Guiding the Improvement and Capacity Building of the International Human Rights System with the Global Governance Initiative

XIAO Junyong*

Abstract: Strengthening international human rights governance is a key objective in the agenda of global governance. At present, the international human rights mechanisms are plagued by an interweaving of old and new problems, showing signs of “dysfunction.” The existing international human rights system is in urgent need of optimization, and its governance capacity requires immediate enhancement. Aligned with international human rights governance in both values and goals, the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) has not only set out the direction, principles, and pathways for reforming international human rights governance, thereby empowering it, but also laid the groundwork for addressing the twin challenges of ‘systemic imbalance and capacity deficiency’ in the international human rights mechanisms. The five core tenets of the GGI — upholding sovereign equality, upholding international rule of law, upholding multilateralism, upholding a people-centered approach, and upholding results-oriented actions — will empower and provide specific guidance for the reform and efficiency improvement of the international human rights governance system.

Keywords: global governance initiative · international human rights governance · international human rights mechanisms