Adhering to human rights development in line with China’s conditions

Published: March 10,2022

By Li Juan

Women deputies to the NPC at the Two Sessions in front of the Great Hall of the People on International Women’s Day, Beijing, China, March 8, 2022. /VCG

Human rights are the achievements and symbols of the progress of human civilization. Respecting and protecting human rights is the basic spirit of modern civilization and the unremitting pursuit of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The history of the CPC is the history of the party uniting and leading the people to fight for, respect, protect and develop human rights. The leadership of the CPC is the fundamental guarantee that the Chinese people can enjoy human rights and will continue to enjoy more fully human rights.

In the practice of advancing the cause of human rights, China firmly adheres to the people-centered concept of human rights, and has blazed a path of human rights development that is consistent with the trend of the times and suits the nation’s conditions.

The key to the historic achievement of China’s human rights lies in adhering to the leadership of the CPC, respecting the dominant position of the people, proceeding from China’s reality, adhering to the fundamental human rights with the right to subsistence and development as the first priority, adhering to the protection of human rights in accordance with the law, and adhering to active participation in Global Governance of Human Rights.

The above six points are not only the main features of China’s human rights development, but also the valuable experience China has gained in the practice of advancing the cause of human rights.

Human rights are historical, concrete and realistic, and they cannot be talked about in isolation from the social and political conditions as well as historical and cultural traditions of different countries. Countries should respect the diversity of the path of human rights development. The people’s standard is the basic yardstick for measuring the progress of human rights, and the people are the ultimate judges of human rights development.

The CPC and the Chinese government have always regarded the people’s support or not, whether they agree or not and whether they are happy or not as the fundamental criteria for measuring the success and failure of all work.

Women members of the CPPCC during the Two Sessions, the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, March 7, 2022. /VCG

In terms of poverty reduction, China attaches great importance to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China has achieved the Sustainable Development Goal on poverty reduction 10 years ahead of schedule, and accounted for more than 70 percent of the global population lifted out of poverty, making significant contributions to the development of global poverty reduction and human development and progress.

The living standards of the Chinese people have greatly improved. In 2021, China’s GDP reached 114.4 trillion yuan ($17.7 trillion), and the per capita GDP was 80,976 yuan, exceeding $10,000 for three consecutive years. The protection level of citizens’ right to life and health has also been greatly improved. China has been listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the 10 countries with high performance in maternal and child health.

China adheres to the principle of putting people and life first, adopted the strictest and most thorough measures to prevent and control the epidemic, and achieved a major victory in the fight against the epidemic. From newborn babies just over 30 hours old to senior citizens over 100 years old, from foreign students in China to foreigners, every life is fully protected.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of medical workers across the country are working day and night. Among them, in addition to 540,000 medical personnel from Hubei Province and Wuhan City, 346 national medical teams and more than 40,000 medical personnel rushed to the front line of the fight against the epidemic. China also tried its best to provide assistance to the international community. It announced to provide two batches of cash assistance worth $50 million to the WHO, sent 34 medical expert teams to 32 countries, provided 283 batches of anti-epidemic assistance to 150 countries and four international organizations, and provided and exported anti-epidemic materials to more than 200 countries and regions.

Therefore, any smear campaign against the human rights situation in China is untenable. Human rights are the vital interests that the people can see and touch. Whether a country’s human rights situation is good or bad depends on whether the people are satisfied and whether the people truly enjoy a happy life. Only on the basis of people’s sense of gain, happiness and security can the degree of human rights realization be effectively tested.

While protecting and developing domestic human rights, China actively participates in global governance on human rights, promotes the construction of a more fair, just, reasonable and inclusive global human rights governance system, and jointly builds a community of shared future for mankind.

On the one hand, China, together with other countries in the world, insists on promoting development through cooperation and human rights through development, and strives to improve global human rights protection. On the other hand, China insists on upholding the common values of mankind, and resolutely defends international fairness and justice.

In actively promoting global governance on human rights, China takes all human beings as the main body, takes survival and development as the condition, and takes peace and security as the premise, adheres to multilateralism and international cooperation, adheres to the principle of equality and non-discrimination in sovereign equality and human rights protection, and adheres to the principle of integrity, balanced and sustainable, adhere to the broadest inclusiveness and universal applicability, strive to enable people of all countries to enjoy development opportunities and enjoy development achievements, realize the comprehensive and coordinated development of various human rights globally, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Li Juan is a researcher and lecturer at the Human Rights Institute of Southwest University of Political Science and Law. 

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