Oct. 29, 2019 -- A sideline meeting on the right to development was held by China’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) and the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS) on Oct.25th at the UN headquarters in New York. About 100 guests including ambassadors, senior officials from the Division of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN and UN Permanent Mission representatives of nearly 40 countries, attended the meeting.

 

Zhang Jun, Representative of China’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, said that global development is still imbalanced and inadequate and the international community should attach great importance to the right to development. We should respect all countries’ different choices of social systems, development paths and human rights protection modes. The Chinese government has always put development as a priority in its governance and regarded the right to subsistence and the right to development as primary human rights. China has carved a path of human rights development with Chinese characteristics and made remarkable achievements. China is sincere in helping other developing countries to realize the right to development and its aid has no political strings attached.

 

Wang Linxia, deputy secretary general of the CSHRS, said China takes a people-centered approach in its human rights development. Economic developments are the basis for realizing people’s all-round and sustainable development, and in particular for improving the living conditions and equal rights to development and opportunities for women, children, the elderly and the disabled.

 

Attendees agreed that the right to development is crucial to realizing the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. They spoke highly of China’s achievements in human rights development, and called for the international community to promote multilateralism and join forces to tackle challenges of poverty and development imbalance.