China Calls for Reaffirming the Original Intent of Promoting and Protecting Human Rights at the United Nations Human Rights Council

On the 16th, local time, the 61st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council held a general debate on country-specific human rights issues. In her speech, Li Xiaomei, Deputy Head of the Chinese delegation and Minister-Counselor, emphasized that March 15 marks the 20th anniversary of the UN General Assembly resolution that established the Human Rights Council. However, multilateralism and the global human rights cause are currently facing unprecedented challenges. Regional developments have a profound impact on international peace and security, bringing human rights and humanitarian disasters. The politicization, instrumentalization, and double standards of human rights are becoming ever more pronounced. All 13 country-specific mechanisms of the Human Rights Council are directed at developing countries; the country-specific mechanisms cost tens of millions of dollars, yet the human rights issues that truly require attention have not received sufficient focus. China calls on all parties to take the 20th anniversary of the Human Rights Council’s establishment as an opportunity to revisit the original intention behind promoting and protecting human rights, carry out dialogue and cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect, and do some solid, practical things to advance the human rights cause. (CCTV News)