China sets example for international human rights development

By He Yin, People’s Daily

On January 26, local time, the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group was held in Geneva, Switzerland, during which China’s report for the fourth UPR was unanimously adopted.

It fully indicated the international community’s recognition of China’s unremitting efforts and historic achievements in promoting and safeguarding human rights.

The UPR serves as a crucial platform for countries to engage in equitable and candid discussions on human rights matters within the framework of the UN, fostering constructive dialogue and collaboration.

China attached great importance to this round of the UPR. The delegation of the Chinese government had a constructive dialogue with representatives of other countries in an open and candid manner.

During the UPR, China has won international acclaim for its achievements in the cause of human rights. More than 120 countries fully acknowledged China’s great achievements in promoting and protecting human rights, highly evaluated the human rights concepts and practices with Chinese characteristics, and appreciated the significant contributions China has made to the global cause of human rights through its development and progress.

China is the only major country that has formulated and implemented four consecutive national human rights action plans. China adheres to a systematic approach to planning for human rights development, and has made historic accomplishments in the cause of human rights.

China applies a people-centered development philosophy, regards the rights to subsistence and development as its primary and basic human rights, ensures and improves people’s livelihoods through development, ensures the fruits of development are shared by the people, and strives for the comprehensive and coordinated development of economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights. It has significantly improved its capability in ensuring human rights.

Since joining the third round of the UPR in 2018, the country has made tangible achievements in the promotion and protection of human rights.

China has secured a complete victory in the battle against extreme poverty, and explored whole-process people’s democracy that covers all aspects of the democratic process and all sectors of society. It has formulated new laws to safeguard various rights of the people, including the Civil Code, the law on personal information protection, and the law on barrier-free living environment.

During this round of the UPR, many representatives from developing countries said that China’s path to human rights is in line with China’s national conditions and meets the aspirations of its people.

China has found a human rights development path that echoes the trend of the times and suits our national conditions, setting an example for the development of the international cause of human rights, and providing a new choice for other countries, especially those in the Global South, to independently explore the path of human rights development.

For a long time, some Western countries, under the so-called “one-size-fits-all human rights” and “human rights over sovereignty” banners, have been forcibly promoting Western conceptions and systems of democracy and human rights on others, meddling in the internal affairs of other countries. This has led to frequent military conflicts, prolonged social unrest, and the displacement of many from their homes in a number of countries.

There is no one-size-fits-all path or model of human rights development in the world. People of all countries have the right to and should independently explore their own human rights development that is in line with their own realities.

China has advocated respect for the diversity of world civilizations, implemented the Global Civilization Initiative, strengthened exchanges and mutual learning, and encouraged and respected countries in choosing their own path to human rights development, so that people of all countries are ensured of human rights fairly through their own modernization drives.

China has been actively promoting the high-quality development of its own human rights cause while engaging in extensive exchanges and cooperation in the field of human rights, making contributions to global human rights governance.

Since the third round of the UPR, China has joined human rights treaties such as the Marrakesh Treaty and actively participated in the UPR.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping noted, China stands for safeguarding human rights with security, promoting human rights with development, and advancing human rights with cooperation, which has exerted profound influence.

The 53rd session of the UN Human Rights Council adopted again the resolution on “the contribution of development to the enjoyment of all human rights” submitted by China.

In October 2023, a draft resolution on promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights within the context of addressing inequalities, of which China is the major initiator, was adopted with consensus for the first time by the UN Human Rights Council. It demonstrated China’s contributions to promoting global human rights progress.

During this round of the UPR, China announced 30 new initiatives to safeguard human rights, which cover such fields as enhancing people’s well-being, strengthening legal safeguards for human rights, promoting international cooperation in human rights and supporting the work of the UN human rights mechanisms.

Representatives from multiple countries expressed their anticipation for China to play a leading role in global human rights governance and uphold international fairness and justice.

While advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through the Chinese path to modernization, China will always hold high the banner of peaceful development and win-win cooperation, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, create new opportunities for the world with its own development, steer global human rights governance toward greater fairness, justice, equity and inclusiveness, and jointly write a new chapter of the world human rights cause with other countries.