President,
China welcomes the General Assembly's adoption by consensus of the draft resolution on the status of the Human Rights Council, maintaining the HRC as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly (GA). We appreciate the efforts of Ireland and Senegal as co-facilitators.
As the main human rights body of the United Nations, the HRC is one of the core platforms for addressing human rights issues and promoting human rights governance. Two decades ago, it replaced the original Human Rights Commission and became a subsidiary body of the GA with enhanced status, wider functions, and further optimized institutional arrangements. During its 20 years of development, it has played a crucial role in promoting and protecting human rights globally. Its current status and mandated functions can fully meet the needs of its work. That said, recent years have seen acute politicization and weaponization of the HRC's work. It is therefore an urgent priority to ensure the impartiality, objectivity, and non-selectivity of its work.
The status review concerns the future of the HRC's development. More importantly, it concerns the vital interests of the membership. China's position has been consistent: The review process should be member states-driven, focus on the current status of the HRC, and avoid conflation with the UN80 reform or the HRC's efficiency process. Such a position is in line with the mandate of UNGA Resolution 65/281 and enables member states to maximize consensus and minimize divergences.
Over the past few months, China has acted in a responsible and constructive way in relevant discussions and consultations, focused on key issues, stayed action-oriented, fully taken into account concerns of all parties, and demonstrated flexibility. It is thanks to the joint efforts of the Global South countries that the final text saw substantive improvements, made clear that the HRC status would remain a subsidiary body of the GA, and decided to revisit the issue in the next 10 to 15 years. This has provided solid legal basis and guarantee for the strict mandate delivery by and effective functioning of the HRC.
President,
HRC's status review is an important opportunity to renew commitment to its founding purpose and ensure its development is fit for the times. Human rights are shaped by histories, specificities, and realities. They cannot be divorced from the social and political conditions and historical and cultural traditions of different countries. When assessing whether human rights are upheld in a country, one must refrain from using the standards of other countries, still less using double standards, or using human rights as a political tool to interfere in the internal affairs of others. The UN must not be turned into a forum for pressure campaigns and confrontations. This not only contradicts the original purpose of protecting human rights, undermines international human rights dialogue and cooperation, but also severely erodes the authority and convening power of multilateral human rights mechanisms. It will only result in worsening deficits in global human rights governance.
We must uphold sovereign equality, observe international rule of law, practice multilateralism, champion a people-centered approach, and stay action-oriented. We need to strengthen unity and cooperation within the UN, set the right course of human rights governance and improve the effectiveness of human rights governance. This includes promoting the impartial and objective work of the Council, promote all human rights in a balanced manner, steer clear of politicization, increase input in capacity building and technical assistance for developing countries, take practical steps to respond to global human rights challenges, and make global human rights governance fairer, more just, equitable, and inclusive.
China attaches great importance to respecting and protecting human rights. In the course of Chinese modernization, stronger steps are taken to protect human rights. China has been elected six times as an HRC member. We have been committed to participating in, advocating, and promoting global human rights governance. We will continue to work with all parties, stay true to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, promote the common values of humanity, and jointly build a just, equitable, and inclusive global system for human rights governance, and endeavor to ensure the HRC better fulfills its mandate and duties.
Thank you.