By He Yin, People’s Daily
The 2026 Forum on Global Human Rights Governance was held in Beijing from June 11 to 12.
Under the theme “Joint Development, Shared Human Rights: The 40th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development and a New Vision for Global Human Rights Governance,” the forum has provided an important platform for countries around the world to explore new approaches to protecting human rights.
It has also sent a positive message to the international community about solidarity, cooperation, and joint efforts to improve global human rights governance.
In 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the Forum on Global Human Rights Governance.
In that letter, he pointed out that China stands for safeguarding human rights with security, promoting human rights with development, and advancing human rights with cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect and equality.
This has charted course for strengthening global human rights governance and advancing the international human rights cause.
China remains committed to pursuing a path of human rights development that is consistent with the trend of the times and fits its national conditions.
It has implemented four national human rights action plans and continuously improved human rights protection in the course of advancing Chinese modernization, achieving historic progress in the development of its human rights cause.
At the opening ceremony of the forum, China released the full text of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2026-2030), demonstrating its firm commitment to improving people’s well-being and injecting valuable certainty and positive energy into global human rights governance at a time of turbulence and transformation.
Security is the foundation for human rights. Without a peaceful and stable environment, the protection of all other rights becomes impossible. In the face of growing global security deficits, the international community should put the Global Security Initiative into practice and safeguard human rights through security.
The misleading claim that “human rights override sovereignty” must be firmly rejected. The principle of non-interference in internal affairs, a “golden rule” governing relations among states, must be upheld. Each country’s path of human rights development should be determined in light of its own national conditions and the wishes of its people.
The international community should also resolutely oppose the hegemonic practice of certain countries that weaponize human rights and apply double standards at will. The patronizing posture of self-appointed “human rights lecturers” should be discarded, and political interference in global human rights governance should be eliminated in order to safeguard the fundamental order of the international human rights cause.
Development is essential to people’s well-being and provides tangible material support to fulfill human rights, meaning human rights protection cannot exist in isolation from inclusive growth. For the vast majority of developing countries, the rights to subsistence and development stand as the primary basic human rights.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development. The international community should seize this milestone to fully carry forward the Global Development Initiative and elevate the right to development to a more prominent position on the multilateral human rights agenda.
China advocates for mobilizing development resources and improving people’s livelihoods through international cooperation, including high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. It also supports stronger equal protection for women, children, seniors, people living with disabilities, and other specific groups.
Through inclusive and universally beneficial development, the foundations of human rights can be further consolidated, ensuring that progress in human rights is truly visible, tangible, and accessible to all.
This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Human Rights Council. At this new juncture, global human rights governance must adhere more firmly to true multilateralism and uphold the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.
There is no one-size-fits-all model for human rights development. Multilateral human rights organizations should serve as platforms for constructive dialogue and cooperation among all parties, rather than arenas for bloc confrontation and group politics.
The international community should advance the Global Governance Initiative, conducting dialogue on the basis of equality and mutual respect while adhering to the principles of fairness, objectivity, non-selectivity, and non-politicization.
At the same time, all nations should put the Global Civilization Initiative into practice, respect the diversity of civilizations and each country’s independently chosen path of human rights development, and oppose attempts to impose one country’s model or preferences on others. The international community should firmly reject efforts to politicize, instrumentalize, or weaponize human rights.
As profound changes unseen in a century accelerate, global human rights governance faces severe challenges, yet it also presents opportunities for historic transformation. Only through joint efforts to improve global human rights governance and advance the progress of human rights civilization can the world effectively address the challenges of the times and work together to build a community with a shared future for humanity.
China stands ready to work with all countries to uphold a sound approach to human rights, advance humanity’s shared values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, and jointly steer global human rights governance toward greater fairness, justice, equity and inclusiveness, so that the progress of human civilization delivers tangible benefits to people across the globe.
Advancing human rights for benefit of all peoples
