Luo Haocai a and Song Gongde b

　　a China Society for Human Rights Studies and Peking University

　　b Law Department of Chinese Academy of Governance and Soft Law Research Center of Peking University

　　Abstract:Since human rights law originates and acts in the area of public governance, it should be a balanced form of law that can promote harmonious relationships in human rights protection. In terms of mechanism, balanced human rights law is characterized by consistency between its goals and the institutional arrangements for human rights protection. In terms of content, it is characterized by a rational identification of civil rights and their ways of realization. In terms of form, it is characterized by harmonious and consistent legal norms of human rights. In terms of action, it is characterized by a process of human rights protection in which consensus is reached through negotiations and consultations. And in terms of result, it is characterized by maximum efficiency of human rights protection in specific times and spaces. The tensions among different human rights, the cross-sectoral nature of human rights law, and the fact that international laws have to be transformed into or linked up with domestic ones, can easily disturb the balance of human rights law, thereby hindering the full realization of the state’s goal of respecting and protecting human rights. In order to solve this imbalance, legislators should choose an open model of public-private consultations and adopt rational criteria to weigh up human rights legislation in a careful way.

　　Keywords: human rights law, imbalance, balance, public governance