In order to implement Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, publicize and explain General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourses on respecting and safeguarding human rights, and enhance the international community’s understanding of China’s human rights philosophy and development path, the China Society for Human Rights Studies held a seminar in Beijing on December 4 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The conference was organized by the Center for Sci &Tech and Human Rights Studies at the Beijing Institute of Technology. The seminar was attended by more than 70 people, including responsible comrades from central and state organs, relevant departments of the central media, experts and scholars in the field of human rights, and representatives of social organizations.

At the seminar, Qi Yanping, Director of the Academic Committee of the Center for Sci &Tech and Human Rights Studies at the BIT, and Han Xiutao, Director of the Center for Sci &Tech and Human Rights Studies at the Beijing Institute of Technology, made conference presentations.

The title of this presentation by Professor Qi Yanping is “The History of Modern Human Rights in China as a Vivid Practice of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document of great significance in the history of human civilization and has had a profound impact on the development of human rights in the world. Its significance lies in the fact that, since its publication 75 years ago, it has become the common pursuit of human society to take care of human life, value and dignity and to realize the enjoyment of human rights by all; and its profound impact lies in the fact that, since its publication 75 years ago, respect for and protection of human rights have become the ethical foundation for the operation of international political norms and the legal basis for good laws and good governance in countries around the world. The founding of the People’s Republic of China the year after the publication of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the moment when China began its modern history and the history of human rights. The history of modern human rights in China mirrors the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. China’s modern human rights practice has faithfully honored the purposes and objectives of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, practiced the principles and spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and innovated and developed the institutional system of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

China’s modern human rights practice faithfully honors the purposes and objectives of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The purpose of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights cannot be grasped only from the text of the Declaration, but also from the perspective of the reconstruction of the post-war international order and the reorientation of human civilization. The purposes and objectives for which the United Nations was founded and for which the Declaration was proclaimed were to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which mankind has twice experienced in the present age, to advocate living together in peace with one another as good neighbors, to take positive and effective measures for the maintenance of international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations on the basis of respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, in order to strengthen universal peace, to uphold fundamental human rights and the equal rights of large and small nations, to achieve justice among nations, to promote the social progress of mankind , and to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all through international co-operation in solving international problems.

The post-war world is a world of borders based on International Law. The post-war world of human rights is also a world of borders based on sovereign States. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins by affirming that recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. The phrase “all members of the human family” refers not only to each living being as an individual, but also to each nation, large or small, as an independent and sovereign State. The phrase “inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights” refers not only to the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of each individual being, but also to the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of each nation. In the 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was issued, Western countries have used the issue of human rights to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries under the banner of “Human Rights are superior to Sovereignty”, which has led to frequent wars, prolonged social unrest and the displacement of people in some countries. War is the natural enemy of human rights, and war is the greatest threat to human rights. The current round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has resulted in a large number of civilian casualties, leading to a serious humanitarian disaster. From the outset, China has advocated a comprehensive ceasefire to end the fighting, the effective protection of civilians, ensuring humanitarian relief, stepping up diplomatic mediation and seeking a political solution through the implementation of the two-State solution, and has insisted on promoting a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine. It can be said that over the past 75 years, no matter how the world has changed, China has always stood firm on justice and human conscience, stood on the side of peace, practiced true multilateralism, and defended the sovereign dignity, fundamental rights and core interests of small and vulnerable countries. This fully reflects China’s faithful respect for the purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

China’s modern human rights practice has effectively put into practice the spirit of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The begining paragraph of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that in order to achieve lasting freedom, justice and peace in the world, it is necessary to establish the basic principles of freedom, equality, democracy and the rule of law. These basic principles have both formal and substantive dimensions. Western human rights practice is the pole of formal justice, while we have long focused on the pole of substantive justice. Since the reform and opening up, and especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have paid more attention to the balance between the two in the construction and practice of the human rights system on the basis of the historical, concrete and practical nature of human rights.

The basic principles of freedom, equality, democracy and the rule of law established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are intended to maintain social peace and order, promote the sound development of nations, and enhance human dignity and rights; however, in the design of the system and the development of its practice, if it is biased in favor of the formal side of the equation, it will inevitably turn these principles into a tool for the dissolution of consciences, the loss of rationality, interpersonal confrontation, social disintegration, and national upheaval. In recent years, the western countries have shown the world that, on the one hand, human rights and democracy are the subject of repeated slogans, but, on the other, the reality is one of increasingly serious political party rivalries, governmental distrust and social disorder, with increasing political polarization, polarization of the rich and the poor, and ethnic antagonisms, as well as racism, populism and xenophobia, which is a substantial deviation from the spirit of the basic principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The spirit of China’s practical realization of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is centrally reflected in the socialist nature of modern human rights in China. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that the leadership of the Communist Party of China and China’s socialist system determine the socialist nature of the cause of human rights in China, and determine that we are able to ensure that people run the country, insist on sharing human rights on an equal footing, insist on systematic thinking in the planning of human rights construction, push forward the all-round development of all types of human rights, and continuously realize, safeguard and develop the fundamental interests of the broadest possible range of people. Modern human rights in China, with its vivid practices of realizing national independence, creating a democratic state, building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, solving the problem of absolute poverty in a historic way, promoting whole-process people’s democracy, advancing the safeguarding of human rights under the rule of law, and building the world’s largest education, social security, and healthcare systems, have ensured that all human rights of the Chinese people are broadly and fully realized, real and concrete, and effectively applied, and have effectively practiced and implemented the principles and spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

China’s modern human rights practice has innovatively developed the system of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines a series of systems of civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. These institutions were undoubtedly first created within the cultural traditions, social structures and legal frameworks of the West, and were adapted to the social needs of Western societies, and only to the social needs of modern Western societies in the past. The Western understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights based on individualism and liberalism is no longer sufficient to cope with the complexity of today’s world. While many articles of the Universal Declaration emphasize the freedoms and rights of the individual, Article 29 also stresses that everyone has duties to community, and that everyone, in the exercise of his rights and freedoms, and must ensure due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and must meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

Western individualism and liberal human rights inherently lack the dimensions of “relationship”, “otherness” and “responsibility”. Chinese cultural traditions have been based on human relations and coexistence since the beginning of the enlightenment period, and have advocated responsibility to the group and to the other. It is China’s greatest philosophical contribution to human rights in the world to follow the spirit of the principles established in Article 29 of the Declaration and to enshrine the ethical spirit of responsibility in the human rights system and in the practice of human rights. Modern human rights in China are rooted in China’s historical needs and realities. Since modern times, China’s historical task has been to save the nation and create a modern democratic state, a process that is oriented toward the whole, and in which the thinking of the whole and the public interest take precedence over the thinking of the individual and the private interest is the inevitable choice of historical practice. After Reform and Opening Up, the relationship between the two has been scientifically adjusted in constitutional and legal terms, leading to the formation of the dual-track institutional logic of “the whole/individual side by side” in China’s modern human rights structure.

The innovative and developmental nature of China’s modern human rights system is first and foremost reflected in the priority given to consolidating the political prerequisites and institutional foundations for the equality of all people, implementing whole-process people’s democracy, and actively creating the social conditions in which all people can share their human rights. While the Western human rights system tends to focus on civil and political rights, China’s human rights system also includes a rich system of economic, social, and cultural rights; the traditional Western human rights system mainly plays the defensive function of confronting the state with the human rights of the individual, while China’s modern human rights system not only embodies the subjective defensive function, but also pays more attention to the objective value and ordering function; it not only includes a system of judicial remedies, but also a system of active promotion of human rights by the state. The modern human rights system in China not only includes a system of judicial remedies for human rights, but also a system of active promotion of human rights by the state. The dual-track human rights system is not only a faithful adherence to the purposes and principles of the provisions of the Declaration, such as “Member States have pledged themselves to achieve”, “by progressive measures” and “Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms”, it is also a comprehensive and systematic innovation and development of the Declaration's institutional system on this basis. This innovative development is not only a response to the historical limitations inherent in traditional individual human rights, but also a response to the new challenges to human rights in the growing era of digitisation, networking and intelligence, and to provide Chinese wisdom for the world’s human rights to move from the unidimensional individual to the dual-dimensional system of the whole and the individual.

The title of this presentation by Prof. Han Xiutao is “Ethics of Science and Technology and Human Rights Protection in the Digital Age - A Symposium to Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.

Since mankind entered industrial society, the progress and development of science and technology have always been closely related to the protection of human rights. As an important force for social change, science and technology have not only created a rich material basis for improving people’s well-being, but have also greatly expanded the theoretical connotation and practical value of human rights. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “We should take the satisfaction of people’s aspirations for a better life as the ultimate goal of scientific and technological innovation, and take benefiting, enriching, and improving people’s livelihoods as an important direction of scientific and technological innovation.” With the advent of the era of intelligent science and technology, new technological forms represented by generative artificial intelligence and other forms are changing the traditional mode of production and life, which, while bringing intelligence and convenience to human production and life, have also led to the emergence and gradual increase of the risks of scientific and technological ethics such as privacy leakage, data security, algorithmic black boxes, in-depth counterfeiting, information cocooning, big data ripeness, as well as digital divides, “data poisoning” and other ethical risks, which are becoming real-life human rights dilemmas that must be faced by all countries. Therefore, raising awareness of AI science and technology ethics, strengthening AI science and technology ethics governance, promoting AI science and technology innovation on a safe, reliable and responsible track, and ensuring the coordinated development of science and technology development and human rights protection have become important topics for human rights research in the digital era.

China is a large country with digital resources, and its ethical governance of digital science and technology, such as artificial intelligence, is basically in sync with the international community. in addition to the relevant legislation, it has preliminarily established a set of relatively complete institutional normative system from various aspects, such as development planning, governance principles, risk guidelines, ethical norms, and ethical review. on July 8, 2017, the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued “Notice on the Issuance of the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan”, proposed that the State Council should formulate laws, regulations and ethical norms to promote the development of AI, formulate ethical norms and codes of conduct for AI product research and development and design personnel, and establish a multi-level judgment structure for ethics and an ethical framework for human-computer collaboration.On June 17, 2019, the National Professional Committee on the Governance of the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence issued the “Principles of Governance for the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence--Development of Responsible Artificial Intelligence”, which clearly puts forward eight principles, including respect for privacy. On January 5, 2021, the Secretariat of the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee released the “Practice Guidelines for Cybersecurity Standards - Guidelines for Ethical Security Risk Prevention of Artificial Intelligence”, which provides guidance for AI research development, design and manufacturing, deployment and application and other related activities, providing guidelines for ethical security risk prevention throughout the life cycle. On September 25 of the same year, the National Professional Committee for the Governance of New-Generation Artificial Intelligence issued the “Code of Ethics for New-Generation Artificial Intelligence”, which puts forward six basic ethical requirements, such as enhancing human well-being, promoting fairness and justice, protecting privacy and security, ensuring controllability and trustworthiness, reinforcing responsibility, and improving ethical literacy. In the process of ethical governance of AI and other digital technologies, China has always practiced the basic policy of science and technology for the people, and has always adhered to the humanistic concept of science and technology for the good, and has implemented the human rights concept of “Living a happy life is the primary human right” into the design and practice of specific systems of ethical governance, so as to promote the balanced development of scientific and technological innovation and the protection of human rights.

Compared with traditional technologies, AI has more disruptive technical characteristics, and while its rapid iteration and rapid evolution promote technological progress, the uncertainties, conflicts and negative effects brought about by it are also gradually overflowing, and gradually evolving into a diffuse social risk. Therefore, AI science and technology ethics is an extremely complex practical activity, which runs through a series of technological designs, product behaviors, and application scenarios in the whole life cycle, and involves the multiple interests and conflicts of interest of a series of participants, such as many implementation actors, developers of technological routes, owners of infrastructures, and unspecified members of the public. On March 20, 2022, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions Issued to Strengthen Governance over Ethics in Science and Technology”, making AI one of the key areas where ethical governance of science and technology needs to be strengthened. On September 7, 2023, the Ministry of Science and Technology and 10 other departments jointly researched and drafted, and with the consent of the Central Science and Technology Commission and issued the “Measures for Scientific and Technological Ethics Review (for Trial Implementation)”, which included AI within the scope of scientific and technological activity units that should have a scientific and technological ethics (review) committee, and in the seven major categories of major risky emerging scientific and technological activities that require list management, four major categories involve the ethical review of artificial intelligence.

The above norms make special provisions for AI ethics, which not only highlights the extreme importance of AI ethical governance, but also shows that there are still some outstanding problems in the field of AI ethical governance. Firstly, compared with the rapidly iterating technology, there is still a lack of systems that can be implemented on the ground, the bottom line of compliance is not clear enough, there are many gaps in ethical review and supervision, and the supporting disciplinary measures lack strength. Secondly, compared with the technology that has penetrated more and more extensive fields, the personnel in the whole industry and industrial clusters do not have a strong sense of ethics, are keen on technological innovation and slack in ethical consideration, and the ethical review is not sufficiently motivated, incompetent, the rules are not clear, the operation is not standardized, and the disposition is not perfect. Thirdly, compared with the main body that promotes technological innovation, which is more of an enterprise, its participation in ethical governance is not highly motivated and insufficiently driven, the boundary of enterprise participation is unclear, the mechanism is unknown, and its willingness to participate in governance is not strong, and its experience and ability are insufficient. The above problems are both the crux of the problem of AI ethical governance and highlight the necessity, urgency and importance of AI ethical governance.

Ethics is the moral reasoning of human relationships and refers to the various moral norms for people to get along with each other. Traditional Chinese society pays special attention to ethical relations and advocates moral norms, and has a unique and rich Chinese-style ethical and moral evaluation system in the history of the development of world civilization, which is a cultural symbol representing and manifesting the remarkable advantages of Chinese civilization. At present, digital technology is developing rapidly, digital change is accelerating, digital society is deepening, as a large country of digital resources is bound to gradually move towards a strong country of digital governance.In October 2019, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee put forward for the first time the concept of “data as a factor of production”, which is the first time that data has been included as a factor of production in the history of mankind. In July 2023, the CAC and other seven ministries and commissions jointly issued the “Interim Measures for the Administration of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services”, which became the first regulation on generative artificial intelligence in the world. Therefore, as the creator of Chinese-style AI ethical governance, it has become a forerunner in global digital governance and will actively lead the development direction of global ethical governance of science and technology in the digital era.

On February 21, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping, in his important speech at the Third Collective Study of the Political Bureau of the 20th Central Committee, emphasized the need for forward-looking planning and in-depth participation in global scientific and technological governance, improving laws and regulations, ethical review rules, and regulatory frameworks, and striving to enhance the openness, trust, and cooperation of the international scientific and technological community, so as to make new and greater contributions to the progress of human civilization with more major original innovations and breakthroughs in key core technologies. Focusing on the digital China strategy and promoting international human rights governance in the digital era, it is necessary to further strengthen the ethical governance of AI. Firstly, upholding the humanistic concept of science and technology for the good and the value of ethics first, integrating ethics into the entire life cycle of AI, enhancing the entire society’s awareness of AI ethics and self-awareness of their behaviors, and actively guiding responsible AI research and development and application activities, to promote the healthy development of AI, and to ensure that the scientific and technological innovation activities in the digital era can continue to satisfy the people's new expectations for a better life. Secondly, to strengthen the ethical governance of science and technology, in particular, it is necessary to enhance legal regulation, strengthen ethical review, promote governance in accordance with the law, and at the same time, give full play to the roles of decision-making consultancy, autonomy of the scientific community, and public participation, so as to realize the mutual promotion and dynamic adjustment between the development of science and technology and ethical governance. Thirdly, the main body of responsibility should be clarified, and the responsibility for ethical control of the entire industrial chain, including design and development, product promotion and application scenarios, should be strengthened, so as to ensure that scientific research, technological development and other scientific and technological activities must be in line with socialist values, and comply with socialist norms of behavior.

In short, human rights are historical and contemporary. The sole purpose of science is to alleviate the suffering of human existence, which is the true meaning of science and technology for the people and for good. Compared with 75 years ago when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was published, science and technology have never had such a profound impact on the happiness and well-being of every human being as in today’s digital age. The intelligent science and technology of the digital age, while revolutionizing the traditional social form, has also given new theoretical connotations and practical significance to human rights in the new era. Therefore, in response to the new circumstances, trends and characteristics of the development of human rights, we should pay attention to the ethical review of science and technology, optimize the ethical governance of science and technology, actively promote the balanced development of scientific and technological innovation and the protection of human rights, and better respect and safeguard human rights in the digital era, which will surely give a strong impetus to the global governance of human rights in the era of intelligent science and technology.

The team of the Center for Sci &Tech and Human Rights Studies at the Beijing Institute of Technology efficiently accomplished the work of hosting the conference and ensured the smooth holding of the conference. More than ten students from BIT participated in the conference as volunteers and had a good opportunity to communicate and learn from each other. The team’s unity and efficiency were recognized and praised by the leaders of the relevant departments.