The 2023 Chinese Government Friendship Award ceremony was held in Beijing a few days ago. German expert and Professor Peter Herrmann has become the fifth foreign expert at Central South University (CSU) to receive this award in the past few years.
Peter Herrmann is an incumbent professor at the Law School of CSU, a full-time researcher at the CSU Human Rights Center, and an academician of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He has served at several universities, such as University College Cork in Ireland, Corvinus University of Budapest, and Zhejiang University. At the same time, he has held academic positions at several European academic institutions, including Berlin Institute for Critical Theory in Germany, and served as a member of academic committees of multiple international academic journals. For years, Professor Herrmann has been dedicated to speaking up for China in the European academic community and making more people know about China, so as to fight against the prejudices against China in European countries. In more than 30 seminars organized by the European Commission, OECD, and other organizations that he participated in representation of CSU, he objectively introduced China's anti-epidemic measures and effectiveness, China's unique view on human rights, and China's achievements in respecting and safeguarding human rights, and strongly refuted the discrimination and ultraliberalism of nationalistic politicians. At the invitation of the Permanent Mission of China to the UN Office at Geneva, delegations of other international organizations, and the China Society for Human Rights, he has attended more than ten meetings of the UN Human Rights Council and academic conferences on human rights in China to deliver keynote speeches. Professor Herrmann is committed to reflecting on the view of "universal human rights" of Western centralism in conjunction with changes in world and disseminating China's concept of human rights. The series of books, titled Human Rights - Looking for the Future, jointly published by Professor Herrmann and scholars at home and abroad, has aroused echoes in the Western academic community. With the support of the CSU Human Rights Center, he founded the human rights academic group, HRUG (Human Rights: Universal and Global), and the HRUG research website. So far, HRUG has initiated and organized dozens of academic exchange activities. Several international scholars in this academic network have participated in international academic conferences hosted by domestic institutions and expressed their support for China's democratic system and human rights concepts, achieving a positive dissemination effect internationally.
The Chinese Government Friendship Award is the highest honorary award established by the Chinese government to recognize foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's modernization and promoted exchanges and cooperation between China and the world. Fifty foreign experts received the award in 2023.
(First proofreading: Yu Tao; Second proofreading: Tang Xiaojun; Third proofreading: Wang Jianxiang)
Source: Office of International Cooperation and Exchanges; Human Rights Center
Author: Li Juan
Link: https://news.csu.edu.cn/info/1002/157976.htm
