Scholars laud China's human rights progress

China's progress in protecting human rights offers valuable insights for the Global South in developing governance models suited to their own national conditions, scholars from China and Africa say.

They made the remark at a readers' forum on Xi Jinping: On Respecting and Protecting Human Rights — a collection of the Chinese president's statements on the subject — held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday.

Senior officials, diplomats, lawyers and scholars from China and African countries applauded the book and China's unique contributions to global human rights development. The forum was held on the eve of the first China-Africa Human Rights Seminar.

Jiang Jianguo, executive vice-president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, said China has achieved historic achievements in human rights since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.

Published in 2021, Xi Jinping: On Respecting and Protecting Human Rights represents a landmark in China's human rights development. The book has since been translated into 13 foreign languages, attracting readers from the global human rights community as well as political, academic, think tank and media circles, Jiang said.

Quoting Xi, he said, "With different national conditions, countries should and can only explore suitable paths of human rights development in light of national realities and people's needs."

China has advanced its human rights cause based on its national conditions and the people's needs, Jiang said.

"It has eradicated absolute poverty; established the world's largest education, social security and healthcare systems; and continuously developed whole-process people's democracy. Through this book, we can understand why China's path of human rights development works and how this cause continues to progress."

Remarkable journey

Jeddi Mowbray Armah, deputy minister for legal affairs at Liberia's Foreign Ministry, said the book is a record of China's remarkable human rights journey and offers a window into a philosophy rooted in the country's national conditions and historic transformation.

"Human rights are universal in value, yet diversity erupts. As President Xi makes it clear, there is no single template for the realization. Every country must check the path consistent with its history, culture and stage of development, while staying faithful to the aspiration for dignity, justice and equality for all," Armah said. Global South countries should avoid developing human rights models detached from their local realities, he added.

China has taken a people-centered approach to human rights and whole-process democracy to ensure people get tangible benefits, he said, citing China's efforts to lift more than 700 million people out of poverty over recent decades.

"These are human rights in action. They give practical meaning," he said. "This is a concept that integrates democratic participation at every stage in China. It shifts the focus from narrow electoral circles, from promises made to tangible results delivered."

Democracy should be judged not by the form alone, but by whether it serves the people's interests, he added.

Unique aspirations

China's approach to human rights also offers unique aspirations for African countries to confront major challenges, such as poverty, education, health and employment, to make progress in human rights, he said.

"The challenge before the world is not whether we agree with the human rights matter. It is whether we can create the conditions in which it can be realized for every person and every society."

Fredrick Mutesa, secretary-general of the Zambia-China Friendship Association, said China has made important contributions to the global understanding of human rights through proposals such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Security Initiative.

"China has become a trailblazer in fostering cooperation among countries of the Global South through these initiatives, (as well as through) China-Africa cooperation in economic development and modernization," he said.

China is helping unlock Africa's development potential through infrastructure projects, green development, mining and other sectors, creating favorable conditions for the realization of the right to development, he added.

Melha Rout Biel, founder and executive director of the Institute for Strategic and Policy Studies in South Sudan, said the Communist Party of China has been pursuing happiness for the Chinese people and progress for humanity since its founding.

"China's commitment to global human rights extends beyond its borders," he said.

"It advocates for a fair international human rights governance system, international cooperation, and respect for other countries and cultures."