Shared future for mankind discussed at UN conference

GENEVA - Experts attending a side-event of the ongoing 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday highlighted the right to development and voiced support for the idea of closer co-operation between countries during their discussion.

The event on building a community of shared future for mankind and the realization of the right to development, was organized by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and co-sponsored by the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Qian Jinyu, executive director of the research center for human rights law at Northwest University of Political Science and Law in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, said the idea emphasizes comprehensive international cooperation rather than confrontation between the great powers.

He cited the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative as a project that promotes modernization, saying that the transformation of governance is fundamental to the crisis that surrounds the systematic challenges for human rights.

"We wish for all countries to work hand in hand to build a community of a shared future for mankind that achieves the comprehensive development of human beings," he said.

"The right to development is paramount, and sovereignty and noninterference need to be respected," Tom Zwart, professor of human rights law at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, said at the event on Tuesday.

Zwart is active in the Cross-Cultural Human Rights Network, which counts scholars and universities from across the world as its members, especially from the south, and explores concepts and theories on human rights.

"Building a community of shared future for mankind means taking southern countries more seriously by making them full owners of the global governance system," the Dutch professor said.

He said that duties and rights should be complementary in the sphere of human rights.

Xu Yao, a researcher at Nankai University's Zhou Enlai School of Government, said: "Development is the most important factor to reduce poverty, and development leads to the solution of other problems".

Policies that are people oriented, sharing, persistent and targeted with leadership at all levels need attention, he said. As the largest developing country in the world, China has successfully implemented the largest poverty reduction program in history, he said.

Development not only contributes to the reduction of the world's poor population, but also indirectly promotes the stability and development of global economic development and social prosperity, he said.

Xinhua

(China Daily 09/15/2017 page11)