China-Africa cooperation helps African countries better protect human rights: Chinese envoy

GENEVA - The China-Africa cooperation has contributed positively to the promotion and protection of people's rights to subsistence and development in Africa, a Chinese envoy said here Tuesday.

Xu Jinghu, the Chinese Government's Special Representative for African Affairs, made the remarks while addressing a side-event of the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The China-Africa cooperation has provided a powerful boost to the improvement of people's livelihood and sustainable development in African countries, thus helped improve the overall development of the human rights cause in Africa, Xu said.

The event, titled "The Contribution of Development and Poverty Reduction to the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights," was jointly sponsored by the African Group and the Permanent Mission of China to the UN office in Geneva.

According to the Chinese envoy, Chinese-funded enterprises have helped to create a large number of jobs in Africa. For example, some 46,000 jobs had been created just by the Chinese-built Mombasa-Nairobi railway.

By the end of 2017, Xu said, China has built more than 200 schools in Africa and trained 120,000 local talents in China.

Since 1963, China has sent about 20,000 medical team members to Africa and treated nearly 300 million patients.

Xu said by the end of 2017, China had helped to build 5,600 km of highways, more than 6,200 km of railways, and a number of ports, bridges, power stations, stadiums and office buildings in Africa.

"The contribution of China-Africa cooperation to African economic growth has exceeded 20 percent," she said.