South-South Human Rights Forum calls for protection of people's right to development

BEIJING - The first "South-South Human Rights Forum" was concluded in Beijing Friday, calling for efforts to safeguard people's right to development.

The two-day forum, themed "Building a Community of Shared Future for Humanity: New Opportunities for South-South Human Rights Development," saw more than 300 officials attend, including scholars and representatives from over 70 countries and international organizations.

According to the Beijing Declaration issued at the forum, participants agreed that the right to subsistence and the right to development were the primary basic human rights.

"Developing countries should pay special attention to safeguarding people's right to subsistence and right to development, especially to achieve a decent standard of living, adequate food, clothing, and clean drinking water, the right to housing, security, work, education, health and social security," the declaration said.

The participants agreed in the declaration that Chinese President Xi Jinping's proposal to build a community of shared future for humanity was "a major concept which conforms to the trend of the times, fits the requirements of development, and reflects the pursuit of a new human social value."

Xi sent a congratulatory letter to the forum Thursday, calling on the international community to respect and reflect the will of the people in developing countries in human rights development.

Xi said that human rights worldwide could not be achieved without the joint efforts of developing countries, which account for more than 80 percent of the world's population. He stressed that human rights must and can only be promoted in light of specific national conditions and people's needs.

Xi called on developing countries to uphold both the universality and particularity of human rights and steadily raise the level of human rights protection.

"The Chinese people would like to work in concert with people in other developing countries and beyond to advance development through cooperation, promote human rights through development, and build a community with a shared future for human beings," the message read.

The message was read by Huang Kunming, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, at the opening ceremony of the forum.