China advocates safeguarding human rights through security, promoting human rights through development, promoting human rights through cooperation

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the Forum on Global Human Rights Governance on June 14.

Offering Chinese propositions in the letter, he stressed that China advocates safeguarding human rights with security, promoting human rights with development and advancing human rights with cooperation, which demonstrated China's sense of responsibility in participating in global human rights governance and promoting the progress of human rights development of the world.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, a document that has played an important role in the world's development of human rights.

Foreign students experience traditional Chinese embroidery in Licang district, Qingdao, east China's Shandong province. [Photo by Zhang Ying/People's Daily Online]

The document stresses the equality and indivisibility of human rights, and emphasizes that the international community should promote effective international cooperation to realize the right to development and remove the barrier hindering development.

It represents the will of developing countries that account for the majority of the global population and lays a foundation for international cooperation and for reaching the goals of protecting human rights and basic freedom set in the UN Charter.

Children in Dushan village, Shawan, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region play Dombra, a traditional musical instrument. [Photo by Lan Ling/People's Daily Online]

Today, mankind is once again at a pivotal crossroads, where global human rights governance is facing severe challenges.

Human rights development has encountered accelerating confrontation and divide. The politicization and instrumentalization of human rights is seriously poisoning the healthy development of the global human rights cause.

To improve global human rights governance, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action should be followed, and it's also important to steer global human rights governance toward greater fairness, justice, equity and inclusiveness.

Security is the most basic need of mankind. Human rights can never be safeguarded without peace and stability. Only by safeguarding human rights with security, respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, following the path of peaceful development, and putting into action the Global Security Initiative (GSI), can the world create a tranquil environment where human rights are well protected.

The Cold War mentality would only wreck the global peace framework; hegemonism and power politics would only endanger world peace; and bloc confrontation would only exacerbate security challenges in the 21st century.

The GSI proposed by Xi stresses that humanity is an indivisible security community. It offers Chinese plans for narrowing security deficit and tackling security challenges, and contributes Chinese wisdom to global human rights governance.

The international community should stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and jointly safeguard world peace and security, so as to better protect and promote human rights.

The right to development is universal and indivisible. It is a part of basic human rights. Global development is still unbalanced, uncoordinated and inadequate, which is to the disadvantage of the full enjoyment of human rights in the world, especially the developing countries.

China advocates for promoting human rights with development, puts into action the Global Development Initiative (GDI), makes development more inclusive, beneficial to all and sustainable, and ensures fair entitlement to human rights by people of all countries through modernization paths with their own characteristics.

The GDI has received wide support and is forcefully refocusing international attention on the issue of development and speeding up the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It has become an important international public product ensuring that people of all countries enjoy human rights equally.

Only by adhering to solidarity and cooperation, communicating sincerely and profoundly on human rights issues and seeking consensus and managing disputes, can countries improve their human rights protection and promote the development of the global human rights cause.

China stands for advancing human rights with cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect and equality, putting into action the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), and deepening exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. It is committed to building consensus through dialogues to promote human rights development with the rest of the world.

The GCI proposed by Xi champions equality and mutual respect, and also strengthens dialogue and communication. It respects the right of all countries to independently choose their own path of human rights development, and is conducive to promoting the healthy development of the global human rights cause.

China is an active participant and advocate of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, as well as a staunch upholder and practitioner of the spirit of the document. China puts the people first, follows a path of human rights development that conforms to the trend of the times and suits its national conditions, and has continuously strengthened human rights protection and promoted the unimpeded and all-round development of people in the process of advancing Chinese modernization.

Seniors of a nursing home in Yichun, east China's Jiangxi province dance with staff members of the nursing home. [Photo by Zhou Liang/People's Daily Online]

China actively joins global human rights governance. The visions it has proposed, including promoting human rights with development, have won broad support and made important contributions to the development of the global human rights course.

All people in the world aspire to the entitlement of human rights. It's a common cause for humanity to promote and protect human rights. China is willing to work with the rest of the world to promote the shared values of all humanity, stay committed to the vision of equality, mutual trust, inclusiveness, mutual learning, win-win cooperation and common development, and inject positive energy to the healthy development of the global human rights cause.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of Qiushi Journal.