The National Human Rights Action Plan (2012-2015) is designed to "support development of related disciplines and majors and encourage studies on human rights theories." Since the implementation of the plan's second stage, China's human rights research has risen to a new level.

There are more than 60 human rights research institutions in the country, mainly distributed among universities and scientific research institutes but also including a few subordinate research institutions under governmental agencies. Researchers engage in the study of human rights theories while also offering policy consultation, training and the extension of human rights knowledge.

Leading the way are Nankai University, Peking University, Renmin University of China, China University of Political Science and Law, Shandong University, Wuhan University, Sichuan University, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Guangzhou University, Northwest University of Politics and Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC.

About 50 academic works are published on average every year covering citizens' rights, political and economic rights, social and cultural rights, special groups' rights, various collective rights, as well as the development of human rights institutions and human rights education.

The majority of these study human rights from the perspective of law, while about a third relate to politics, philosophy, public administration, sociology, international relations, history, ethnology, etc. There are also a few works related to human rights in biology, ecology and medical science. These studies adopt a variety of different approaches including legal analysis, case study, comparative study, statistical compilation and analysis, empirical investigation, historical review, narrative biography, ethnography, and policy review.

China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) reports that the number of papers on human rights topics published in academic journals was 446 in 2012, 453 in 2013, and 395 in 2014 as of Dec. 28.

To these should be added many graduates' academic papers. According to CNKI's statistics, the number of PhD theses focused on human rights was four in 2012, three in 2013, and one in 2014 as of Dec. 28; the respective numbers of Master's theses were 76, 70 and 17.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)