Safeguard the People’s Rights and Interests in Environmental Health and Improve the Well-Being of the People’s Ecological Environment

YU Hai

Human rights are the symbol of progress of human civilization. Respecting and protecting human rights is the common ideal of all states and their people in the world today. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has regarded promoting the development of human rights as an important task of the governance of China. He has answered major questions such as what human rights are, how to promote the development of China’s human rights cause, and how to promote global human rights governance. His actions reflect contemporary China’s outlook on human rights. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “The path of human rights development in each state shall be determined based on its national conditions and the aspirations of its people.” Contemporary China’s outlook on human rights has a unique cultural tradition, historical background, and development path. It is rich in content and profound in thought. One of its most important aspects is to ensure that people have the right to live in a healthy, safe, and comfortable ecological environment. In 2022, the United Nations General Assembly also adopted a resolution on the right to a healthy environment, recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right. Protecting the people’s environmental health rights and interests and enhancing their ecological and environmental well-being are major practices in implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping’s human rights concept in the field of ecological civilization. They are also the core purpose of the close integration of Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization thought with his human rights concept. I have the following three main understandings of this.