Abstract: There are two approaches to international human rights development. One is the human rights approach of the United States and other western countries, which advocates the realization of human rights through the promotion of Western freedom and democracy. The other is the human rights approach of China and many developing countries, which advocates promoting human rights through development. There are significant differences in the actual effectiveness of the two different human rights approaches. The human rights approach of Western countries failed to significantly improve the human rights situation in most developing countries, while the approach of “promoting human rights through development” is becoming increasingly attractive. The Global Development Initiative put forward by China has opened up bright prospects for global human rights development. 

 

Keywords: Development; Human Rights; Global Development Initiative

 

Promotion of human rights has become the common goal of the international community since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, there are significantly different approaches on how to promote human rights development in developing countries, especially the least developed countries. The United States and other western countries advocate the realization of human rights by promoting Western freedom and democracy, while China and many other developing countries advocate the promotion of human rights by promoting economic and social development. The two different human rights approaches reflect the two different views of human rights and the actual results are also significantly different. The human rights approach of Western countries failed to significantly improve the human rights situation in most developing countries, while the approach of “promoting human rights through development” is becoming increasingly attractive.

 

 

For a long time, the United States and other western countries have been promoting Western political systems, ideologies and value concept to developing countries, and making every endeavor to induce them to copy Western human rights models. The United States and other western countries take advantage of their dominant position in public opinion transmission, education, academic, culture and entertainment to constantly indoctrinate Western concepts of human rights into the developing countries, and claim that western human rights are the best social form and way of life in the world and the development direction of human society. Through official and unofficial channels, the United States and other Western countries have extensively infiltrated the governments and social organizations in developing countries, funded a large number of organizations and individuals in developing countries who agreed with the Western concept of human rights, and even taught anti-government propaganda, organization and action techniques in a targeted way to help them carry out anti-government protests and demonstrations, so as to ultimately realize change of government. The United States and other western governments openly interfere in other countries' internal affairs, engage in human rights diplomacy, link human rights with assistance, and coerce other countries into changing their domestic human rights policies. Meanwhile, they instigated, planned and supported Color Revolutions, openly supported anti-government violence and forced the government not to use force to maintain order. The United States and other western countries resorted to a variety of sanctions and coercion against countries that refused to accept their human rights model, and forced these countries to change their domestic policies in accordance with the requirements of the West. The United States and other western countries have repeatedly used force against other countries on the grounds of human rights, occupied the territories and overthrew legitimate governments of other countries, and supported the government that adhered to Western concepts of freedom, democracy and human rights to come to power.

 

After the Cold War, the United States and other western countries exclusively dominated the world and accelerated the output of western human rights. For a while, the Western human rights approach became the model, and most developing countries accepted the Western human rights approach to some extent. However, the dominance of western human rights didn’t bring about significant improvement of global human rights conditions. In addition to the deteriorating human rights conditions in the United States and other western countries, most developing countries that followed the western human rights approach didn’t significantly improved their human rights conditions, and human rights conditions in some countries even deteriorated. Failure of western human rights approach led to slow development of global human rights and serious human rights problems. First, the right to subsistence is a serious problem. According to the Least Developed Countries Report 2020 released by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), GDP per capita of the least developed countries was 1,088 US dollars, only 8.8% of the world average level. The number of people living in extreme poverty was huge. There are 700 million people living in extreme poverty living on less than 1.90 US dollars a day, with an extreme poverty rate of 10%.[Sustainable Development Goals, website of the United Nations, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/zh/poverty/.] Of the 47 least developed countries, more than one third of the people lived in extreme poverty.[The COVID-19 Exacerbates Poverty in the Least Developed Countries, Economic Daily, December 10, 2020] Global malnourished population increased to 768 million, and the global incidence of malnutrition rose to 9.9%, with the incidence of malnutrition reaching 23.1% in the least developed countries.[Center for International Knowledge on Development, China: World Development Report, June 20, 2022, website of International Knowledge on Development, China, http://www.cikd.org/detail?docId=1538692405216194562.] Second, the rights to education and health and women's rights are not sufficiently protected. In low-income countries, 19% of children aged 6-11 and 61% of children aged 15-17 were deprived of education.[UNESCO: 12 Million Children will not be Able to Attend School if No Urgent Action is Taken, September 18, 2019, website of National Working Committee on Children and Women under State Council, https://www.nwccw.gov.cn/2019-09/18/content_270809.htm.] Around a third of the world's people still used unimproved sanitation facilities, and more than 900 million people had to relieve the bowls anywhere.[Which Millennium Development Goals have been Achieved and which have not been Achieved, September 26, 2015, Xinhuanet, http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2015-09/26/c_128270086.htm.] Large numbers of people don’t have access to necessary health services. Several millions of children under the age of 5 die every year, and life expectancy of people in low-income countries is at least 10 years less than that of people in high-income countries.[World health statistics 2022, 19 May 2022, World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240051157.] In 2019, 33.5 % of working class women in the least developed countries were living in poverty. Violence against women and girls intensified and the female's access to education and employment reduced since the COVID-19.[Global Promotion and Actual Challenges of the 2030 Agenda, China Women's News, February 22, 2022.] Third, civil and political rights are not fully realized. Many developing countries suffer from internal, racial and ethnic conflicts. In these countries, rule of law is imperfect; and the personal safety and freedom of citizens couldn’t be effectively guaranteed. Wars, violence and persecution had caused a large number of people displaced; and the number of refugees was more than doubled compared with ten years ago and reached 89.30 million at the end of 2021.[Strengthening International Cooperation to Promote Peace and Inclusive Development, People's Daily, June 21, 2022.] Although most developing countries copy the Western political system and carry out elections, they have not achieved effective citizens' participation in political affairs, and most people are excluded from the political process and do not have the right to directly or indirectly manage the country.

 

 

After the Cold War, China is one of the few developing countries that explicitly refuse to adopt the western approach of human rights. In light of the national condition, China has chosen a new approach of promoting human rights through development. China believes that development is of overriding importance, and development holds the master key to solving all problems. Development is the key to the solution of all China's problems and to the promotion of human rights in China. Development is the fundamental way to realize human rights. China has always been giving top priority to economic construction and taking economic development as the central task of the state. Upholding economic construction as the central task, China stresses that they will seize every opportunity to accelerate development and solve problems on the way forward through development, promote all-round social progress and constantly improve the people's living standards on the basis of economic development.  Economic development has become the biggest consensus of Chinese society.  Governments and officials at all levels (from the central to the local level), have taken economic development as their top priority, consciously coordinated all their work with the overall situation of economic development, and made every effort to develop the economy, and thus achieved 40 years of rapid economic growth. From 1978 to 2017, China's GDP increased by more than 200 times from RMB 367.9 billion to RMB 82712.2 billion; the per capita GDP rose from RMB 385 to 59,660, a 22.8-fold actual growth and an average annual real growth of 8.5%.[The State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China: Progress in Human Rights over the 40 Years of Reform and Opening Up in China, December 12, 2018, website of The State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China, http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/ndhf/37884/Document/1643348/1643348.htm.] On the basis of economic development, China's economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights have been developed in an all-round way, and the level of human rights protection has reached a record level. Practice of China's human rights has demonstrated that development is a viable approach to promote human rights and development is crucial to human rights.

 

First, development is the foundation for the realization of all human rights. Human rights are the product of modern social development and closely related to economic and social development. The concept of human rights has gradually taken shape since modern times, and it has become universal human values unanimously recognized by the international community since the 20th century. Only after a country has made considerable progress in modernization and achieved a certain level of economic and social development can human rights be better protected. In a society where the level of economic and social development is very low and people's basic living needs cannot be met, it is impossible to realize a high level of human rights protection. Economic and social development creates necessary conditions for the protection of human rights and is a prerequisite for the realization of a high level of human rights protection. Development is essential for the protection and promotion of human rights. As pointed out by Chinese President Xi Jinping, “only when people of various countries live a good life can prosperity last, safety be guaranteed and human rights have a foundation.”[ Xi Jinping: Forging High-quality Partnership for A New Era of Global Development, People's Daily, June 25, 2022.] Human rights promotion is the purpose of development and the natural process that occurs gradually in the course of development. Of course, although there is generally a positive correlation between economic and social development and human rights protection, economic and social development will not automatically lead to improvement of human rights protection. Government and society still have a lot of work to do to effectively improve the protection of human rights after considerable economic and social development.

 

Second, development directly promotes the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. Economic, social and cultural rights are mainly material and cultural life support provided by the state and society for individuals. In essence, they are a kind of state welfare or social welfare, which requires a large amount of capital input. Many economic, social and cultural rights can only be realized after a certain level of economic development. Everyone has the right to be free from hunger. However, an economically backward country with low production of agricultural products such as grains and insufficient food supplies cannot guarantee that all people will be free from hunger. Only when a country, first of all, produces sufficient food can it possibly distribute the products to the people in need in a suitable way. Similarly, everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living, including clothing, housing, medical care and other social services. However, it requires huge funds for the realization of these rights. Construction of housing has always been one of the main contents of a country's economic activities and an important part of investments. Rise and fall of the housing market can even be a sign of the economic condition. Many people can only live in thatched huts in an underdeveloped economy. Only with highly developed economies can a country afford to provide their citizens with adequate modern housing, i.e., housing with sanitation, heating and other supporting living facilities. The same is true of health care and education. Economic, social and cultural rights can only be an elusive luxury under the background of economic backwardness and widespread poverty. Only after the economic development achieves a certain level can economic, social and cultural rights be realized. To achieve economic, social and cultural rights is actually a redistribution of social resources. Resources can be allocated only after they are created. Without economic and social development, it would be impossible to discuss the protection of economic, social and cultural rights.” Chinese General Secretary    Xi Jinping pointed out that, “Development is the key to people's happiness”.[ Xi Jinping: Bolstering Confidence and Jointly Overcoming Difficulties to Build a Better World, People's Daily, September 22, 2021.] Only on the basis of economic development can educational, medical, cultural and social undertakings be developed. Development of these educational, medical, cultural and social undertakings, in a sense, is the realization of social and cultural rights such as the rights to education, health, culture and subsistence. Therefore, development is not only the premise of economic, social and cultural rights, but also the direct realization of economic, social and cultural rights.  

 

Third, development indirectly promotes the realization of citizens' political rights. Economic and social development promotes political development, and political development promotes the realization of citizens' political rights. Economic development is the basis for political development, and political development is the condition for the realization of citizens' political rights. Political development includes establishment of democratic institutions, construction of a country under the rule of law and modernization of the national governance system. Economic and social development is the foundation of political development. Only when modernization and industrialization have reached a certain level can political development and modernization of democracy, the rule of law and the national governance system be realized. Political development is the foundation of citizens' political rights. Only after the establishment of countries under democratic politics and the rule of law can citizens' political rights be fully protected. Neither can economic, social and cultural rights be fully developed, nor can civil and political rights be effectively guaranteed in countries with very low levels of economic and social development.

 

 

The human rights approach of “promoting human rights through development” has achieved great success, which had been in sharp contrast to the overall failure of the western human rights approach. More and more people have begun to speak positively of China's human rights approach, recognizing the positive significance of this new human rights approach to global human rights progress, especially in developing countries, and urging all countries to follow the path of promoting human rights through development. This new human rights approach has also attracted attention from the international community. During the 41th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in July 2019, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution entitled “The Contribution of the Contribution of Development to the Enjoyment of all Human Rights”, and clearly affirmed the important role of development in the realization of human rights. It called on all countries to advance sustainable development, achieve people-centered development, eradicate poverty, and ensure that sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth benefits all people in order to better enjoy human rights and achieve gender equality.[ The UN Human Rights Council Adopted the Resolution on "the Contribution of Development to the Enjoyment of All Human Rights" Submitted by China, July 13, 2019, website of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.

 

Under the background, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative at the UN General Assembly in 2021, and systematically elaborated on the comprehensive approach to human rights through development. First, priority shall be given to development. The international community should put development in a prominent place in the global macro policy framework, promote development through international cooperation, and accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Second, we should pursue people-centered development and take the needs of the people as the goal of development. In the process of development, we should ensure and improve people's livelihood, share the fruits of development with the people, and protect and promote human rights, especially the rights of women, children and vulnerable groups. Third, we should stay committed to inclusive and mutually-beneficial development. We should support other developing countries through debt relief and development assistance, address the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development among and within countries, achieve comprehensive, equal and equitable development of all countries, and promote the right to development. Fourthly, we should realize green development. Fifthly, we need to give priority to cooperation in poverty reduction, food security, anti-epidemic and vaccines, and financing for development, and provide stronger and more targeted support to other developing countries.[ Bolstering Confidence and Jointly Overcoming Difficulties to Build a Better World, People's Daily, September 22, 2021.] The Global Development Initiative aims to address key and difficult issues in the global human rights field and proposes fundamental solutions, which is of great significance to promoting human rights progress in developing countries.

 

China has been actively implementing the Global Development Initiative and strives to promote global human rights. In June 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the High-level Dialogue on Global Development that China will upgrade the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund to a Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, increase the size of the fund from 3 billion to 4 billion US dollars, and will increase input to the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund.[ Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the High-level Dialogue on Global Development and delivered An Important Speech, People's Daily, June 25, 2022.] China will carry out 32 pragmatic cooperation projects with international partners, especially developing countries, in eight fields, including poverty reduction, food security, anti-epidemic and vaccines, financing for development, climate