On March 16, 2022, "DPO Empowerment and Disability Rights Development", organized by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and co-organized by Wuhan University Institute of Human Rights, Wuhan University Academy of International Law and Global Governance, China Top Think Tank, the Rights and Interests Protection Professional Committee of the Society for the Development of Disability, and Wuhan East Lake Public Welfare Service Center, was successfully held. This conference is one of the Side Event of the UN Human Rights Council 49th Session, and the offline venue is located at Wuhan University Law School.

Speakers from organizations such as the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the University of New South Wales, the University of Waikato, the Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Forum in India, the Hubei Disabled Sports Association, and Southwest University of Political Science and Law, as well as researchers from human rights research institutions at home and abroad, teachers and students from law schools, and practical workers from social organizations for people with disabilities, more than 120 people participated in this conference online or offline.

Prof. Zhang Wanhong, Director of Wuhan University Institute of Human Rights and Professor of the Law School, pointed out that since the 18th National Congress, the goal of "equality, participation and sharing" for people with disabilities has been better realized. We listen to the voices of people with disabilities and allow full participation and communication among various relevant stakeholders. Wuhan University Institute of Human Rights hosted this conference to make further efforts to protect the rights of people with disabilities.

Li Xiaokun, vice dean of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences of Wuhan University, pointed out that General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the 37th collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on China's human rights development path that we would unswervingly follow China's human rights development path, better promote the development of China's human rights, promote more protection of the rights and interests of specific groups such as people with disabilities, strengthen the construction of human rights research bases, and develop China's human rights discipline system, academic system, and discourse system on February 25, 2022.

Huang Sijie, Coordinator of the EU Partnership for the Empowerment of Social Organizations with Disabilities, hosted the presentation and discussion session. During the session, Andrew Burns, Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales, discussed the relationship between disability rights and the human rights of older people. Taking into account the current international human rights protection mechanisms, Professor Burns called on scholars to cooperate in order to promote a more comprehensive human rights protection scheme.

Patsy Frawley, Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Waikato, presented the current status of rights protection for disabled groups in New Zealand. She pointed out that in order to ensure the effectiveness of compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is necessary to understand the needs of people with disabilities through frontline surveys and to develop research and policy suggestions.

Xin Wanhua, Senior Advisor of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, shared two cases of empowerment of people with disabilities. The first case was from a poor rural area in southern India where self-help groups for people with disabilities have been nurtured and a large number of rural people with disabilities have gained economic access. The second case came from Malaysia and focused on helping deaf women.

He Junquan, Secretary General of the Hubei Disabled Persons Sports Association and member of the party group of Jingmen Disabled Persons Federation, shared the achievements of the Hubei Disabled Persons Sports Association and showed the path of empowering people with disabilities through sports. As a gold medalist in Sydney Paralympic Games, Athens Paralympic Games and Beijing Paralympic Games, himself is also an example of achieving remarkable life through participation in sports.

Zhao Shukun, the professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law, took the Experimental Class for Excellence in Public Legal Talent as an example to explain the experience and challenges of legal education to empower the protection of the rights of people with disabilities. The experimental class is the first experimental class for excellence in public legal talents in China, which was originally established to protect the legal rights of deaf people and cultivate public legal service talents who can effectively solve the legal difficulties of deaf people. Professor Zhao Shukun pointed out that the protection of disability rights should adhere to the tripartite cooperation among the government, universities and the public.

Speakers from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, India and China shared various forms of empowerment solutions for organizations with disabilities and explored effective models for the development of disability rights, which benefited the participants.

This is the third time that Wuhan University Institute of Human Rights hosted a side event of the UN Human Rights Council. As a national human rights education and training base, the Institute, relying on the Law School, focused on carrying forward the accurate view of human rights and has become more and more visible and influential at home and abroad.

After the meeting, Prof. Zhang Wanhong was interviewed.

Edited by Wang Yuting & Wu Liuqing