Fair, inclusive human rights governance needed

This is an editorial from China Daily.

China secured its sixth term as a member of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council, defeating the machinations of some Western countries to sabotage its re-election to the UN body on Tuesday and becoming one of the most frequently elected members of the council since it was established in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights.

China was one of 15 states elected through secret ballot by the UN General Assembly for a three-year term starting from Jan 1, 2024. The other four re-elected members are Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, France and Malawi. About one-third of the council's 47 members are replaced every year to ensure they serve staggered three-year terms so other members get a chance to be elected to the UN body.

China's re-election reflects the international community's recognition of not only its achievements in protecting and promoting human rights at home but also its contribution to improving global human rights governance. And now that it has been re-elected to the council, it can help transform its vision into reality through concrete actions.

That those anti-China elements and self-proclaimed champions of human rights are also trying to use human rights as a tool to fulfill their narrow ends could not be a coincidence. It is they that use human rights issues as a ploy to interfere in other countries' internal affairs and smear their governments. It is they that claim to protect human rights, while actually creating humanitarian crises and using them as an excuse to overthrow foreign governments and install puppet governments that would dance to their tune. The "color revolutions" instigated by the United States in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia over the past decade are apt examples.

To reach a consensus in a divided world, it is necessary to set aside biases, and respect each other. One country imposing its values on others will only increase instability and harm the cause of human rights.

As China advocates, how human rights should be protected and improved in different countries should not be determined by just using the Western yardstick, for human rights concepts and practices differ from country to country. In particular, human rights concepts are different for the Global North and the Global South, because their needs, demands and national conditions are different.

It is therefore important to seek common ground while respecting the differences, and accept that different countries and regions can choose a path to human rights development that best suits their national conditions.

Although China's concept of human rights is starkly different from the West's, it remains committed to taking concrete actions, rather than indulging in empty talk, to make global human rights governance fairer and truly inclusive.