Former German Federal Minister of Justice and Former SPD Vice Chairman Ms. Gmelin Visits GVI

On the afternoon of October 27th, 2023, Prof. Dr. Herta Däubler-Gmelin, former German Federal Minister of Justice and former Vice-Chairwoman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), visited GVI and discussed with the Chinese scholars on Sino-German cooperation on justice and human rights. Mr. Sergio Grassi, Chief of the Beijing Representative Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), Mr. Zhang Xiaoming, member of the Academic Committee of GVI and former Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Bureau of China’s Ministry of Justice, Mr. Ren Libo, President of GVI, and Ms. Mao Jing, Director of GVI’s Public Affairs Department, joined in the discussion.

Participants agreed that the current Sino-foreign judicial cooperation is primarily conducted on a bilateral basis, but in the future, more multilateral platforms should be leveraged, e.g., cooperating with the EU or taking action under the framework of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). Ms. Gmelin said that Germany would like to learn more about cases of China’s judicial cooperation with other countries while highly enthusiastic about sharing its experience in the legal field. The experts present suggested strengthening exchanges between legal practitioners of the two countries and conducting dialogues and cooperation on building a State governed by the rule of law on the basis of reciprocity, mutual respect, and mutual trust.