Dr. LIU Kaiming born in 1965, he is the founding chairperson and executive director of the Institute of Contemporary Observation (ICO), a Shenzhen-based civil think tank and action group that committed to defend labor rights and to promote social justice. As one of China’s renowned labor rights and human rights activists, and a distinguished expert on rule of law, social development and corporate social responsibility, he serves as a member of Global Agenda Council Rule of Law Committee, affiliated to World Economic Forum; a member of International Advisory Board, Business and Human Rights Resources Centre, affiliated with Amnesty International; and a member of advisory board, Social Accountability International. He is also one of founding members of Mekong Migrant Network, a regional NGO focuses on protection of migrants in Sub-greater Mekong River.
Dr. LIU obtained Ph.D. from Nanjing University in 1997, he was as a short term guest researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights from August to December, 2009 and the University of Nottingham from April to July, 2011. He is a visiting professor at Law School of Shenzhen University. He was a journalist at Shenzhen Legal Daily (1997-2001) and a lecture at Guangxi Normal University (1990-1994) before he founded ICO in 2001.
He worked as a consultant to the final evaluation of the EU-China Cooperation Strategies, focused on human rights, rule of law and good governance in July 2006 to April 2007. He was a consultant to the final evaluation for the EU-China Co-operation programme on village governance in March 2006 to June 2006, and a consultant to the mid-evaluation for the Governance for Equitable Development (GED) project in December 2009 to March 2010, the EU-funded project aims at supporting Chinese Government in its efforts to develop an open and equitable society based on the Rule of Law. Dr. LIU participated into the consultative mandate of Prof. John Ruggie, the Special Representative of UN Secretary-general on Business and Human Rights, it is only person from China who participating the consultative activities from Bangkok, Berlin to Geneva. He is also an alumnus of the Transformation Thinkers, the platform organized by GIZ and Bertelsmann Stiftung in 2002, including more than 200 global young leaders in social, political and economic transformation worldwide.
Dr. LIU is a senior expert on improvement of working conditions at global supply chains. He has led more than 20 projects of which focus on seeking best solution to make the win-win situation at factory level, and carry out more than 500 ethical audits and social impact assessment at factories and countryside communities in China, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia. The clients of which he serves including financial agencies, and multinational corporations from Northern America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. He has 10 publications and numerous articles in Chinese, English and Finnish, including Day and Night at the factory( ICO and FinnWatch, March 2005), Toil and Tears Behind the Shenzhen Miracle (The Chinese Economy, May –June 2007, M.E. Sharpe Armonk, NY 1004), The Body’s Price—the Research Report on Industrial Injury Compensation (People’s Daily Press, Jan. 2005, Beijing). He also is a frequently speaker in the international and domestic forums on labour rights, human rights, rule of law and corporate social responsibility.