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人权新闻 |
Dear colleagues and students,
Good evening and good afternoon!
Today we’re holding a very special graduation and opening ceremony. Not like the in-person ceremonies before in this program’s 16 year history, here we’re going through a virtual one. I guess no one would like to attend a ceremony like this to celebrate what is supposed to be celebrated in a very cheerful and lively way, and no one would like to get together as a family without any real contact among family members, without any real face-to-face communication feeling each other’s warmth and enthusiasm. The pandemic leaves us no alternative choice. So, first of all, I want, on behalf of Human Rights Center, to express our great and deep gratitude to everyone being present to continue and persevere with the indispensable annual event. Thank you very much for coming and joining us!
However, to continue and persevere with what we value most, especially in a very harsh condition or a very difficult environment, is right one of the core spirits of this program and of the human rights cause as well. Facing the unprecedented pandemic with the real and potential threats to life, liberty, privacy, employment and other human rights, we need to insist on learning more to understand the situations and circumstances we are in, insist on figuring out possible ways to get rid of or alleviate the threats, insist on training our ability to be aware of any form of human rights violation, and insist on cultivating our sense of justice and sentiment of discomfort whenever and wherever such violations happen.
Without perseverance, we would turn to lose our hope of future, turn to feel depressed of the status quo without having any desire to change, turn to give up our enthusiasm for learning knowledge and planting right values in our hearts, turn to stop sensing, and become numb to, those unjust things, and even turn to reverse our right direction and engage in a bad cause.
I want to congratulate the graduate students. By perseverance, you’ve completed all the required courses of this program, particularly in a difficult online learning mode during the past semester. I also want to congratulate the freshman and freshwoman. By perseverance, you’ve passed the very strict selection process and got enrolled in this program. I further want to thank my colleagues, of Peking University side, Professor Ye Jingyi, Professor Guo Li, Professor Gong Renren, Professor Bai Guimei, Professor Li Hongyun, Professor Chen Yifeng, Coordinator Ma Ling, Coordinator Liu Jianye, of RWI side, Professor Morten Kjaerum, Coordinator Chen Tingting, of honorable guest side, Mr. Liu Xinsheng, Professor Liu Huawen, and other colleagues and friends who are unable to attend the ceremony for different reasons. Just due to your long-lasting perseverance, can our program have continued for 16 years and will persist in its cause and goal even though there might be worse conditions.
In whatever condition, as long as we have a human right torch in our hearts, as long as we can still see, feel and follow the light and heat, as long as we can still use it to improve ourselves to be qualified as a dignified human being, we would survive and human beings would survive toward a more civilized and harmonized world.
Finally I’d like to end by making wishes to all students and my dear colleagues: keep the torch, and have the bright future. Good luck to you all!
本文是北京大学人权与人道法研究中心主任沈岿教授在2020年人权硕士项目结业典礼上的主题发言。
