March 5, 2008

Mr. President,

A year into its existence, with the joint efforts of all countries, the Council has successfully completed its institution-building and secured a good foundation for its future proceedings. This is the first main Council session after the conclusion of the institution-building exercise, during which all its mechanisms will be set in full motion. We hope that with this a new chapter will be turned in the Council's history.

The dawn of the 21th century has witnessed unprecedented progress in human civilization. But our world is far from being a tranquil place. We are still confronted with daunting challenges in our efforts to achieve peace and development. The economic globalization is developing at a quick pace, however, the gap between the North and the South is widening. There has not been any significant improvement in the overall situation of developing countries, while poverty, hunger and diseases are threatening the most fundamental human rights of millions of people around the world. The Middle East and other regions are still ravaged by wars and conflicts and the suffering of the Palestinian people continue unabated. Meanwhile, we have witnessed a resurgence of racial discrimination and xenophobia and a worsening in the plight of immigrants. As the main organ of the United Nations in the field of human rights, the Council has the obligation to solve those wide-spread problems in the interests of human civilization. We are confident that it will live up to the expectations of the international community by seriously and fully fulfilling the mandate entrusted to it by the General Assembly.

Mr. President,

The Council should work through dialogue and cooperation. Compared with its predecessor, the Council now meets in more sessions and has a heavier workload. Because of this and In view of the existence of diverging opinions and interpretations, we must learn to respect each other in order to seek common ground, engage in dialogue to enhance mutual understanding and seek cooperation to achieve our common objectives. Political confrontation will only condemn the Council to reliving the fate of the defunct Commission and undermine its credibility.

The Council should promote the spirit of harmony and accommodation. We are living in a world of great diversity, with differing national circumstances, varying levels of development, diverse religious and cultural traditions and uneven progress in the field of human rights. It is only natural that there are different methods, ways and processes to fulfill the ideals of human rights. We should adopt a more inclusive approach by acknowledging such differences and treating them with respect. We also need to strive for harmony as a means to secure development for all.

All delegations are placing high hopes on the UPR. All of us should review country situations through dialogue and cooperation and in a spirit of objectivity, equality and constructiveness if the UPR is to perform its expected role.

Mr. President,

The Chinese government and people take very much to heart the value of human rights after suffering for such a long time in the past from foreign aggression, wars and poverty. For nearly six decades after the founding of new China, the government and people have successfully turned a country ravaged by war and abject poverty into one enjoying political stability, economic prosperity and social progress. We have managed to feed ¼ of the world's populations with 1/7 of the earth's arable land and the Chinese people are starting to lead to well-off life. After three decades of rapid development, the rural poor population has fallen from 250 million in 1978 to 21.48 million as the poverty rate dropped from 30.7% to 2.3%. The national coverage of 9-year compulsory education has reached 98%. China is the only country in the world that has reached ahead of schedule the MDG of reducing by half the population living in poverty. Another MDG, that of universal primary education, has also been met ahead of time.

At present, acting according to the constitutional principle that "state should respect and safeguard human rights", the Chinese government is conscientiously following a human-centered, fully-coordinated, sustainable and scientific concept of development while endeavouring to build a harmonious society characterized by "democracy and rule of law, equity and justice". Through promoting democracy and the rule of law, we have worked to promote and protect the civil and political rights of our citizens; through strengthening the implementation of the Constitution and law, we have worked to secure equality of our citizens before the law and upheld social equity and justice; by bringing all governmental functions into the ambit of law, and by deepening reforms in judicial system, we have worked to guarantee that our judicial and procuratorial organs can independently and justly exercise their respective powers according to the law, thus ensuring equal right to all citizens to participation and development. All in all, the Chinese people are enjoying an ever-increasing level of human rights protection.

Mr. President:

The promotion and protection of human rights is an arduous long-term task for all countries, especially the developing countries. We are keenly aware that as a developing country, China still has a long way to go to promote and protect human rights. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption of "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". The Chinese government will continue to uphold the spirit and goals advocated in the Declaration and will continue to work with all other countries in a common effort to realize the lofty goal of promoting and protecting human rights.

Thank you, Mr. President.