Program Spotlights

Direction One: Research on the Construction of an Autonomous Human Rights Knowledge System

This direction is grounded in China's practices, dedicated to building a human rights theoretical system and guarantee mechanisms that embody China's stance and demonstrate Chinese wisdom. In 2023, research progressed on multiple fronts.In July, Hu Minjie, in 'Motherhood Penalty' and Women's Right to Equality with State Protection, analyzed occupational inequality caused by motherhood, arguing for enhanced state protective measures post-family policy adjustments to achieve substantive fairness (2023-07-05). In September, Hu Minjie and Wang Jingtao, in On the Protection of the Right to Equality for the Elderly in the Digital Society, defined digital inequality for the elderly as social participation inequality, proposing dual pathways of digital inclusion and digital coexistence to protect their right to equality (2023-09-10). Also in 2023, Wang Minyuan and Li Jia, in A Legal Analysis of 'Fewer Arrests, Prudent Prosecution, and Cautious Detention', elaborated on the human rights protection purpose of this criminal justice policy and explored paths for its full implementation in minor offense governance (2023-11-16). Wang Linghao, in Is Genetic Screening Unethical?, provided a legal interpretation of the ethics and morality clause in the Civil Code from the perspectives of the principle of beneficence and parent-child virtue ethics, arguing against genetic optimization beyond disease treatment and prevention (2023-11-09). Zheng Lei and Zhu Jiawei, in 'Compulsory' or 'Voluntary' Premarital Check-up?, used a unique comparative legality analysis method to find the optimal balance among values like human dignity and freedom of marriage within multi-level normative review (2023-12-31).

In 2024, the research deepened and became more systematic.In March, Yu Xiqiao and Guo Dong, in The Practicism-Based View of Human Rights: A Theoretical Interpretation of China's Human Rights Practice, formally proposed the practicism-based view of human rights, emphasizing promoting human rights development through the realization of rights rather than empty claims (2024-03-10). In April, Hu Minjie, in Procedural Legal Safeguards for the Dynamic Adjustment of the Medical Insurance Catalog, highlighted the crucial role of procedural law in balancing multiple interests and ensuring fairness in medical access and medication (2024-04-30). In May, He Xiangbai, in The Environmental Law Approach to Climate Change Regulation: Rule of Law Demands and Institutional Choices, demonstrated the feasibility and necessity of finding synergistic pathways for climate change control within the existing environmental law framework (2024-05-10). Also in May, Zheng Lei and Zhang Juntong, in Using 'Constitutionality' and 'Constitutional Relevance' as a Method, using the collateral consequence regulation case as an example, clearly explained the triggering logic of constitutional review as a backup mechanism and the sequence for citing constitutional provisions (2024-05-05).

Research in 2025 demonstrated keen insight into cutting-edge ethical and rule of law issues.In May, Liu Shaoyu and Yan Hai, in On the Principle of Equal Protection in Legislation for Promoting the Private Economy, systematically outlined the historical evolution and legal connotations of the equal protection principle for the private economy from concept to legal practice (2025-05-20). Chen Long, in Ethical Issues and Responses in Death with Dignity, addressed ethical controversies surrounding the implementation of death with dignity, proposing institutional suggestions for improving operational procedures and enhancing hospice care capacity (2025-04-30).

Direction Two: Research on Frontier Issues in Human Rights Protection in the Digital Age

This direction focuses on new human rights challenges and governance solutions brought by digital technologies. In 2023, research began with a focus on the digital rights of specific groups.In September, Hu Minjie and Wang Jingtao, in On the Protection of the Right to Equality for the Elderly in the Digital Society, pioneered a theoretical framework for protecting the social participation rights of the elderly by bridging the digital divide (2023-09-10).

2024 was a fruitful year for digital human rights research, covering core issues like AI governance, personal information protection, and digital power.In March, Cheng Le, in Regulatory Evaluation of General Artificial Intelligence from the Perspective of 'Digital Humanism', prospectively called for establishing global multilateral cooperation mechanisms to address the comprehensive social risks potentially triggered by general AI (2024-03-15). In a book review published in August 2025, Cheng Le pointed out that the work Meg Leta Jones and Amanda Levendowski: Feminist Cyberlaw innovatively integrates feminist theory with cyberlaw. It critiques the gender biases in the current cyber legal framework from three dimensions—ownership, access, and governance—and advocates for incorporating values such as accessibility, dignity, and security into digital governance, with the aim of building a fairer and more inclusive cyber society.In June, Hu Ming and Yang Yunhao, in On the Governance of Minor Crimes in the Digital Age, constructed a governance system for minor crimes using digital technology as a tool, based on information sharing and multi-stakeholder collaboration (2024-06-07). Also in June, Liu Shaoyu, in The Risk-Based Regulatory Path for Personal Information Protection in the Digital Age, profoundly analyzed the relationship between risk-based and absolute-rights-based paths, proposing specific schemes for adapting personal information protection principles to a risk-based approach (2024-06-21). Sun Xiaoxia, in How Does Digital Power Shape the Rule of Law?, for the first time clearly defined digital power as a new type of power with legal character and systematically elaborated the special mission of digital rule of law to empower and promote good (2024-03-10).

In 2025, research advanced towards deeper legal theories and more detailed regulations.In March, Dou Dongxiao, in Transcending Individual Empowerment: Approaches for Protecting Group Data Interests and Their Advancement, innovatively proposed that group data interests are the sum of individual data interests, designing a combined public-private law regulatory path for predictive behaviors of different risk levels (2025-03-05). In October, Sun Xiaoxia, in On the Relational Variation of Digital Rights, revealed the normative rupture between digital rights and traditional rights due to structural dilemmas, advocating for reconstructing the normative system of digital law through technological configurability and a new duty-oriented approach (2025-10-14). Cheng Le's international publication Sociosemiotic Framing of Human Rights in Digital Age (2025-06-30) provided a new analytical tool for the human rights framework in the digital era from a socio-semiotic perspective.

Direction Three: International Exchange and Comparative Research in the Field of Human Rights

This direction focuses on global human rights governance, international law, and the external communication of China's approaches. Research in this area began in 2023.Cheng Le et al., in Discourse and Conflict: Analysing Text and Talk of Conflict, Hate and Peace-building, demonstrated the use of discourse analysis in studying international conflict and peacebuilding (2023-12-01).

In 2024, research outputs increased significantly, covering international law theory, regional governance, and country-specific comparisons.Wang Guiguo, in Using 'Yi Zi Ran' to Strengthen the Right to Development in International Law, creatively applied the philosophy of Yi Jing (The Book of Changes) to argue for the Dao (Way) and De (Virtue) foundation of the right to development as a positive right in international law (2024-07-15). Yu Jun and Lin Li, in The Dimension of Rights in Fertility Support Policies: Practices and Insights from Developed Countries, constructed a two-dimensional rights framework (state-individual and community) for fertility support policies by comparing developed countries' experiences (2024-03-30). Ma Guang and Wang Liwen, in The Current Situation and Suggestions for the Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence from the Perspective of International Soft Law, analyzed the current soft law governance of global AI and proposed the long-term idea of formulating an AI Framework Convention (2024-05-10). Luo Guoqiang and Wei Hanbing, in The Application of the Concept of Adaptive Ocean Law Governance in Global Ocean Governance, integrated Pufendorf's natural law philosophy into ocean law, proposing an adaptive governance idea for resolving ocean crises (2024-06-20). Cheng Le, in Setting boundaries between crime and rights, analyzed the U.S. Supreme Court case overturning the constitutional right to abortion, revealing how judicial narratives facilitate the transformation of a right into a punishable crime (2024-10-01).

In 2025, research more closely served national strategy, contributing China's voice in international health law, ocean law, and international economic rules.Chen Long, in Institutional Innovations and Implementation Challenges of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, systematically evaluated the institutional innovations and potential challenges of the agreement in building a resilient global health governance system (2025-12-01). Luo Guoqiang and Yu Minna, in Analysis of Security Exception Rules in International Economic and Trade Agreements and China's Response, criticized the abuse of security exception rules by Western countries and proposed a Chinese approach based on a holistic view of national security and multilateralism (2025-05-27). Dou Dongxiao and Jiang Aihua, in Enhancing Marine Ecological Civilization: A Multi-level Governance Mechanism for the New Strategic Frontier in Polar Regions and China's Mission, elaborated on the multi-level governance mechanism for polar regions, clarifying China's mission to enhance its influence in polar governance (2025-03-05). In Sociosemiotic Framing of Human Rights in Digital Age (June 2025), Cheng Le employs a sociosemiotic perspective to provide a theoretical analysis for constructing a sustainable policy framework for the rule of law and human rights in the digital era.Cheng Le, in How US-defined 'international law' becomes legitimized in the news media: BBC coverage of the case of the US against Huawei/Meng Wanzhou, used critical discourse analysis to reveal how the BBC legitimizes U.S.-defined international law without questioning its nature (2025-08-01).