Editor's note: This article is originally published on  www.cfr.org, https://www.cfr.org/councilofcouncils/global-memos/reflecting-and-recharging-universal-declaration-human-rights-after-seventy-five-years, Published: 08 December 2023

Reflecting on and Recharging the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after Seventy-Five Years

Global Memo by CFR, ORF, ISS, CIGI, Chatham House, IISS-PKU, and CARI

Dec 08, 2023

Taking the UDHR as a Common Basis of Building a Human International Order

Yu Tiejun, President, Institute of International and Strategic Studies, Peking University (China)

In recent years, the world has faced extreme turbulence, with both traditional and nontraditional security challenges intertwined. The new Middle East conflict erupts while the bloody war in Ukraine is still ongoing, the two killing hundreds of thousands of people and making more homeless. In addition, the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, stagnant global economic growth, and emerging food, energy, and environmental crises make protecting human rights an even tougher task.

There are many reasons for the current deterioration in global governance. Hegemony, major power rivalry, reginal conflicts, unjust and unequal international order—different countries have different answers. Nevertheless, there are very few, if any, who would question or challenge the necessity and urgency of human rights protection. At this critical moment, the UDHR, the cornerstone of international human rights regimes, is arguably the biggest common denominator for the global system of states. Therefore, it is extremely important to commemorate its seventy-fifth anniversary and reflect on how the UDHR can meet the needs of our time and advance its promise of freedom, equality, and justice for all.

China has been a key supporter and contributor to the UDHR since its very beginning. Dr. Peng-chun Chang, a prominent Chinese educator and senior diplomat who grew up in Chinese culture and received his PhD from Columbia University, was one of the nine members who drafted the UDHR, and played a crucial role in introducing principles of Confucian thought including conscience, benevolence, and inclusiveness into the UDHR, making it the first international human rights canon combining the wisdom of Eastern and Western civilizations.

To further the UDHR, China and more than seventy other countries have suggested a number of revisions and expansions. Specifically, that civil and political rights, and economic, social, and cultural rights should be accorded equal attention and advanced in a holistic way; human rights should be pursued in a results-oriented way with an emphasis on sustainable development; human rights development should suit the realities of each country, respecting their historical background, cultural heritage, national conditions, and popular needs; and that human rights advancement should be based on constructive dialogue and cooperation rather than used as a tool of political manipulation and bloc confrontation. In practice, China has put forward three global initiatives consecutively in the past three years: the Global Development Initiatives, Global Security Initiatives, and Global Civilization Initiatives. The logic within each is that human rights can be better protected and advanced with a condition of global security, sustainable development, and mutually respectful civilizations. UDHR includes all those values and thus can be taken as a common basis for building a humane international order.

Editor: LI Fangqi