China delivers good performance in UN periodic review of human rights -- ambassador

Citizens choose New Year decorations at a wholesale market in Loudi of central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 14, 2024. (Photo by Wu Yonghua/Xinhua)

China has delivered good performance in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) conducted by the UN Human Rights Council, China's top diplomat in Geneva said after the UPR Working Group adopted recommendations made to China, whose achievements in human rights won international acclaim at its fourth review earlier this week.

GENEVA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- China has delivered good performance in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) conducted by the United Nations Human Rights Council, China's top diplomat in Geneva Chen Xu told Xinhua on Friday.

Chen's remarks came after the UPR Working Group adopted the recommendations made to China, whose achievements in human rights won international acclaim at its fourth review earlier this week.

The UPR is a mechanism under which all UN member states undergo a review of their human rights record every four and half years.

In an interview with Xinhua, Chen, permanent representative of China to the UN office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland, outlined the highlights of China's efforts to improve human rights.

Adhering to the people-centered development philosophy, China has realized its first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, Chen said.

China has won the largest battle against poverty in human history, lifted nearly 100 million rural population out of poverty. That means the country has eliminated absolute poverty, meeting the poverty eradication target set out in the United Nation's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule.

A villager shows freshly harvested bamboo fungus at a planting base in Gaonan Village of Rongjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Sept. 18, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Adhering to the development of whole-process people's democracy, China implements democratic elections, consultation, decision-making, management and oversight in accordance with the law. Simultaneously, China is committed to improving people's livelihoods while pursuing high-quality development to ensure that more benefits of national development will reach all its people more fairly, Chen said.

China has built the world's largest education, social security and medical and health-care systems, and made a historic leap forward in terms of education accessibility, Chen noted.

Across the country, old-age insurance covers 1.06 billion people and basic healthcare security coverage rate reached 95 percent of its population, Chen said. With an annual average of over 13 million new jobs created in urban areas, housing conditions for both urban and rural residents have significantly improved, Chen added.

China is dedicated to safeguarding the rights of specific groups, implementing the basic national policy of gender equality, formulating and implementing four consecutive cycles of outlines for children's development, the diplomat said.

Senior citizens take a piano lesson at the culture center of Hexi District, north China's Tianjin, April 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Sun Fanyue)

China is steadily advancing an elderly-friendly society and promoting the cause for people with disabilities. China continues to safeguard human rights in accordance with the law, and respect and safeguard human rights through legislation, law enforcement, judiciary and observance of the law, according to Chen.

China also emphasizes the equality of all ethnic groups, and all the 56 ethnic groups coexist in unity, working together and prospering like closely-knit pomegranate seeds, the ambassador said.

China believes that lucid water and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and that the ecological environment should be protected like one's eyes. Over the past decade, China's sky has become bluer, mountains lusher and water clearer, and China's PM2.5 density has dropped by 57 percent, making it a country with the fastest improvement in air quality, the largest-scale utilization of renewable energy and the largest growth in forest resources in the world, Chen said.

Migratory birds rest at Nanchang Five Stars Siberian Cranes Sanctuary by the Poyang Lake in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, Dec. 21, 2022. (Xinhua/Wan Xiang)

China boasts nearly half of the world's installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation, more than half of electric vehicle sales worldwide, and a quarter of the global increase in green area, he added.

China actively leads global human rights governance, putting forward the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative. China advocates safeguarding human rights through security, promoting them through development and advancing them through cooperation.

China is also committed to upholding international justice and enhancing the representation and voice of developing countries in the Human Rights Council and other multilateral human rights bodies, and has provided Chinese wisdom and proposals for global human rights governance, the diplomat said.

The key to China's historic achievements in human rights lies in combining the principle of universality of human rights with its national realities, and in finding a development path that is in line with the trend of the times and suited to the country's national conditions, Chen said.

China will continue to take the future of humankind and the well-being of its people into account, always hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, he noted.

This photo taken on Oct. 17, 2023 shows a floral decoration for the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) near China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

China will provide the world with new opportunities through its own development, helping move global human rights governance toward greater fairness, justice, rationality and inclusiveness and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humankind, Chen said.