Chinese FM stresses right to survival, development at UN human rights council

BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday attended the high-level segment of the 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council via video, stressing that all parties should protect people's right to survival and development as a priority.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the world is becoming more turbulent, crises and conflicts keep flaring up, and deficit in global human rights governance is widening at the moment.

Noting that the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict has cost the lives of nearly 30,000 civilians, and left close to two million people displaced, Wang said it falls upon the entire international community to protect the human rights of all ethnic groups and all people in a fair, equal and effective way.

Wang called on all parties to put people first and safeguard people's interests, which is the basis and goal of the human rights cause. People's right to survival and development should be protected as a priority and pursued with a greater sense of urgency.

"We must uphold fairness and justice, stand against the attempts to use human rights as a pretext to interfere with other countries' internal affairs or curb others' development, oppose acts of hegemonism and power politics, and reject the practice of double standards," Wang said.

Wang called on all sides to respect all countries' right to independently choose their paths to human rights development. Countries should not impose their own values or development models on others, still less creating small blocs and aligning against those with different views.

"We must pursue cooperation that benefits all. Consensus should be built through dialogue, and mutual learning enhanced through exchanges," said Wang.

Human rights bodies in the UN should carry out their work in a fair and objective manner, follow a non-selective and non-politicized approach, and place equal emphasis on all types of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, and civil and political rights. Multilateral human rights bodies should serve as platforms for constructive engagement and cooperation for all sides, rather than a battleground for group politics or bloc confrontation, he said.

Wang said that as a responsible major country, China plays an active part in global human rights governance, and has contributed efforts to the conclusion of a series of important international conventions and declarations on human rights.

China is now working to deliver the fruits of modernization to its population in a more substantive and equitable way, and raising the level of human rights protection, Wang said, adding that it will actively champion the common values of humanity, and work with all sides to make new contributions to the healthy development of the global human rights cause.