Chinese diplomat highlights 'community of shared future for mankind' in promoting human rights

GENEVA - The head of the Chinese Mission to UN at Geneva Ma Zhaoxu on Wednesday said countries should work together to build a community of shared future for mankind to promote the international human rights cause.

He made the remarks during the International Seminar on Human Rights and Building a Community of Shared Future for Mankind, which was jointly sponsored by the China Society of Human Rights Studies and the Chinese Mission to UN at Geneva.

"Building a community of shared future for all mankind will propel the development of a fair and just international governance system for human rights and promote this global cause," Ma said.

According to the senior Chinese diplomat, sovereign equality is the very foundation for promoting and protecting human rights, and all parties must engage in human rights exchange and cooperation as equal partners and view the human rights realities in other countries objectively and fairly.

He continued that multilateralism is an important means to promote and protect human rights, thus countries need to improve the UN human rights institutions, work in a impartial and constructive way so as to give equal emphasis to all categories of human rights.

Mutually beneficial cooperation, the official said, is another effective channel for promoting and protecting human rights, and the international community needs to avoid confrontation and conflict, to narrow the differences and to draw from others' strengths to promote the common development of the human rights cause in all countries.

Ma also stressed the importance of inclusiveness and mutual learning, saying that this is a source of power for promoting and protecting human rights, and there is no one-size-fits-all path or model.

"The international community should respect the diversity of civilizations, allow civilizations to live side by side in harmony and learn from one another," Ma said.

Urging the international society to dedicate to maintaining peace and promoting development, Ma added that peace and development are the prerequisites for the human rights cause.

"Security is the ultimate human rights, wars and conflicts bring mass violation of human rights, and development provides the basic conditions for realizing various human rights," he noted.

In January of this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech here at the UN headquarters at Geneva, talking in depth about the concept of a community of shared future for mankind.

Participants to Wednesday's seminar include senior diplomats from Pakistan, Greece, Venezuela and other countries, as well as scholars from both the China Society of Human Rights Studies and a number of international institutes.