Cooperation on human rights urged

Intl participants at forum in Beijing hail nation's efforts, achievements

Countries should intensify cooperation and stick to their own reality in safeguarding their people's human rights, including the rights to subsistence and development, officials and experts said at a human rights forum that opened on Wednesday in Beijing.

The two-day Forum on Global Human Rights Governance is themed "Equality, Cooperation and Development: The 30th Anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and Global Human Rights Governance." It is jointly hosted by the Information Office of the State Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the China International Development Cooperation Agency.

China is a formulator and advocate of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, as well as a firm defender and practitioner of it, said Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, at the forum.

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was adopted in 1993 by the 171 states attending the World Conference on Human Rights and endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly later that year.

China insists on putting people first, integrating the universal principles of human rights with China's reality, and taking subsistence and development as primary basic human rights, he said.

Li said that China has coordinated and improved its overall economic, political, social and cultural development to promote all-around social progress, and has explored a path of human rights development that conforms to the trend of society and suits China's national conditions.

International participants at the forum hailed China's efforts in protecting human rights.

China has spared no effort to promote and protect human rights and has made remarkable achievements in this process, said Akmal Saidov, first deputy speaker of the Legislative Chamber of Uzbekistan's parliament and director of the National Human Rights Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Moreover, China is playing an increasingly important and positive role on the international community in the human rights cause, he said, adding that different countries have different historical and social backgrounds, but share a common topic in human rights.

It is necessary to be fully aware of the unique circumstances of each country and the unique needs of its people, in order to explore the best way to protect human rights, he said.

Aslan Abashidze, a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action holds that all human rights are indivisible, and all aspects of human rights should be properly ensured.

China has accounted for 70 percent of global poverty reduction and eradicated extreme poverty 10 years ahead of the UN target date, which is not only a major achievement for China but also a major victory for mankind, he said.

Over the more than four decades of reform and opening-up, China has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty and brought over 400 million people into the middle-income group, noted Zhang Weiwei, director of the China Institute of Fudan University.

The achievements have far-reaching and enlightening implications for global human rights governance, he said, adding that in its modernization drive, China continues to formulate policies based on its own people's feelings, national conditions and cultural traditions.

China's philosophy that "people's livelihoods are paramount" has corrected a long-standing deviation of the Western philosophy of human rights governance, which only prioritizes the political rights of citizens, while rights regarding people's livelihoods and development are ignored, he said.

yangzekun@chinadaily.com.cn