VIENNA, June 21 (Guangming Daily/Jiao Shousong)—The 2019 China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights, co-sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and the Austria-China Friendship Association, was held in Vienna, Austria, on June 21. Nearly 100 people, including experts, scholars, government officials and representatives of social organizations from China and Europe exchanged views under the theme of "Comparison of Human Rights Values between the East and the West".

In his opening speech, former Austrian President and Chairman of the Austria-China Friendship Association Heinz Fischer said that human rights are the shared value of mankind, and that despite the great diversity of ways to achieve human rights, our ultimate goal is the same: human rights should be enjoyed by all. Although there have been a lot of explanations in history about human rights, Fischer believes that the best expression of human rights and human dignity comes from the Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the UN in 1948: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. This value is also embodied in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations.

Fu Zitang, Vice President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and President of the Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said in the opening speech that human rights values must be aligned with the history and culture of a country and a nation, be integrated with the fight and needs of its people, be combined with domestic and international issues that needed to be addressed, and be part of the trend of human rights development around the world. There should be no universalism or superiority in human rights values, and the diversity and differences of human rights values should not be regarded as antagonism and hierarchy. Some people like to listen to Johann Strauss Jr.'s "The Blue Danube", while some like the Chinese music "A Night of Flowers and Moonlight by the Spring River" played by the traditional Chinese instrument of pipa. With respect to different human rights values, we should seek the principle of "all living things are nourished without injuring one another, and all roads run parallel without interfering with one another", and uphold mutual respect, equality, openness and inclusiveness.

Li Xiaosi, Chinese Ambassador to Austria, said that China and Europe have both common ground and differences on the issue of human rights: Europe stresses the universality of human rights, while China recognizes the universality of human rights but also emphasizes the particularity of human rights; Europe attaches great importance to individual rights, while China values individual human rights and puts more emphasis on collective rights; Europe values political and civil rights, while China values political and civil rights and stresses that the right to life and development should be given priority to. Europe believes that Western-style democracy is the best political system in the world and can succeed anywhere in the world. But China believes that there are no identical political systems in the world. A political system should not be fixed in one model. We must not mechanically copy foreign political systems.

After the opening ceremony, Chinese and European human rights experts and scholars discussed the universality and particularity of human rights, the significance of the community with a shared future for mankind in terms of human rights, the history and evolution of human rights values, the human rights practice of the People's Republic of China and its global significance.

The China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights, founded by the China Society for Human Rights Studies in 2015, is an institutionalized platform for in-depth exchanges and dialogues between China and Europe in the field of human rights. Over the past five years, the Seminar has focused on the rights of children and ethnic minorities, the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as the diversity of civilizations and human rights, which has enhanced the understanding of various sectors between China and Europe in the field of human rights. The one-day Seminar was organized by the Law School and Institute for Human Rights Law of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, as well as Institute of Human Rights of Wuhan University, and supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice, the municipal government of Vienna, the Austria-China Law Society, and the Austrian Institute for Research on China and Southeast Asia.

Guangming Daily (Page 08, June 22, 2019)