The 2026 Forum on Global Human Rights Governance has opened in Beijing, focusing on joint development and shared human rights. Policymakers and experts at the forum will discuss a new vision of global human rights governance. Amid global challenges such as climate change and inequality, participants from the Global South are calling for a more balanced approach that puts development and people's well-being at the center. Cen Ziyuan reports.

Climate change, conflict and widening inequality continue to reshape global development challenges – and the human rights agenda.

In Beijing, the focus has returned to a key question: how development can better deliver human rights for all.

MIAO DEYU Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs "This year's forum focuses on the theme of 'joint development, shared human rights.' In response to changes in the global human rights landscape and in reflection of the international community's common call, it provides a valuable platform for in-depth exchanges."

China says it supports a human rights path suited to national conditions and calls for a more inclusive and balanced global governance system with the release of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China for the next five years at Thursday's event.

CEN ZIYUAN Beijing "The concept of human rights might seem vague here, but it is relevant to our day-to-day life. Chinese President Xi Jinping has emphasized that 'the rights to subsistence and development are the primary basic human rights,' and that 'a happy life for the people is the ultimate human right.'"

SURYA DEVA UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development "In this time, a forum like this offers an opportunity for us to have dialogue together about the importance of human rights. Because without promoting human rights and inclusive, sustainable, and participatory development, we cannot really achieve peace. Without peace, we cannot secure human rights and development."

Participants from developing countries at the forum stressed that development is central to addressing human rights challenges.

They also called for stronger international cooperation to reduce inequality and close development gaps.

JORGE ALBERTO DA SILVA BORGES Former Cabo Verdean Minister of Foreign Affairs "We face the drought, those climate change and we have limited resources. We learn that without development, without water, without housing and food security, otherwise remain out of reach. So development for us is not a luxury. It is a pre-condition to dignity."

MISENGA MONIKA MALISSA Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in China "Overall, these discussions benefit everyone. This forum on global human rights governance is especially important at a time when the world faces growing inequalities. I believe participants will use these meetings to learn from one another and find common ground to promote development in the field of human rights."

Participants stressed that the right to development remains essential to addressing global human rights challenges. They called for deeper cooperation to bridge divides, reduce inequality and ensure development benefits are more widely shared.

As discussions continue, a common message emerges – the need for a more inclusive global human rights governance system that better reflects the priorities and experiences of developing countries.