts of China. The aim of the survey was, by statistical analysis of the questionnaires, to explore and analyze gender awareness of legal personnel, status of women in the legal profession and status of gender equality in contemporary China. Being the first gender survey among legal personnel, it provided empirical data and an objective foundation for gender and law studies.
7. Analysis of Law
Applying gender perspective, members of CGLS have examined the main existing laws, departmental rules and regulations, local regulations, judicial interpretations, background materials of legislation, public policies and international treaties concerned, to see whether there are gender blind points and mistaken gender concepts. These efforts supported the development of legislative proposals, and promoted gender mainstreaming in the legal community in China.
Publications
Studies on Basic Framework of the Law on Gender Equality
Address
Center for Gender and Law Studies (CGLS)
Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
15 Shatan Beijie, Dongcheng District, 100720 China
ph: (86 10) 64022109
fax: (86 10) 84040572
e-mail: genderandlaw2005[a]126.com
Year Established: 2010
Short Historical Background
Teaching human rights law in Chinese universities is a developing trend in the twenty-first century. In order to better support and develop the teaching and research in the field of international human rights law and humanitarian law, the East China University of Politics and Law established its Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Research Center in December, 2010.
The members of the Center (five part-time professors, an associate professor, two lecturers as of 2012) mainly research on law science, international law, international criminal law, involving the science such as history and diplomacy. Professor Guan Jianqiang is the director of the center.
Objectives
The Center aims to promote research on education on human rights law and theory.
Special Concern
The Center has a special concern on aiding Chinese civilian victims of the war who seek compensation from the Japanese government. The Center undertakes research on the legal aspects of this issue based on international humanitarian law. The Center also focuses on promoting the theory that “no country has inherent authority to waive the rights of civilian victims of war.”
In the field of human rights law, the Center researches on the relationship between international human rights law and domestic law.
Address
Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Research Center
East China University of Political Science and Law
No.1575 Wan Hang Du Road Shanghai 200042 China
ph: (86 21) 62071928
e-mail: guan58[a]sh163.net
Year Established: 2010
Short Historical Background
The Centre for the Study of Human Rights at Nankai University was established on 8 April 2005. It was approved as a key humanities and social sciences research base in colleges and universities of Tianjin in 2010, and was designated as a National Human Rights Education and Training Base in 2011.
Objectives
The Zhang Pengchun Spirit and Our Mission
In 1947, Nankai University’s Professor Peng Chun Chang became Vice-Chairman of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights, and was directly involved in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Professor Chang’s important contribution was recognized across the world and is the pride of Nankai University In view of this, the Centre’s objectives are: in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
The Centre will work towards establishing itself as a cross-discipline and comprehensive academic platform for studying human rights and a key base for human rights education, training and knowledge dissemination. It also aims to become a bridge that helps connect the different human rights research institutes in China, an important think tank that advises the government on human rights policies, and an influential Chinese NGO on human rights issues in international human rights exchanges.
Program and Activities
a. Human Rights Research
1．China Human Rights in Action Series
From 2004 to 2013, the Centre has been collaborating with the China Society for Human Rights Studies in preparing annual China’s Human Rights in Action report, documenting major laws, policies, measures and cases relating to human rights for the year. A total of eight issues have been published. The reports are also available in English.
2．Annual Report on China's Human Rights (Blue Book)
Since 2011, together with the China Society for Human Rights Studies, the Centre organizes China’s human rights experts to prepare the Annual Report on China's Human Rights (Blue Book of China’s Human Rights). The annual Blue Book analyses the progress of human rights enterprise and the challenges faced in China from an academic perspective and provides policy recommendations. To date, ten books have been published.
3．Human Rights Research Projects
The Centre’s members leverage their multi-disciplinary synergy and undertook research on human rights issues commissioned by the National Social Science Fund, Ministry of Education, Tianjin Municipality and China Society for Human Rights Studies.
b. Human Rights Education, Training and Knowledge Dissemination
1．Specialized and Elective Courses for University
The Centre offers general elective courses for all Nankai University undergraduates under its “Human Rights Fundamentals and Awareness” syllabus. It also offers “International Law of Human Rights” as a specialized course at the Law School, and “Human Rights and Foreign Policy” at the College of History. The Centre further organizes lectures at the School of Government on “Human Rights Theory” for post-graduate students, and recruits Ph.D. students in human rights theory and practice.
2．Primary and Secondary School Education Project
The Centre is collaborating with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) in a three-year human rights education project for primary and secondary school students. The project includes developing human rights teaching materials and teaching guides, as well as training of teachers.
3．Training Project for Government Officials
The Centre offers human rights training for local government officials, develops the training materials and teaching guides, and provides teacher-training.
4．Knowledge Dissemination
To disseminate knowledge on human rights, the Centre’s members have developed popular human rights-related books, such as the 70 Years of Human Rights Development in China, Human Rights—A Citizen’s Reader, and Human Rights Protection in Contemporary China.
c. Advisory Service for the Government
The Centre’s members were invited as experts in drafting and evaluating the National Human Rights Action Plan. They also helped draft the white paper on Progress in China's Human Rights.
d. Human Rights Exchanges
1．National Exchanges
The Centre has hosted the Second National Exchange Forum for Human Right Research Institutions (2010), organized the China Human Rights Development Seminar (2011) and co-organized the National Human Rights Education Annual Meeting (2014). It also co-organized the Fifth Cross-Cultural Seminar on Human Rights (2017).
2．International Exchanges
The Centre’s members have made study visits to the Human Rights Centre of the University of Essex in the U.K., Netherlands School of Human Rights Research, the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and the Human Rights Centre at the University of Minnesota, USA. It has also collaborated with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Netherlands School of Human Rights Education in various projects.
They have also participated in the human rights training organized by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and were involved in the universal periodic review conducted by the UN Human Rights Council. As an NGO, the Centre submits to the UN Human Rights Council a shadow report on the human rights situation in China.
The Center has a special concern on aiding Chinese civilian victims of the war who seek compensation from the Japanese government. The Center undertakes research on the legal aspects of this issue based on international humanitarian law. The Center also focuses on promoting the theory that “no country has inherent authority to waive the rights of civilian victims of war.”
In the field of human rights law, the Center researches on the relationship between international human rights law and domestic law.
Publications
Address
Centre for the Study of Human Rights
School of Law, Nankai University
38 Tongyan Road, Haihe Education Park
Tianjin, People’s Republic of China 300350
ph: (86 22) 23501318
fax: (86 22) 23500327
e-mail: changjian@nankai.edu.cn
https://zfxy.nankai.edu.cn/discipline/human_rights.htm
Year Established: 1993
Short Historical Background
The China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS), founded in January 1993, is a non-governmental national-level academic organization enjoying a special consultative status in the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
The CSHRS now has more than one hundred members from different colleges, universities, research institutes and specific work units in thirty-one provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. They are all experts and scholars in various disciplines such as philosophy, political science and law.
Since its founding, CSHRS has devoted its efforts to the promotion of human rights activities by actively organizing studies on Chinese human rights theories, and developing exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries.
Objectives
CSHRS aims
Programs and Activities
Preparation and publication of human rights materials including such issues as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and China's Human Rights, the History of Human Rights, An Introduction to Human Rights Issues, Women's Human Rights in China, International Laws on Human Rights, and Human Rights Problems in the United States. Also, nearly a hundred articles were published in various newspapers and magazines, including "China Strives to Realize People's Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and "Promote the Healthy Development of the International Human Rights Cause.
Publication of translated materials including the World Documents of Human Rights, the Supplement to World Documents of Human Rights, and the Human Rights Encyclopedia. These books collect and introduce, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign human rights theories and thoughts. They also include various declarations, conventions, agreements, resolutions and constitutional documents of different countries and international communities.
Financial aid to promote human rights theoretical study. In 1996, it jointly formed with the China Foundation for Human Rights Development (CFHRD) the Assessment Group of the China Foundation for Human Rights Studies. It has funded research on various topics including New Progress of Human Rights in China in 1997, the Human Rights Problems in the United States, and Major Differences Between China and Western Countries in Human Rights Issues. The research work has all been completed to date.
Seminars to keep its members nationwide well informed about the latest domestic and foreign human rights theoretical research results through information exchanges. During the seminars, experts from various fields were invited to discuss recent developments in human rights theories and practices.
Data of Human Rights Research - this mainly publishes theoretical articles written by experts and introduces major activities organized by the CSHRS. It offers as a result large amount of data on human rights theoretical research.
Popularization and education of human rights knowledge - writing and compiling books such as 100 Questions About Human Rights, and Human Rights in China--A Collection of White Papers on Human Rights. It has joined hands with the CFHRD to produce a TV documentary, Interviews on Human Rights in China, in which ten-odd CSHRS executive members give special explanations on some major issues.
International Exchange - includes establishing working relationship with human rights institutions in many countries, and participating in international human rights conferences.
Publications
China Human Rights Magazine
Address
China Society for Human Rights Studies
No. 22 Building, An Yuan Bei Li, Asian Games Village, Beijing 100029 China
ph: (86-10) 6559-2354 / fax (86-10) 6522-9610
e-mail: infonew[a]public.bta.net.cn; yxh[a]cicc.org.cn
Year Established: 2001
Short Historical Background
The Cultural Development Center for Rural Women is a non-governmental organization that seeks to promote the social development of China's rural women. Since its foundation, it has grown from its core activity of publishing a magazine to become a major non-profit organization with an integrated program that “supports the poor by combining development projects, news media and information services, and dissemination of the results of research.”
The Center grew out of the Rural Women Magazine (formally Rural Women Knowing All) project, which began publication in January 1993. The magazine, supervised by the All-China Women's Federation and administered by China Women's News, is the only monthly magazine for rural women.
The Center is registered with the Changping Branch of Beijing Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau.
Objective
The Center aims to create opportunities for self-empowerment and development together with rural women—those who live in the poorest parts of China— and also dedicated to improving the quality of life for migrant women in China's cities.
Programs
The Center has programs focusing on the following:
Activities
Rural women's community development – this includes microfinance, literacy classes, and projects aimed at enhancing reproductive health, preventing of suicide and increasing participation in politics.
Rural women's training and re-education – through the Practical Skills Training Center for Rural Women (established in 1998), the first center in China aimed at raising the overall capacity of rural women instead of merely training them for a diploma – the Center offers training in practical skills, and raising trainees' awareness of gender, citizenship, participatory and people-oriented concepts. The education program is designed to tap their potential, increase their self-confidence and self-reliance and to help them (grassroots women leaders or poor dropout girls) to realize their dream of taking an active part in community development, escaping poverty and achieving a well-off life.
Legal services for migrant women's – through the “Migrant Women's Club” (established in 1996), the first to serve migrant workers in China, the Center works to uphold migrant women workers' legal rights and interests, and is also concerned with their spiritual well-being, their overall quality of life and their capacity for self-improvement.
Publications and disseminating experiences - through service and practice, the Center is dedicated to exploring innovation in service provision in rural women's development, and in learning and sharing the lessons of its many years of experience. It has already compiled four sets of teaching materials for literacy classes -- Rural Teenage Girls' Basic Reader, Manual for Preventing Rural Women's Suicide and others -- as well as more than twenty books on the study of rural women's development, including Rural Women's Development and Countermeasures, Report on Suicide amongst Rural Women, and The Census Registration System and Female Migrants.
Research and publicity – themed around the various problems that rural women encounter, the Center has organized research
groups, and sponsored seminars and workshops on these issues. It undertakes survey and investigation on these issues and produced suggestions for policy changes that are brought to the attention of the government and the media. It has sponsored two seminars on Rural Women Development and Countermeasures, two seminars on Migrant Women’s Legal Rights and two seminars on Rural Women’s Participation in Politics as well as many other workshops, discussion meetings and news releases.
Publications
Newsletter
Teaching materials
Books
Address
The Cultural Development Center for Rural Women
301, Building 1, Jiali Mansion, 180,
Beiyuanlu, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101 China
ph: (8610) 64984075
fax: (8610) 64980110
e-mail: njnbst[a]263.net
Year of Establishment: 2004
Short Historical Background
The Guangzhou University Research and Education Center for Human Rights was established in July 2004, as a university supported research institute. In 2007, the Center qualified as the Guangdong Provincial Key Research Base for Humanities and Social Science in the university. In 2011, the Center was recognized by the Ministry of Education as the National Education and Training Base for Human Rights. Strongly supported by the university, the Center has 10 full-time researchers and 1 secretary. It has five Research Groups, covering the following fields: Human Rights Theories, Civil & Political Rights, Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, International Human Rights, and Human Rights Education.
Objectives
The Center aims
Programs & Activities
Special Concerns
Publications
Book Series
Other information
The Center dedicated its activities to human rights education in the past few years. In the university, the Center offers human rights courses to undergraduates majoring in law, postgraduates majoring in law and other students. The Center hold seminars for the general public in the provinces of Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi, covering more than 3,000 trainees consisting of prison police, criminal and security police, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, university teachers and others from all sorts of life. The trainings in the society were highly praised by the recipients. More requests on human rights education were expressed to us. Furthermore, the First National Conference on Exchange of Experiences of Human Rights Research Institutes, which was proposed by China Society for Human Rights Studies, was held by the Center in May 2009. And the Third National Human Rights Education Annual Meeting was organized by the Center in 2010.
The Center carried out a wide-scale field research on the revision to the criminal procedural law in 2006. More than 10,000 questionnaires were collected from different groups of interviewees, like members of the police, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, prisoners and the general public in the Provinces of Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Liaoning and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Based on the research results, the International Conference on the Revision of the Criminal Procedural Law and Protection of Human Rights was held in late 2008 with 161 participants including scholars from U.S.A., Europe, Australia and China. Legislation recommendation on the basis of the field research was handed over to the Office of Legal Affairs under the National People’s Congress in 2010.
Address
Guangzhou University Research Center for Human Rights
No. 230, Waihuanxi Rd, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center,
Panyu District, Guangzhou, China
ph: (86 20) 3936 6733
fax: (86 20) 3936 6733
www.humanrights.org.cn
- China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL)
Year Established: 2002
Short Historical Background
The Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) is an independent full-time inter-disciplinary academic institute with the mandate to undertake research, teaching, training, consultancy, resource support and cooperation in the field of human rights and humanitarian law. IHRHL was established by, and directly affiliated to, the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL).
IHRHL was established in June 2002 and has five full-time research members, four part-time research members and one secretary at present. It accepts visiting or part-time fellows from other institutions within and outside CUPL.
Objectives
IHRHL aims
Programs and Activities
Research and publication - in cooperation with Norwegian Center of Human Rights (NCHR), Oslo University, Norway, compiled the two-volume Textbook on International Human Rights Law which was published in December 2002.
With the support of the Cultural and Educational Section, British Council Beijing, and in cooperation with Foreign Affairs College and Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, compiled International Human Rights Law textbook which was published in September 2004.
IHRHL is implementing many national and international research programs including The National Human Rights Institution (in cooperation with RWI, Lund University, Sweden), Comparative Study in Human Rights Protection under States of Emergency, China’s Practice in Ratification and Implementation of International Human Rights Conventions, The Sources of Human Rights in Perspective of Social System, and Human Rights and Human Harmony, etc.
Teaching - CUPL is the only University in mainland China which grants Master and Ph.D degrees in Human Rights Law. In May 2005 and February 2006 respectively, the IHRHL has been implementing the Graduate Program and the Major of Human Rights Law, and has been responsible for their academic requirements. The major courses under the Program and the Major include Theories of Human Rights, International Human Rights, Substantive Rights, Domestic Human Rights Protection Mechanisms, Human Rights Research Methodology, Constitutionalism and Human Rights, Criminal Justice and Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, etc. The staff members have undertaken the majority of the teaching assignments. The IHRHL also provides an optional course of International Human Rights Law to the undergraduate students.
Training Programs - in cooperation with various institutions, IHRHL undertook the following training activities:
International Exchange and Cooperation - IHRHL has cooperated closely with the relevant institutions of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Canada, the European Union and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the field of human rights law teaching, training, research and capacity building. It has also started cooperation with the relevant institutes of the U.S.A, Germany as well as some other countries.
Publications
Address
Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
China University of Political Science and Law
No. 25, Xitucheng Road Haidian District, Beijing100088 China
ph: (86-10) 58908276
fax: (86-10) 58908277
e-mail: ihrhl_cupl[a]yahoo.com.cn
http://gate.cupl.edu.cn/rqrdyjs
Year Established: 2009
Short Historical Background
Since late 1990s, the Law School of Yunnan University (YULS) has been establishing relationship with the Norwegian Center for Human Rights, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) in Sweden and other human rights research institutions in China and other countries. Since then teachers and students of YULS have participated in many workshops on human rights education and research in cooperation with these institutions. The cooperation with RWI in recent years constitutes a big step for the Institute.
Since 2008, RWI has been cooperating with the four universities in western China (Inner Mongolia University, Yunnan University, Guangxi University and Northwest University of Political Science and Law), focusing on strengthening institutional capacity, development of human rights curriculums, and human rights teaching methodology. The project contributed to the increase, both in terms
of quality and quantity, of human rights courses in these universities, and increased links among the teachers in these universities who are involved in human rights.
In order to enhance the capacity on human rights education and research, the cooperation with RWI focused on building a research organ in YULS through program activities, among other tasks.
Hence several teachers in YULS participated in all activities held under the cooperation programs and sent two young teachers and a master student to attend a Masters Program on Human Rights in Peking University. All these efforts resulted in continuing increase in interests on human rights education and research among the teachers in YULS.
The National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010), adopted in 2009, encouraged institutions of higher learning in China to offer public courses and specialized courses on human rights, to support the development of related disciplines and majors, and to encourage studies on human rights theories. This action plan provided that China’s universities should take action to fulfil those purposes. Based on the above conditions and for the further development in human rights education and research, the YULS decided to establish the Institute on Human Rights Law in August 2009.
Objectives
YULS aims
Programs and Activities
Special Concerns
Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and minority rights protection.
Publications Zhang Xisheng
Other Information
All staff members, including the Director (Professor Zhang Xisheng), of the Institute are volunteers.
Address
Institute on Human Rights Law
Law School of Yunnan University (YULS)
182 yi er yi dajie, Kunming 650091 China
ph: (86-871) 5035595
fax: (86 871) 5033171
e-mail: zhang_xisheng[a]hotmail.com; xisheng.zhang[a]nchr.uio.no
Year Established: 1999
Short Historical Background
Rapid economic development occurring in China since the market reforms started led masses of people leaving their villages and entering the cities to seek better economic opportunities.
As the national capital and the political, economic and cultural center of China, Beijing has become a major destination for the shift of rural labor from rural to urban areas. Among the large rural migrant population in Beijing, most come as families, dispersed among the vast communities on the margins of the city. Most of them do strenuous work in harsh conditions for meager pay in low level professions such as restaurant workers, domestic help, retail salespersons, cleaners, factory workers, etc. Rural migrants suffer disadvantaged living and working conditions due to their special identities, transitory status, low-level of education and vocational training. There are extreme disparities between the rural migrant population and the local population of Beijing.
The Migrant Workers’ Education and Action Research Center was established in 1999 to facilitate migrant workers’ transition and integration into the city. With a neighborhood community as base, the Center hopes to mobilize migrant workers and provide them with as much help and support as possible. The Center has the mission of narrowing the gap between migrant workers and urban residents, promoting social justice, and allowing migrant workers to enjoy the same basic rights and treatment as urban residents (such as the right to employment, survival,education etc.).
Objectives
The Center aims
Programs and Activities
The Center undertakes the following activities:
• Migrant Children Project
The Center organizes children to make them actively participate in community life and take action to improve the community. It also organizes educational activities related to urban life, safety, health
and sanitation for migrant children, counsel them regarding problems they encounter in school or in their daily lives, support their healthy physical and psychological development, and help them transition and integrate into urban society.
• Youth Project
The youth project is centered on the needs of youth in the community, including both those who are still in school and those who have left school and are now working. The Center will organize educational activities on basic legal knowledge, health and sanitation, provide them with psychological counseling so that they can handle the difficulties and challenges they face while they are growing up in a healthy and constructive way.
• Adult Project
The adult project mainly targets parents of migrant children. In addition to their work, they need to raise and educate their children. Therefore, the Center does not only host talks on legal knowledge,
health and sanitation, but also organizes seminars on parenting and provides parents with information about schooling and day care.
The Center organizes a parent discussion group to create a support network among migrant workers and to help them lead a better life in the city.
• Informational Support
The center collects policy information and other news relevant to rural migrant workers and regularly disseminates the information to community members.
• Policy Advocacy
The Center collects information regarding the circumstances and needs of rural migrants and reflects this information to the government.
It advocates greater awareness of migrant workers’ issues among the government officials, and tries to influence law and policymaking to improve the living circumstances of rural migrants in Beijing.
Other Information
The Center has a library with a collection of books that community members can access. The collection includes children’s literature, books on parenting, newspapers, magazines, etc.
Address
Migrant Workers’ Education and Action Research Center
Room 1013, No.33, Beisi Huan Zhong Road
Beijing 100101 China
ph: (86-10) 6484-5915
e-mail: sdrcbj[a]yahoo.com.cn
- Peking University Law School (RCHR)
Year Established: 1997
Short Historical Background
The Research Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of Peking University Law School (RCHRHL) was founded on 25 April 1997. RCHRHL is an academic association with members consisting of professors and scholars from different fields of law (international law, criminal procedure law, administrative law, comparative law) and different areas of human rights. RCHRHL, previously called Research Center for Human Rights (RCHR), expanded the scope of its research and international exchanges to also include humanitarian law in 2008.
Objectives
The RCHRHL aims
Programs
Human rights courses - RCHR offers courses to both undergraduate and graduate students on many areas of human rights. These courses, among others, include: Human Rights and Rule of Law, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; International Human Rights Protection Mechanisms, Regional Protection of Human Rights, Business and Human Rights, and International Humanitarian Law. It has also sponsored a joint master program on human rights with Lund University in Sweden, which is the first professional human rights education program in China.
Symposiums and seminars - It holds academic symposiums and seminars on theoretical and practical problems of human rights both at domestic and international levels.
Advisory service - It offers advisory opinions to the Chinese governmental institutions, including legislative, judicial and executive organs on matters such as the implementation of international human rights conventions.
Translation and publication - It edits and translates academic works and publishes documents and other materials on human rights.
Research and education - It implements projects on research and education on human rights in cooperation with domestic or international institutions. It publishes human rights books.
Activities
Research Projects
International Conferences
Training and Other Activities
Publications
Address
The Research Center for Human Rights
Peking University
Beijing 100871 China
ph: (8610) 6275-1698/6276 7955
fax: (8610) 6275-1269/62756542
e-mail: Gongrr[a]pku.edu.cn; hrol_pku@hotmail.com; rchr[a]pku.edu.cn
www.law.pku.edu.cn/article_view.asp?id=544&menuid=200393576525&menuname=
Year Established: 2007
Short Historical Background
Wuhan University Public Interest and Development Law Institute (PIDLI), established in September 2007, is a university-based humanities and social science research institute. Its establishment drew inspiration from the public interest law movement, the “law and development” movement, and the “developmental law” campaign in Southeast Asia. PIDLI aims to promote rule of law and human rights in China, through research, advocacy and education.
PIDLI cooperates closely with the Wuhan University Center for Protection of Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens (CPRDC). CPRDC is the first non-governmental legal aid organization in China and the only non-business entity engaged in legal aid that is registered in the Bureau of Civil Affairs in Hubei province. Most of the researchers of PIDLI are also the working staff of CPRDC. As an institution born out of CPRDC, PIDLI and CPRDC cooperate with each other and complement each other’s strengths to adapt, participate with and guide the rising public interest law movement through joint publishing and advocacy initiatives. A Consultant Committee composed of highly-reputed and wellrespected
law professors decides on important issues that guide the direction of PIDLI.
Objectives Visions
PIDLI aims to promote social justice, human dignity and every person’s liberty and happiness. It is guided by the following values: inclusiveness, sustainability, cooperation, openness, participation,
and equality (I- SCOPE).
Programs and Activities
The main tasks of PIDLI consists of legal research, teaching and publishing; and the promotion of public interest, and development and human rights law under the guidance of the Consultant
Committee. It undertake activities including, but not limited, to the following:
Publications
Special Concerns
PIDLI has special focus on legal empowerment of members of disadvantaged groups.
Address
Wuhan University Public Interest and Development Law Institute (PIDLI)
Wuhan University School of Law
Mailbox 214, Wuhan, Hubei 430072 China
ph: (86 27) 6875 3729
fax: (86 27) 6875 3624
e-mail: office[a]pidli.org
www.pidli.cn/
Year Established: 2005
Short Historical Background
Women’s Watch-China (WWC) is a non-profit organization working under the Beijing Zhongze Women’s Legal Counseling & Service Center, and Beijing Qianqian Law Firm (formerly known as the Center for Women’s Law Studies and Legal Services of Peking University).
In 2004, the Center for Women’s Law Studies and Legal Services joined hands with other women’s rights activists in China, and founded a task force for protecting women’s rights with the support of the Spangenberg Group and Ms. Rangita de Silva de Alwis.
The Center for Women’s Law Studies and Legal Services successfully held three task force meetings on protecting women’s labor rights, fighting to end domestic violence, and protecting women’s property rights. The three meetings were followed by a “Women’s Action Forum,” which culminated in the establishment of the WWC in April 2005.
WWC pays close attention to the real condition of women in China, in order to understand women’s rights protection, advocate the idea of gender equality, and explore effective strategies and
measures for protecting women’s rights.
Objectives
WWC aims
Programs and Activities
WWC undertakes the following activities:
Special Concerns
WWC has special focus on
Publications
Address
Women’s Watch-China
Secretariat c/o Beijing Zhongze Women’s Legal Counseling and Service Center
Room No.1304, Third Building of Qianhejiayuan 108 Beisihuan Donglu,Chaoyang District
Beijing 100029 China
ph: (86 010) 8483 3276/8483 3270
fax: (86 010) 8483 1639 ext 8006, 950507 ext 426115
e-mail:admin[a]womenwatch-china.org
www.womenwatch-china.org
Year Established: 2014
Short Historical Background
Wuhan University has a long and glorious history of human rights education and research. The late Prof. Han Depei, an international private law expert, attracted wide attention with the article, “The ‘Rule of Law’ We Need,” published in Observation (issue 10, volume 1, 1946), after he returned from abroad. The article discussed the legal protection of human rights. In 1979, Prof. He Huahui, a constitutional expert, published the article “On Human Rights,” which explained, with exceptional insight and valor, the intrinsic value of human rights and the significance of human rights to socialism. The article was compiled in the book Works of He Huahui, which was published in 2006 by Wuhan University Press. Teachers at Wuhan University Law School have published many books and papers on human rights, including Human Rights Theories and International Human Rights (Li Long and Wan Exiang, Wuhan University Press, 1992), International Human Rights Law (Wan Exiang and Guo Keqiang, Wuhan University Press, 1993), Human Rights Theories and Practice (Han Depei and Li Long, Wuhan University Press, 1994), and Comments on European Human Rights Court Trials (Wan Exiang, Hubei People’s Press, 1999).
In 2007, inspired by the public interest law movement and the law and development movement, which had been thriving in developing countries, scholars at the law school founded the Wuhan University Center for Public Interest and Development Law Research, which combines legal theory and practice. Based on the science of law, the Center specializes in the idea of public interest, development and human rights, and advocates and engages in interdisciplinary and practical studies. The Center cooperates with the China Society for Human Rights Studies and the Institute for Human Rights at the China University of Political Science and Law, and maintains close contact with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Development Programme.
The Center for Human Rights Research and Education at Wuhan University was established in January 2014. The establishment of the Center benefited from historical tradition and efforts of earlier generations, as well as plentiful earlier results of these efforts, construction of a solid platform and rational development planning for human rights.
Objectives
Teachers and students at Wuhan University have always maintained a pragmatic and innovative spirit. They have energetically engaged in the work of protecting the fundamental rights of vulnerable groups and have pushed forward the realization of social equality and justice.
Programs
Wuhan University Center for Legal Aid - In 1992, Wuhan University’s Center for the Protection of Rights of the Needy was founded and was later renamed as the Wuhan University Center for Legal Aid. It was the first nongovernmental legal aid institution in China. As a pioneer in legal aid, the Center has accumulated rich experience in human rights protection.
In the coming five years, the Center plans to work in the following areas:
Activities
Wuhan University now has three doctoral degree programs in the fields of human rights law, sports and human rights, and international human rights law. The Center offers three human rights law major courses at the law school: Introduction to Human Rights Law (an undergraduate elective), as well as Introduction to Human Rights Law and International Human Rights Law for graduate students. The Center also offers electives such as Law in the Movies for all Wuhan University students, spreading human rights education through movies and literature. The Center has cooperated with the provincial and municipal centers for legal aid in developing experimental teaching on human rights. The Center has also led the nation in offering courses on the rights of persons with disabilities, explaining the Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the rights perspective, barrier-free environments and nondiscrimination. The Center plans to popularize these innovative teaching methods among other schools across the country.
Teachers and students at Wuhan University are enthusiastic about serving society while conducting human rights research and education, such as by helping the needy in communities, training legal workers in localities and helping ensure the rights of each person. In the past two decades, the center has provided 61,800 consultations, responded to 21,000 mail inquiries, answered 36,000 phone calls, given 1,000 pieces of advice via its Website, and served as legal representative in 2,800 lawsuits. The Center has written or compiled more than thirty textbooks in the field of public law. The Center has also cooperated with the Ministry of Justice and the Hubei Provincial Department of Justice to produce three textbooks, consisting of both texts and graphics, for public law education.
The Center has actively sought cooperation with local governments to launch more extensive legal and human rights training programs, in a bid to increase public awareness of rights, and to increase the capacity of grassroots legal workers to safeguard the rights of disadvantaged groups. From 2006 to 2010, the Center cooperated with the Hubei Provincial Department of Justice to train more than 800 grassroots legal aid workers in thirty poverty-stricken counties in the province. In 2010, the Center organized a few symposiums on handling lawsuits involving migrant workers, in order to improve the capacity of legal workers to protect the rights of migrant workers. In 2011, the Center organized legal training for more than 400 legal coordinators in Luotian County, exploring ways to conduct legal aid training and enhance legal awareness in rural areas.
Based on the influence of Wuhan University in central China, the Center has conducted surveys, pilot programs and training programs about legal aid and human rights protection for social groups such as migrant workers, persons with disabilities, rural women and criminal suspects in detention. The Center actively pushes forward legal aid work in Hubei, Hunan, Henan and Anhui provinces.
Publications
The Center has a number of publications listed in its website. Visit this url: www.pidli.org/cbyyj/2017-07-15/194.html
Address
Center for Human Rights Research and Education
Wuhan University School of Law
Mailbox 214, Wuhan, Hubei 430072 China
ph: (86 27) 68753729
fax: (86 27) 68753729
e-mail: pidliwhu[a]gmail.com
www.pidli.org