Li Lin: The Essential Human Rights Implications of Xi Jinping's Thought on the Rule of Law
Abstract: Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our Party has held high the banner of respecting and protecting human rights. Human rights have received increasing attention, the level of the rule of law protection for human rights has been raised to an unprecedented degree, and the cause of human rights has achieved comprehensive development. In the practice of promoting the development of human rights in our country, we have integrated the Marxist view of human rights with China's specific realities and fine traditional Chinese culture, summarized the successful experience of our Party in uniting and leading the people to respect and protect human rights, and drawn on the outstanding achievements of human civilization to forge a path of human rights development that conforms to the trend of the times and suits our national conditions. To implement the values and principles of respecting and protecting human rights, we must promote the constitutionalization, legalization, and rule-of-law institutionalization of human rights. We must strive to transform human rights aspirations into constitutional rights, policy welfare into statutory rights, and political care into rule-of-law protections.
Keywords: Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law; human rights; rule of law protection
To deepen the research on the original concepts, judgments, categories, and theories of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, and to strengthen the construction of a disciplinary, academic, and discourse system for Chinese jurisprudence, we should emphasize innovative research on major fundamental jurisprudential issues such as human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in contemporary China. We must profoundly understand and grasp the essential significance of human rights within Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law from the following aspects.
I. The Important Position of Human Rights in Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law
Human rights are the outcome and symbol of the progress of human civilization; they are the rights that human beings enjoy and ought to enjoy based on their natural attributes and social essence. In our country, we have transitioned from the early Reform and Opening-up period, when it was believed that "human rights are a bourgeois slogan," to the publication of the first white paper, The Human Rights Record in China, in 1991, and the 2004 incorporation of human rights into the Constitution. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our Party has raised even higher the banner of respecting and protecting human rights. Human rights have received increasing attention, the level of rule-of-law protection for human rights has been raised to an unprecedented degree, and the cause of human rights has achieved comprehensive development.
The connotation of human rights is comprehensive and rich. From a theoretical perspective, human rights is a comprehensive, diverse, complex, and evolving concept. Within the systems of contemporary Chinese ideology, Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, and the philosophy and social sciences, human rights are characterized by comprehensive content, interdisciplinary nature, cognitive sensitivity, institutional complexity, and relative sectoral independence. They are not only an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era but also an important category in the theoretical system of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era attaches great importance to respecting and protecting human rights, integrating them as an organic part of its scientific theoretical system.
The book Excerpts from Xi Jinping's Discourses on Respecting and Protecting Human Rights, published by the Central Party Literature Press in November 2021, is organized around nine themes. These include: "The CPC and the Chinese government always respect and protect human rights"; "Following a path of human rights development suited to China's national conditions"; "Upholding a people-centered philosophy of human rights"; "Maintaining that the rights to subsistence and development are the primary basic human rights and gradually achieving common prosperity for all"; "Putting the lives and health of the people first"; "Coordinating the advancement of the economic, political, social, cultural, and environmental rights of all people to promote well-rounded human development"; "Protecting the rights and interests of specific groups such as ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities"; "Strengthening the rule-of-law protection of human rights to ensure the people enjoy extensive rights and freedoms according to law"; and "Making greater contributions to enriching the diversity of human civilization and promoting the cause of global human rights." These themes comprehensively summarize the basic experience and temporal characteristics of our country’s human rights construction, systematically elucidate the human rights perspective of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and establish the political-philosophical foundation for contemporary Chinese human rights theory and practice.
In terms of logical structure and systematic arrangement, this volume maintains an inherent link as a parallel work alongside over forty other thematic collections, such as those on socialist economic, political, social, cultural, and ecological civilization construction, as well as On Persistent and Comprehensive Law-based Governance, On Persisting in Comprehensively Deepening Reform, and On Work Related to Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers. As an independent and important topic within the theoretical system of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, "respecting and protecting human rights" overlaps in content with dozens of other topics—including persisting in the comprehensive rule of law—but remains systematically non-subordinate to them.
On February 25, 2022, the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee held its 37th collective study session on the path of Chinese human rights development. This was the first time since the Party began organizing legal lectures (later changed to "collective study") in 1985 that the Political Bureau took the respect and protection of human rights as its theme, marking a milestone in the history of China’s human rights development and rule-of-law construction. In a series of important speeches delivered during this session and on other occasions, General Secretary Xi Jinping integrated the Marxist view of human rights with China’s specific realities and fine traditional Chinese culture. He elucidated a path for human rights development that follows the trend of the times and suits China's national conditions, summarized the major achievements, valuable experiences, and temporal characteristics of China’s human rights development, and promoted new developments in the Sinicization and modernization of the Marxist view of human rights. This has enriched the theoretical content of human rights within Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, pointing the way forward and establishing fundamental requirements for unswervingly following the Chinese path of human rights development, prioritizing the respect and protection of human rights, and better promoting the cause of human rights in our country.
Respecting and protecting human rights occupies a vital position in Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, serving as its core philosophy, value goal, basic principle, and essential content. From the perspective of the theoretical origins and practical development of political civilization, there have always been inextricable internal links between human rights and legal rights, human rights theory and rule-of-law theory, human rights studies and jurisprudence, human rights academies and law schools, and human rights protection and rule-of-law practice. Human rights and the rule of law are as inseparable as fish and water [1]; confirming and protecting human rights is the innate vocation of the rule of law. In our country, the 15th National Congress of the CPC in 1997 formally proposed "governing the country according to law and building a socialist rule-of-law state" and "respecting and protecting human rights" for the first time in the form of a ruling party's political report. Including both terms simultaneously demonstrated the Party's profound grasp of the internal relationship between the rule of law and human rights, and its full recognition that governing the country by law is as important as protecting human rights.
Since the 18th National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to promoting the comprehensive rule of law and strengthening human rights protection. By continuously developing whole-process people's democracy, advancing the rule-of-law protection of human rights, and maintaining social fairness and justice, the Chinese people now enjoy more extensive, full, and comprehensive democratic rights. The human rights of the Chinese people have received unprecedented protection, and the cause of human rights protection in China has made historical strides and achieved historical success.
In the series of important speeches and documents by Xi Jinping on the comprehensive rule of law, although the term "human rights" is not used frequently—for instance, in the article based on his speech at the Central Conference on Work Related to Overall Law-based Governance, "Unswervingly Follow the Path of Socialist Rule of Law with Chinese Characteristics to Provide a Strong Rule-of-law Guarantee for Comprehensively Building a Modern Socialist Country," the word "human rights" does not appear once—and while the frequency of the term in other discourses remains low (for example, in a 70,000-character digital compilation of Xi Jinping's works on the rule of law, "human rights" appears only nine times), it is beyond doubt that from the day of its birth, the CPC has taken seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as its original aspiration and founding mission. For over 100 years, it has struggled for the interests of the people. The CPC and the Chinese government have always respected and protected human rights, unswervingly using the Constitution and the rule of law to confirm, maintain, protect, and realize human rights. They have integrated human rights concepts, values, and principles into every process and aspect of the comprehensive rule of law.
On September 22, 2015, President Xi Jinping noted in a speech at a welcoming banquet jointly hosted by the local government of Washington State and American friendly organizations: "Comprehensively governing the country by law means adhering to the joint advancement of law-based governance, law-based exercise of power, and law-based administration; it means the integrated construction of a law-based state, government, and society; and it means promoting the continuous improvement of judicial credibility and ensuring that human rights are effectively respected and protected." Our persistence in constitution-based governance and constitution-based exercise of power, our advancement of the comprehensive rule of law, and our construction of a "Rule-of-law China" defined by good laws and good governance [2] are all driven by the original aspiration and mission to respect and protect human rights and to achieve a better, happier life for the people.
In his important speech at the Central Conference on Work Related to Overall Law-based Governance, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out the essence of the rule of law in maintaining human rights: "The fundamental purpose of promoting the comprehensive rule of law is to protect the rights and interests of the people according to law... to continuously enhance the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security, and to use the rule of law to ensure the people live and work in peace and contentment." The essential significance of human rights in Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law is vast and profound. Major propositions such as "putting the people first," "people-centeredness," "the people as masters of the country," "people's rights and interests," "people's wellbeing," "living and working in peace and contentment," "common prosperity," "the better life," "serving the people wholeheartedly," "whole-process people's democracy," "social fairness and justice," "political civilization," "ecological civilization," "security and development," "the common values of all humanity," and "a community with a shared future for humanity" all contain deep and rich humanitarian concern, humanistic values, and human rights elements. To transform these values and elements into rights in the forms of constitutional and statutory law, and to establish them as institutionalized and codified norms of rights, is essentially to use the Constitution and the rule of law to respect and protect human rights, promote human happiness and well-rounded development, and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Using the Constitution and the rule of law to respect and protect human rights centrally reflects our Party's purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly. It reflects the nature of the socialist state and society where the people are the masters of the country, and highlights the significant advantages of the fundamental, basic, and major institutions of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. This is the noble pursuit of promoting the comprehensive rule of law and building a socialist rule-of-law country, and it serves as a main thread running through the theoretical system of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. Our Party leads the people in unswervingly following the path of Chinese-path modernization in the rule of law and human rights development. In the process of deeply advancing the comprehensive rule of law and accelerating the construction of a legal system, and in the practice of modernizing the state governance system and capacity, we strive to enhance the awareness of respecting and protecting human rights, improve the systems and mechanisms for the constitutional protection of human rights, and strengthen the protection of human rights in legislation, law enforcement, and justice. By continuously improving the level of the rule-of-law protection of human rights, we fully demonstrate the people-oriented sentiment and the essential human rights significance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law.
II. The People-Centered Philosophy of Human Rights
Marxism holds that the people are the subjects who create human history and civilization, and are the true masters of the state and society. All material production and spiritual life of the state and society are, in essence, activities carried out with the people as the subject and the end. In the field of human rights, the subject of human rights is not only the citizen and the individual but also the entire people represented by the proletariat. The objects of human rights include not only the political, economic, social, and cultural rights of citizens but also the rights to subsistence, health, development, environment, and peace. This is because the proletariat can only achieve its own thorough liberation by liberating all of humanity. Only when the people obtain political liberation based on the full enjoyment of political rights, economic liberation conditioned on the full enjoyment of economic rights, social liberation characterized by the full enjoyment of social rights, and human liberation marked by the full enjoyment of the right to fraternity, can they finally achieve their own thorough and comprehensive liberation and realize the free and well-rounded development of the individual.
In our Chinese discourse on human rights, "the human" (human), "the citizen" (citizen), and "the people" (the people) can all serve as the subjects of rights within the concept of "human rights." However, due to the cultural tradition of a state-centered and collectivist view of rights and practical needs, "the people" is more favored as the subject of human rights. The people are the country, and the country is the people [3]. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that the people are the greatest source of confidence for our Party’s governance, the solid foundation of our Republic, and the root of our Party’s strength and the country's prosperity. Our Party comes from the people, was born for the people, and prospers because of the people... All the Party’s work is intended to realize, maintain, and develop the fundamental interests of the broadest possible majority of the people. From the perspective of legal theory, the people as the subject and rights as the object are always inseparable, highly integrated, and follow each other like a shadow. Rights are the social and legal form of the people's existence, while the people are the subjects and roots upon which rights depend. In the national constitutional system and legal relations, there are no "people" without rights, nor are there "rights" without the people. The Chinese people hold state power precisely to fully enjoy human rights in all aspects—political, economic, social, and cultural—and to manage state and social affairs, as well as economic and cultural undertakings according to the law, thereby realizing their status as masters of the country.
Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law adheres to the principle of people’s sovereignty and the supremacy of the people, emphasizing that the broadest and deepest foundation for comprehensively governing the country according to the law is the people, and it must persist in being for the people and relying on the people. We must implement the embodiment of the people's interests, the reflection of the people's aspirations, the protection of the people's rights and interests, and the enhancement of the people's well-being into all fields and the whole process of comprehensively governing the country according to the law. We must guarantee that the people, under the leadership of the Party, manage state and social affairs and economic and cultural undertakings through various channels and forms, and ensure that the people enjoy extensive rights and freedoms according to the law while fulfilling their due obligations.
As the core concept of the national rights system and the value pursuit of the rule of law system, human rights are not only a political concept and identification for the people as masters of the country [4], but also a legal concept and guarantee for the people's happy life. As a core value of modern political philosophy, human rights can integrate basic human values such as democracy and the rule of law, fairness and justice, freedom and equality, peaceful development, and environmental security. It endows these values with richer connotations of subjectivity and "people-centeredness" (人民性), fully manifesting the people’s status as the subject. As a constitutionalized and legalized institutional arrangement, human rights (statutory human rights) can more effectively legalize ideological political promises, civilize the abstract concept of "the people," translate the general notion of "people's happiness" into specific rights, and codify "social fairness and justice" as it ought to be (应然) into statutes. This effectively guarantees the full realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms within the order of the rule of law.
We must adhere to the people-centered development philosophy. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government adhere to a people-centered development philosophy, always placing the people's interests in the supreme position, taking the people's aspiration for a better life as our goal, and continuously improving the level of respecting and protecting the various basic rights of the Chinese people." We must persist in development for the people, development relying on the people, and the shared enjoyment of development fruits by the people. We must strive to achieve development that is of higher quality, more efficient, fairer, more sustainable, and more secure, ensuring that the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security is more substantial, better guaranteed, and more sustainable throughout the development process. We take the enhancement of the people’s well-being, the protection of the people as masters of the country, and the promotion of well-rounded human development as the starting point and goal of development, effectively protecting the people’s right to development and carving out a path of human rights development with Chinese characteristics.
We must persist in respecting the people’s status as the subject. We must ensure that the rule of law is for the people, relies on the people, benefits the people, and protects the people, so that the law and its implementation fully reflect the people's will and effectively protect the people's rights. Being "centered on the people" (人民性) is the most prominent feature of the Chinese path of human rights development. We protect the people's democratic rights, fully stimulate the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the broad masses, allow the people to truly be masters of the country, and ensure they become the main participants, promoters, and beneficiaries of the development of the cause of human rights. We work to promote substantive progress in well-rounded human development and common prosperity for all.
We maintain that the people's happy life is the greatest human right. On May 25, 2022, while meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet via video link, General Secretary Xi Jinping stated: "We must take the people's interests as the starting point and goal, continuously solve the people’s most immediate and practical interests of greatest concern, and strive to let the people lead a happy life—this is the greatest human right." This statement profoundly reveals the essence and truth of human rights in socialist China—seeking happiness for the people, rejuvenation for the nation, and the Great Harmony (大同) [5] for the world. It scientifically elucidates the human rights concept of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, which aims at the realization of a beautiful and happy life for the people.
III. Following a Path of Human Rights Development Suited to National Conditions
In the practice of promoting the development of our country's human rights cause, we have integrated the Marxist view of human rights with China's specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture. We have summarized the successful experience of our Party in leading the people to respect and protect human rights, drawing on the outstanding achievements of human civilization. We have carved out a path of human rights development that conforms to the trend of the times and suits our national conditions. In his important speech during the 37th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping scientifically explained the Marxist view of human rights and the contemporary Chinese view of human rights. He profoundly summarized the valuable experience gained in the practice of promoting our country’s human rights cause and clearly pointed out six distinct characteristics of China’s path of human rights development.
First, adhering to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, adhering to the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the socialist nature of the cause of human rights. This ensures that the people are masters of the country in all aspects of political, social, and economic life, and guarantees that the people enjoy various human rights and fundamental freedoms universally, equally, authentically, and extensively, while continuously realizing, maintaining, and developing the fundamental interests of the broadest majority of the people.
Second, adhering to respecting the people's status as the subject, emphasizing that "being centered on the people is the most prominent feature of the Chinese path of human rights development." We actively develop whole-process people’s democracy, continuously expand the Chinese-path human rights development, effectively protect the people's democratic rights, and expand the people's orderly political participation. We ensure that the people exercise democratic elections, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision [6] according to the law, making the people the main participants, promoters, and beneficiaries of the human rights cause, and promoting substantive progress in well-rounded human development and common prosperity for all.
Third, adhering to proceeding from China's reality, integrating the universal principles of human rights with Chinese reality, and promoting the development of the human rights cause based on national conditions and the requirements of the people to ensure that the people enjoy human rights that are extensive, full, authentic, concrete, effective, and practical according to the law.
Fourth, adhering to the rights to subsistence and development as the primary basic human rights, maintaining that the people’s happy life is the greatest human right, and persisting in protecting and improving people’s livelihoods in the course of development. We promote human rights through development, continuously raising the level of protection for economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights, and coordinating the promotion of civil and political rights. We strive to continuously enhance the people’s sense of gain, happiness, and security in the concrete practice of human rights development.
Fifth, adhering to the protection of human rights according to the law, improving the legal and rule of law system for human rights protection, building a law-based government for human rights protection, refining the judicial system for human rights protection, and advancing the rule of law implementation for human rights protection, thereby continuously raising the overall level of the legalization of human rights protection.
Sixth, adhering to active participation in global human rights governance, strictly abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, promoting the common values of humanity, practicing true multilateralism, steering global human rights governance toward a more fair, just, reasonable, and inclusive direction, and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
Following a path of human rights development suited to China's national conditions is the inevitable choice of the evolution of political and social revolution, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in modern China. It is the inevitable result of the historical, theoretical, and practical logic of the Party leading the people in long-term struggle. it is the only road to achieving national prosperity, people's happiness, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is the concrete manifestation of the Chinese-path modernization in the field of human rights. From a comparative perspective, it can be seen that our country’s path of human rights development is completely consistent with our path of the rule of law in terms of adhering to the leadership of the CPC, staying people-centered, proceeding from national conditions and reality, and integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities and fine traditional Chinese culture. However, there are slight differences in certain formulations. For example, why do we not use the term "Path of Socialist Human Rights with Chinese Characteristics" but instead use "Path of Human Rights Development Suited to National Conditions"? Why do we emphasize "integrating the universal principles of human rights with Chinese reality" and "adhering to active participation in global human rights governance"? As I understand it, the "Path of the Rule of Law of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" is primarily a domestic-oriented political concept and rule of law issue; its discourse has a strong political orientation and ideological character. The "Path of Human Rights Development," however, is primarily a universal concept and human rights issue facing the world; its discourse must take more into account international human rights culture and common human rights standards.
Why does the formulation of our country's path of human rights development present these characteristics? One explanation from a historical comparative perspective is: unlike the internal demands that "comprehensively governing the country according to the law is a profound revolution in national governance" and "is our Party and country’s self-revolution," the development of our country's human rights cause after Reform and Opening-up was, at a certain stage and to a certain extent, driven primarily by external pressure. In early 1991, Comrade Jiang Zemin [7] said that the issue of human rights cannot be avoided, nor can it be sidestepped. This launched a strategic action to comprehensively study, explain, and publicize Chinese human rights. In 1991, the first white paper "Human Rights in China" was released, promoting a historic shift from "human rights is a bourgeois slogan" to "socialism must hold high the banner of human rights." In 1997, the rule of law and human rights were written into the report of the 15th National Congress simultaneously, but the constitution amended in 1999 only included "the People's Republic of China practices the rule of law and builds a socialist rule of law state." It was not until the 2004 constitutional amendment that "the state respects and protects human rights" was included in our Constitution—and even then, it was not placed in the general principles but in Article 33, Paragraph 3 of Chapter II, "Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens." The Chinese government signed the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on October 27, 1997, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on October 5, 1998. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on February 28, 2001, but the ratification process for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has not yet been initiated. In 1996, the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences formally submitted a report to relevant authorities suggesting the abolition of the "Reeducation through Labor" (劳动教养) [8] system, but it was not until December 2013 that the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the decision to abolish it. In the 1990s, the Chinese legal community suggested that the legal lectures for the Political Bureau of the Central Committee should arrange a session on human rights and the rule of law, but this wish was only fulfilled more than 30 years later... Listing these snippets of history is intended to illustrate that our country's path of human rights development and its achievements were not easily won. We must not forget our original aspiration, we must cherish them doubly, and we must always adhere to, deepen, and expand this human rights path, unswervingly strengthening our confidence in our human rights path.
IV. Raising the Level of the Legalization of Human Rights Protection
Adhering to the people-centered approach, advancing the comprehensive rule of law, earnestly respecting and protecting human rights, and continuously raising the level of the legalization of human rights protections are profound connotations and fundamental requirements of the theoretical system of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted that we adhere to the equality of all people before the law, integrating the respect and protection of human rights into every link of legislation, law enforcement, the judiciary, and law-abidance, "speeding up the improvement of a legal system that embodies fairness in rights, opportunities, and rules; protecting citizens' personal rights, property rights, and personality rights; protecting basic political rights such as participation in democratic elections, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic oversight; protecting citizens' rights in economic, cultural, social, and environmental spheres; and continuously upgrading the level of the legalization of human rights protections." Modern human rights theory holds that the existence of human rights can be divided into three basic forms: inherent human rights (the de jure [9]), statutory human rights, and actual human rights (the de facto). Inherent human rights are primarily a type of moral right—rights that a human being ought to enjoy by virtue of being human; they must be transformed through legislative processes into statutory human rights expressing the will of the state, and receive confirmation and guarantees through the state’s institutionalized, standardized, and legalized frameworks before they can be truly enjoyed and effectively realized. Therefore, to implement the value principles of respecting and protecting human rights, we must advance the constitutionalization, legalization, and rule-of-law transformation of human rights. We must strive to turn human rights aspirations into constitutional rights, policy benefits into statutory rights, and political care into rule-of-law protections, using a rule of law that "strengthens the foundation, stabilizes expectations, and benefits the long term" [10] to effectively protect and realize human rights.
According to the general principles of modern human rights and the rule of law, based on the Constitution's full affirmation of human rights protection principles and systems, legislation functions as the confirmation and allocation of human rights; a more abundant, complete, and rational system of statutory human rights should be constructed through democratic legislation. Law enforcement functions as the support and fulfillment of human rights; statutory human rights should be realized swiftly, fully, and effectively through strict law enforcement. The judiciary functions as the maintenance and remedy of human rights; damaged human rights should be repaired in a timely, just, and authoritative manner through an efficient judiciary.
In our country, the Constitution is the bedrock of human rights and the guarantor of the people's rights. Our Constitution not only established the principle of respecting and protecting human rights but also "effectively guaranteed that the people act as masters of the country [11], effectively promoted reform and opening up and socialist modernization, effectively advanced the process of building a socialist rule-of-law state, and effectively promoted the development of the cause of human rights." To advance the constitutionalization of human rights, we should incorporate more important rights—such as the right to privacy, the right to common prosperity, environmental rights, the right to peace, and the right to development—into the Constitution, ensuring they receive constitutional confirmation and become fundamental constitutional rights. The basic requirement for the legalization of human rights protection is the advancement of the preconditions under which our country’s constitutional rights are "enjoyable and remedial." Taking the Constitution as the fundamental basis, our country has formulated and improved a series of legal systems for protecting human rights, providing a rule-of-law foundation for human rights protection. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed that strengthening legislation in key areas must first "protect citizens' rights according to the law, accelerate the improvement of a legal system that embodies fairness in rights, opportunities, and rules, and ensure that citizens' personal rights, property rights, and basic political rights are not infringed upon, while ensuring the implementation of various rights in economic, cultural, and social spheres, thereby achieving the legalization of the protection of citizens' rights. We must enhance the awareness of respecting and protecting human rights throughout society and improve the channels and methods for remedial action regarding citizens' rights." In May 2020, the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, adopted by the third session of the 13th National People's Congress, for the first time used the form of a code to embody the equal protection of rights regarding life and health, property safety, happy living, and personal dignity. This is of great significance for safeguarding the rights and interests of the people according to the law and promoting the development of the cause of human rights in China.
The judiciary is the key link for protecting and remedying human rights. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "We must focus on solving deep-seated problems that affect judicial justice and restrict judicial capacity, and break through institutional, mechanistic, and protective obstacles by focusing on three aspects: ensuring the independent and impartial exercise of adjudicative and procuratorial powers according to the law, improving the operational mechanisms of judicial power, and perfecting the system of judicial protection for human rights." We must accelerate the construction of a just, efficient, and authoritative judicial system, improve the system for judicial protection of human rights, and severely punish judicial corruption, so as to let the people feel fairness and justice in every judicial case. The Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed: strengthen the judicial protection of human rights; improve the system for judicial protection of human rights; further standardize judicial procedures for sealing, distraining, freezing, and handling property involved in cases; strictly prohibit extorting confessions by torture or corporal punishment and abuse; strictly implement the rules for excluding illegal evidence; gradually reduce the number of crimes applicable for the death penalty; abolish the system of "re-education through labor" [12]; improve laws for the punishment and correction of illegal and criminal acts and improve the community correction system; strengthen the institutional guarantees for the rights to information, statement, defense/debate, application, and appeal for litigants and other participants in the proceedings; improve the legal systems for implementing legal principles such as nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege [13], the presumption of innocence in cases of doubt (in dubio pro reo), and the exclusion of illegal evidence; improve judicial supervision over judicial measures and investigation methods that limit personal freedom; and improve mechanisms for the effective prevention and timely correction of wrongful, false, or misjudged cases.
Deepen reform in the field of the rule of law and continuously improve the capacity and level of the legalization of human rights protection. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Currently, there are still many shortfalls in our country's rule-of-law protection of human rights. We must deepen reform in the field of legal affairs, improve the mechanism for rule-of-law protection of human rights, and achieve full-chain, whole-process, and all-dimensional coverage of the respect and protection of human rights in legislation, law enforcement, the judiciary, and law-abidance, so that the masses feel fairness and justice in every legal system, every law enforcement decision, and every judicial case." Innumerable facts prove that judicial corruption and judicial injustice cause serious damage to the rights and interests of the people. The opinions of the masses are concentrated on "disorderly action" or "inaction" in law enforcement as well as judicial injustice; these must become the focus and point of exertion for our rigorous implementation of the rule of law. "The deep-seated reasons for judicial injustice lie in the imperfections of the judicial system, the unscientific allocation of judicial functions and power operation mechanisms, and the unsound system for the judicial protection of human rights." We must systematically study, plan, and solve the prominent problems reflected strongly by the masses in the field of the rule of law, treat the appeals of the masses fairly and justly according to the law, and resolutely put an end to incidents that hurt the feelings of the masses or damage their rights due to judicial injustice. All acts that infringe upon the legitimate rights of the masses, and all phenomena of indifference and neglect toward the issue of infringing upon the rights of the masses, must be seriously investigated and dealt with according to discipline and law, and accountability must be resolutely pursued. We must properly handle the relationship between "maintaining stability" (weiwen) and "safeguarding rights" (weiquan); safeguarding rights is the foundation of maintaining stability, and the essence of maintaining stability is safeguarding rights. For stability issues involving rights protection, the priority is to solve the masses' reasonable and lawful interest appeals. Purely maintaining stability without solving interest issues is "putting the cart before the horse" [14], and in the end, it will be difficult to stabilize anything. "Organically unify the crack down on crime with the protection of human rights, the pursuit of efficiency with the realization of justice, and the purpose of law enforcement with the form of law enforcement, striving to achieve the best legal, political, and social effects."
General Secretary Xi Jinping once pointed out that we must sweep away corruption in the political and legal fields with the most resolute will and the most resolute action, strengthening the supervision and restraint of law enforcement and judicial power to minimize opportunities for "power derailment" or personal rent-seeking. "Deepen the comprehensive pilot reforms of the judicial system, accelerate the construction of a just, efficient, and authoritative socialist judicial system... accelerate the construction of a system-complete, standardized, and efficient system for the restraint and supervision of law enforcement and the judiciary; strengthen supervision over legislative, law enforcement, supervisory, and judicial powers; and improve the system and mechanism in which the disciplinary inspection and supervision organs, public security organs, procuratorial organs, adjudicative organs, and judicial administrative organs perform their respective duties while investigation, prosecution, adjudication, and execution powers restrain each other, ensuring that every link and the entire process of law enforcement and the judiciary are conducted under effective restraint and supervision." Reforms in the field of the rule of law are highly political and policy-oriented; we must grasp principles and hold the bottom line. We must never allow reform to become "benchmarking" against Western rule-of-law systems or "fawning over" Western rule-of-law practices.
(Author: Li Lin, Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, President of the Jurisprudence Research Association of the China Law Society) Web Editor: Lianyu Source: Rule of Law Modernization Studies, No. 6, 2022.