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Discusses the status of human-rights education in Hong Kong, including efforts to implement the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education. Calls for focus on human rights as part of efforts to reform the education curriculum in Hong Kong. (Contains 37 references.) (PKP)

Tells the life stories of some of the people who have worked for human rights and democracy in contemporary China. Five profiles show the obstacles faced by Chinese teachers in the human-rights struggle. (SLD)

Restrictions on travel and quarantine on arrival are typical strategies imposed by public health authorities during pandemics. While much research has analyzed the consequences of policies about global public health emergencies including COVID-19, to date there has been little discussion of the social consequences of these policies. We undertook an exploratory study using qualitative research to understand the social impacts experienced by travelers as a result of the restriction policies implemented in China following its implementation of a zero-COVID policy. Using online sources and 40 interviews with quarantine hotel staff, government officials, and arrivees to China, we found that the people with a strong justification for travelling during the pandemic were significantly affected by the restrictions, resulting in them experiencing a wide range of negative social impacts, including on their: psychosocial health and wellbeing; family cohesion; social networks; the experience of unexpected and unpleasant circumstances; and a sense of persecution. These outcomes were partly a consequence of the characteristics of Chinese society and the returnees themselves, and were influenced by the government's COVID management strategies. With medical experts having dominated the battle against the virus, ordinary people's feelings and concerns were ignored. We argue that these also need to be understood and considered in the planning of public health strategies. To improve outcomes in future situations, much can be learned from the field of Social Impact Assessment (SIA), especially in terms of understanding how people are affected, and to achieve acceptance and a social licence for pandemic management strategies, the importance of meaningful community engagement, ongoing monitoring, adaptive management, and an effective grievance redress mechanism. Our paper enriches the understanding of SIA when applied in the policy arena, and it demonstrates the value of a SIA perspective for improving social outcomes in public health emergencies. It also adds to understanding the consequences of pandemics and restriction policies on people. • The concerns of arrivees have been ignored in management of the COVID pandemic. • Restriction policies have significantly affected people other than just travelers. • Although various elites dominate the battle against virus, people's feelings matter. • National policies should consider the unintended consequences of actions. • A Social Impact Assessment perspective helps analyze the social impacts of policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is a rising power of the twenty-first century with its brilliant economic performance as a result of the transition to the free market economy model. However, China's economic development process has caused high environmental costs. For the past decade, China has been the leading country responsible for global carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). Therefore, determining the dynamics that have a reducing effect on CO2 emissions in China is very important for the development of sustainable environmental policies. This paper aims to examine the impacts of the institutional structure on environmental sustainability in China. To this end, the study follows the method of cointegration with multiple breaks that produce robust econometric results and consider structural changes. According to the results, (i) the validity of an N-shaped EKC relationship is supported between economic growth and environmental pollution. (ii) Industrialization and trade have an increasing impact on environmental pollution. (iii) Political rights and civil liberties have a reducing effect on environmental pollution. Consequently, this study implies that political rights and civil liberties can make an important contribution to achieving sustainability goals in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to compare medical research productivity between democratic countries and their relatively undemocratic neighbors to identify mechanisms to promote medical research. Country of authorship was determined manually for articles published in 14 medical journals in 2005, and compared pairwise for democracies vs. relatively undemocratic nations: Israel vs. the rest of the Middle East; Japan vs. Russia; South Korea vs. North Korea; and Taiwan or Hong Kong vs. Mainland China. Democracies were quantitatively defined according to the Freedom House Index and the Economist’s Index of Democracy. The frequency of publication of Israeli authors of unsolicited articles (excludes editorials) was found to be 1.08%, while its percentage of the world population is only .11% (OR = 9.97, 95%–ORCI: 4.30–23.1, P < 0.0001). This increase was invariant for more prestigious original articles (investigations) vs. less prestigious review articles or case reports, and for more prestigious high-impact factor journals vs. less prestigious low-impact factor journals. This increase was apparently not due to political favoritism: the relative frequency (RF) of Israeli authors of unsolicited articles was significantly higher than the RF of Israeli authors of solicited articles (i.e., invited editorials) (1.08% vs. 0.13%, OR = 8.38, 95%–ORCI = 1.46–48.1, P = 0.007); and was significantly higher than the RF of Israeli editorial board members (1.08% vs. 0.08%, OR = 13.0, 95%–ORCI = 2.27–74.7, P < 0.0001). Contrariwise, the frequency of publication of authors from the Middle East excluding Israel was 0.30%, while its percentage of the world population is 4.04% (OR = 0.071, 95%–ORCI = 0.04–0.12, P < 0.0001). The OR of Israeli authorship was incredibly 140.4-fold higher than the OR of the MEEI! The OR of authors of other democratic countries was also more than 100-fold the OR of authors of their undemocratic neighbors: Japan (OR = 4.93, 95%–ORCI = 3.82–6.36, P < 0.0001) vs. Russia (OR = 0.005, 95%–ORCI = 0.00–0.06, P < 0.0001); South Korea (OR = 3.48, 95%–ORCI = 2.29–5.31, P < 0.0001) vs. North Korea (OR < 0.36, 95%–ORCI = 0.00–0.35, P < 0.0001); Taiwan (OR = 5.12, 95%–ORCI = 2.85–9.19, P < 0.0001) or Hong Kong (OR = 9.21, 95%–ORCI = 3.51–24.2, P < 0.0001) vs. Mainland China (OR = 0.028, 95%–ORCI = 0.019–0.041, P < 0.0001). The OR of national authorship was closely correlated with two indices of democracy: correlation coefficient with Freedom House Index = 0.83, and correlation coefficient with the Economist’s Democracy Index = 0.76. The OR of national authorship was also (mildly less) correlated with per capita income (corr. coeff. = 0.75). In conclusion, five democracies exhibit a remarkably higher relative frequency of medical publications than their relatively undemocratic neighbors. The relative frequency of authorship was, furthermore, extremely strongly correlated with democracy and political freedom. The freedom hypothesis may help explain this phenomenon: political freedom and liberty in democracies may promote intellectual creativity and medical research. This hypothesis should be tested by a multivariate analysis of univariate risk factors of medical authorship for all nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]