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Remarks by Ambassador Zhang Jun on the Human Rights Day

2021-12-09 09:00

December the 10th is the Human Rights Day, and the theme for this year is “equality”.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written 73 years ago, starts with “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. The protection of human rights and pursuit of equality is an ideal shared by all humanity. It is also one that is constantly pursued by the Chinese people.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have made tremendous efforts in fighting for human rights, respecting human rights, protecting human rights and promoting human rights.

We are committed to people's democracy. The 1.4 billion Chinese people have truly become the masters of the country, society and their own lives. In the whole-process democracy, the Chinese people enjoy the most extensive, real and useful democracy.

We believe that the greatest human right is a happy life for the people. We have brought a historic solution to absolute poverty and achieved the poverty reduction goal of the UN 2030 Agenda 10 years ahead of schedule.

We put people and their lives top on our agenda, and have achieved strategic progress in epidemic prevention and control at home. In addition, we have provided more than 1.85 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to over 120 countries and international organizations, more than any other country in the world.

We are proud that the Chinese people are enjoying better human rights, and making positive contributions to the global human rights cause.

The promotion and protection of human rights is a dynamic process. The world today faces numerous grave challenges. We must continue our unremitting efforts for the goal of equality.

To realize equality, we must first ensure fair distribution of vaccines. People’s lives shall be put front and center amid this raging pandemic. And vaccines should reach more countries, developing countries in particular, at a faster pace and lower cost, so that we can close the immunity gap as soon as possible.

To realize equality, we must resolutely eliminate racism and racial discrimination. The specter of racism still lingers in some countries, triggering inequality, oppression and violence. The international community must fully and effectively implement the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, and take practical actions to jointly create a social environment free from discrimination.

To realize equality, we must respect the rights of people in all countries to independently choose their own development paths. Human rights are universal, but the paths towards them are diverse, and the best ones are the fitting ones. Countries should strengthen exchanges and mutual learning in order to find the human rights development path that best suits their own national conditions and people’s needs. It has been proven time and again that democracy or human rights models imposed from the outside do not work.

To realize equality, we must reject politicization and double standards. Human rights and democracy are not the privilege of a few countries, still less a tool to be used to blow one’ own trumpet, form closed blocs or provoke a new Cold War. Some are using human rights and democracy as a pretext to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, provoke confrontations and willfully impose unilateral sanctions. What they are doing brings the biggest damage to human rights and democracy.

The pursuit of better human rights is an ongoing process and China will not stop its efforts in this regard. Let’s join hands to make our world a better place and achieve human rights for all.

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