Institute for Human Rights

Institute for Human Rights

 

Establishment & Background

 

The Guangzhou University Institute for Human Rights was established in July 2004 and is a university-affiliated research institute with regular staff, ample working spaces and stable financial support from the Ministry of Education and Guangzhou University. In 2007, the Institute was qualified as the Guangdong Provincial Key Research Base for Humanities and Social Science in the University. In 2011, the Institute was qualified by the Ministry of Education as one of the three National Education and Training Bases for Human Rights in China. Strongly supported by the University, the Institute now has 13 full-time researchers and 1 secretary. The Center has five Research Groups which specialize in the following fields: Human Rights Theories, Civil & Political Rights, Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, International Human Rights, as well as Human Rights Education.

 

Objectives

 

-- To be the best human rights research institute in China

-- To be the best human rights training and education institute in South China

-- To be the best resource and information center of human rights in South China

 

Special Concerns

 

-- Human rights obligations of the State

-- Rights of political participation

-- Rights of migrant workers

-- Settlement of administrative disputes

-- Human rights education for governmental officials

-- Human rights education for students

 

Publications

 

-- Three Book Series

Published by Hunan People’s Publishing House (Ten Books)

Published by Law Press · China (Eight Books)

Published by Social Sciences Academic Press · China (Two Books)

-- Two Textbooks on Human Rights

-- Three Other Publications by China Procuratorate Publishing House

-- Over 200 Essays on human rights

-- Two Consultant Report on “Amendments to the Criminal Procedural Law of China” to the Office of Legal Affairs under the National People’s Congress

 

Other Information

 

The Institute has been dedicated to human rights education for the past few years. It offers human rights courses to undergraduates and postgraduates majoring in law at Guangzhou University and other universities. The Institute offers dozens of training courses in Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, benefiting thousands of trainees in an effort to serve the society. The training courses target prison polices, criminal and security polices, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, university teachers and people from all walks of life. Projects launched by the Institute to serve the society were highly praised by the recipients. The institute has received more requests on human rights education. 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 established by the Institute in the May of 2009. The 3rd National Human Rights Education Annual Meeting was held by the Institute in the autumn of 2010.

 

The Institute carried out extensive research on revision to criminal procedural law in 2006. More than 10,000 questionnaires were collected from different groups of interviewees such as police, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, prisoners and the general public in Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi and Liaoning Provinces and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. On the basis of this collected material, the International Conference on Revision of CPL and Protection of Human Rights was held in the late 2008 with 161 participants from USA, Europe, Australia and China attending. Legislation recommendation on the basis of the field research was handed over to the Office of Legal Affairs of the National People’s Congress in 2010.

 

Other Information

Street address: No.230, Waihuanxi Rd, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Panyu District, Guangzhou, P.R.China

Phone: + 86 20 3936 6733

Fax: + 86 20 3936 6733

Website: http://humanrights.gzhu.edu.cn/