Seminar on Xinjiang's human rights progress held in Urumqi

A seminar on the human rights progress in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was held on Sunday at Xinjiang Normal University in Urumqi, the regional capital.

The event brought together around 80 experts from domestic academic institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Renmin University of China, Lanzhou University, and South-Central Minzu University, as well as representatives from a delegation of foreign university teachers visiting Xinjiang. It marked the fourth edition of the seminar organized by Xinjiang Normal University.

Zhu Liyu, professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, highlighted Xinjiang's progress in sustainable development and green growth, noting that it had established a modernization framework characterized by harmonious development between humanity and nature.

He said Xinjiang's green development practices demonstrate that promoting human rights through development is not an abstract concept but is reflected in tangible ecological achievements and the well-being of its people.

Thelikada Kankanamge Asela Prabath Kumara, a postdoctoral researcher from Sri Lanka at East China Normal University, is working on a research program surveying the use of ethnic languages in Xinjiang. At the seminar, he spoke about Xinjiang's development through ethnic integration, saying that "life itself is the most powerful answer" in regards to how to move toward mutual goals.

The young Sinologist encouraged in-person visits to Xinjiang to witness firsthand how roads have been built linking the southern and northern parts of the region and to see children of different ethnic groups studying together, playing on the same playgrounds, and growing up on the same land. "These are the true annotations of human rights in Xinjiang, etched into the everyday lives of ordinary people," he said.

Bai Fan, associate research fellow at the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, stated that under the Party's guidelines for governing Xinjiang in the new era, the region has made significant progress in poverty alleviation, employment, education, healthcare, social welfare, and green development. The tangible improvements in living standards for all ethnic groups reflect Xinjiang's human rights progress and provide developing countries with a reference for borderland governance and human rights development.