Olaf Scholz visits CESL: Talks about human rights

16 November 2015, by Internetredaktion

In the course of his trip to China, Hamburg’s mayor, Olaf Scholz, visited the China-EU School of Law yesterday, accompanied by the project’s coordinator, Prof. Hinrich Julius, and gave a lecture to 150 students which attracted a great deal of attention in the media. For the first time during his China visit, he highlighted the importance of human rights which he defined as a part of the German legal dialogue with China which was initiated in 1999.

“The foundation of the China-EU Law School, which is financed by China and the EU and is coordinated by Hamburg on the European side, is one achievement of this dialogue,” DIE WELT newspaper quotes the mayor. “An independent legal system is not only essential for the economy and trade,” he said.

The HAMBURGER ABENDBLATT reports: “During the surprisingly open debate with students, the mayor, whose actual topic was “Arbitration in the German legal system”, was asked about his ideas on civil society.” According to the paper, Scholz replied that it was necessary to involve people in democratic processes in order to create a civil society. One must find ways of participation for all those who wish to participate.