China's human rights achievements 'significant,' experts say

China's achievements in human rights over the past seven decades are "significant," experts said here Monday during a side-event of the 42nd regular session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN).

The event, titled "70 Years of the Development of Human Rights in New China," was held by China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS) at the Palais des Nations.

In 1949, China's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was only 27 U.S. dollars, the average education period was less than one year, and the average life expectancy was less than 35 years, said Wu Leifen, deputy secretary-general of the CSHRS.

"Before the founding of new China (the People's Republic of China), war and poverty meant that the Chinese people had no human rights of which to speak," said Wu.

After 70 years, China can feed and clothe more than 1.3 billion people, provide stable employment for 770 million people, have nine years of compulsory education, and build the world's most extensive social security system, she said, adding Chinese life expectancy increased to 77 years in 2018.

At the same time, China's democracy and rule of law continue to advance human rights protection in the judicial field. It has made significant progress, and people's rights and freedoms are more extensive, she said.

"It can be said that in the past 70 years, China's human rights cause has been fully developed," said Wu.

Mao Junxiang from the Center for Human Rights Studies at China's Central South University said that China has formed a socialist human rights system with Chinese characteristics for enrichment and development.

"In the past 70 years, China has made great efforts to promote the rule of law, to create a good social environment for the protection of human rights and has thus made significant contributions to the development of the diversity of human civilization," Mao said.

Jinzhe Wangjiu, a researcher of China Tibetology Research Center, said that all Chinese ethnic groups participate in China's affairs equally, and that China respects the religious beliefs of all ethnic groups and the freedom to use and develop minority languages.

A key to China's human rights protection is its linkage of human rights to the achievement of all-round human development, said Chang Jian, director of the Center for Human Rights Studies at China's Nankai University.

China's economic, political, social and cultural development and the improvement of the level of human rights protection are synchronized, Chang said.

Tom Zwart, a law professor at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands, highlighted China's commitment to the international order and multilateralism.

China's calling for the building of a community with a shared future for mankind is "a very important notion put to the future to the international human rights system," Zwart said.