The right to development and the relationship between national stability and the protection of human rights emerged as key themes of the 2026 China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights held in Paris on Thursday, where scholars and experts from China and Europe called for a more inclusive and development-oriented understanding of human rights amid growing uncertainty.
The seminar was launched in 2015 at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. For a whole decade, it has brought together academics, diplomats and policy experts to discuss the challenges facing global human rights governance in an increasingly multipolar world.
Hussein Askary, vice-chairman of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden, said the right to development should be understood as a fundamental human right.
"Human beings must, first of all, have enough food, clothing, housing, healthcare and education. These are the basic rights people should enjoy," Askary said.
He argued that human rights should not be reduced to abstract political concepts detached from material conditions.
"Once people are educated and healthy, they become productive members of society," he said. "The highest level of human existence comes in the ability to practice our creative powers and contribute through science, culture and philosophy."
Askary also criticized what he described as double standards in Western human rights discourse, pointing to conflicts in Iraq, Libya and Gaza.
"Human rights can become less of a genuine universal principle and more of a geopolitical tool serving the interests of major powers," he said.
Adrian Severin, former deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Romania, stressed that effective human rights protection depends on the existence of a stable and functioning state.
"Individuals naturally seek freedoms and rights, but those rights can only become real if the state is strong enough to protect them," Severin said. "If the state and the community are weak, then individual rights also become weak, fragile and largely symbolic."
Historical traditions
He said human rights systems are shaped by each country's historical traditions and cultural foundations, and warned against imposing a single model on all societies.
Richard Trappl, former director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna, also emphasized the importance of development and social cohesion in safeguarding human rights. "If a political system can provide people with development, stability and solidarity, then human rights are embedded within that system itself," he said.
Tian Feilong, vice-dean of the Law School of Minzu University of China, said both China and Europe have long histories of contributing to human civilization and global governance.
He said China-Europe human rights dialogue should move beyond ideological confrontation and help build "a new form of human rights" based on civilizational diversity, equality among nations and peaceful development.
Tang Jianjun, secretary-general of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, stressed the importance of China and Europe exchanging views on human rights at the seminar, expressing hope that it will play a bigger role in the future.
If China and the EU stick to equal dialogue, respect differences, and expand human rights cooperation, they can narrow disputes, strengthen cooperation, and support global human rights progress, the conference concluded.
