On September 26, the side event of the 48th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) was held in Beijing. The theme of the event was “Scientific and Technological Development and Human Rights Protection”. The event was sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and was organized by the Institute for Human Rights of China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL). Scholars from universities and research institutions at home and abroad exchanged views on topics, such as the chances and challenges on human rights protection brought by technological development, human rights protection in the digital era, and regulations for artificial intelligence and big data. Prof. Yang Qinhuo from the Institute for Human Rights served as the moderator of the event.
Prof. Ma Huaide, President of CUPL and Director of the Institute for Human Rights, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. President Ma pointed out that scientific development and human rights protection were closely related. The former provided a great impetus to the latter, while the latter was the core value and key objective of the former.
Gudmundur Alfredsson, Distinguished Professor of CUPL, shared his opinions on the relationship between human rights and technology. Prof. Sun Meng from the Institute for Human Rights, expressed his views on the protection of privacy in the 5G era. Prof. Ban Wenzhan, Vice Director of the Institute for Human Rights, concluded that scientific development and human rights protection attract the attention of people all over the world. Inevitably, the advancement of science and technology would bother human rights in some way. We should stay alert and manage the relationship between the scientific development and human rights protection. More importantly, we were obliged to carry on in the right way to advance human rights and technology in a coordinated and balanced manner.
