Mr. Chairman,
The protection and
promotion of human rights constitute a common goal for
people of all nations. To achieve this goal, we
should work together to establish a peaceful and secure
international environment, gradually narrow the gap among
countries in terms the level of development, attach equal
importance to the two categories of human rights and solve
disputes on the issue of human rights among countries
through dialogue and cooperation.
I.
International peace and security stand as a precondition for
the protection and promotion of human rights. It
has been demonstrated in the past as in the present that
without a peaceful and secure environment, no protection can
be possibly provided by for either civil and political
rights or economic, social and cultural rights. It
is the tragic experience of large-scale human rights
violations during the two world wars in the last century
that prompted the establishment, in the Charter of the
United Nations, of the purpose of maintaining international
peace and security as well as the principles of respect for
sovereign equality and non-interference in each
other’s internal affairs.
Regrettably, however, the existing
hot-spot issues, including the Middle East issue, remain
unsolved and are even going from bad to worse.
This is harmful not only to international peace and security
but also to the basic human rights of the local people.
We sincerely hope that Palestine and Israel will
resolve their disputes through peaceful negotiations and
realize durable peace in the Middle East in accordance with
relevant resolutions of the United Nations.
In
today’s world, factors threatening international peace
and security are becoming more and more complicated.
The September 11 incident has been not only an
enormous disaster to the American people but also a new
challenge to international peace and security. The
Chinese Government has all along condemned and opposed
terrorism in all its forms and steadfastly supported
cooperation in the international community against
terrorism. We believe that it is the protection of
human rights that has made it necessary to combat terrorism
and therefore activities against terrorism should be carried
in a manner that conforms to the purpose of protecting human
rights.
II. It is of great significance to the
realization of universal human rights to narrow the gap of
the level of development among countries.
Underdevelopment has seriously restrained
developing countries’ capacity and means to protect
and promote human rights. With the rapid development of
economic globalization, this situation is deteriorating with
each passing day. Today, the international community has
widely recognized the right to development as an important
human right. And the Human Rights Commission has also
established a working group on the right to development. We
hope that, at the upcoming third meeting of the working
group, countries will fully demonstrate their political will
to promote the right to development, avoid dwelling on
disputes about academic concepts, focus on studying
obstacles for the realization of the right to development,
especially at the international level, and make concrete
proposals on how to remove them.
III. The
international community should attach equal importance to
the civil and political rights as well as economic, social
and cultural rights. Human rights should be viewed as a
whole concept, which includes not only civil and political
rights but also economic, social and cultural rights. We are
glad to see that the international community is achieving
more and more agreement on properly understanding and giving
equal treatment to the two categories of human rights.
We hope that the international community can take
effective measures to help developing countries achieve
economic and social development so that their people can
better enjoy economic, social and cultural
rights.
IV. Dialogue and cooperation constitute
the right approach to resolving the disputes over human
rights among countries. With the deepening of globalization,
especially the latest developments in the world situation,
it has become all the more clear to people all over the
world that countries need to cooperate with one another in
addressing the affairs in the world today. We respect and
endorse the principle of universality of human rights, but
we believe at the same time that each country has the right
to choose its specific ways to protect and promote human
rights on the basis of its national situation.
Differences of views on human rights among
countries should be resolved through dialogue on the basis
of equality and mutual respect.
Mr.
Chairman,
The Declaration and Program of Action
adopted at the World Conference against Racism held last
September has been an important international instrument on
human rights. It is both relevant and extremely
important, in light of the current international situation,
to strictly implement the request made by this instrument to
fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
other forms of intolerance. We hope that the
international community and governments of all countries
will formulate national plans and establish follow-up
mechanisms in accordance with the requests of the
Declaration and Program of Action so as to attain the goals
it has provided.
Mr.
Chairman,
The Chinese Government and its people
have made great achievements in promoting and protecting
human rights in recent years. China has been
enjoying a rapid economic growth, social stability and a
huge improvement of the living standards of its people as a
whole. With the smooth and successful
implementation of the Ninth Five-Year Plan of National
Economic and Social Development, we have successfully
realized two historical leap-forwards, from poverty to
sufficient food and clothing for all and to a relatively
comfortable life for all. And in order to
strengthen democracy and the rule of law in the country,
China is undertaking a comprehensive reform of the judicial
system, covering the aspects of the courts, procurators and
lawyers, and has begun to establish a system of legal
assistance across the country. The projects
provided by the MOU on Cooperation between the Chinese
Government and the UN Commission on Human Rights are being
implemented step by step. The two sides have
already co-sponsored three seminars, entitled respectively
“Penalties for Minor Offences”, “Human
Rights and the Police” and “Human Rights and
Education”. The two sides have also signed
the agreement on cooperation projects for the next year.
This year, the Chinese Government submitted its
national report on the implementation of the International
Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination to the UN Commission on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination for review. The Chinese
legislature ratified, on 28 February 2001, the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which came
into effect on 27 June 2001. Currently, relevant
departments of the Chinese Government are working on
concrete plans to implement all its obligations stipulated
in this Covenant. And in order to resolve
differences, enhance mutual understanding and learn from one
another, we have conducted human rights dialogues on a wide
range of topics with countries that have different social
systems and values from China, including the US and the
EU.
Mr. Chairman,
The Chinese
Government is fully confident that it will be able to
further improve the level of human rights enjoyed by its
people and willing to make its contribution to the
international human rights cause.
Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
|