Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China

China promotes the reform of UN human rights bodies, and played an important role in establishing the UNHRC and making the international human rights mechanism fairer, more objective and transparent. Together with other developing countries, it assists the UNHRC to review human rights issues in a fair, objective, nonselective and general manner. China supports the UNHRC in establishing specialized mechanisms for securing safe drinking water, cultural rights, and the rights of persons with disabilities, in calling for special conferences on food security and the global financial crisis, and in improving the international mechanisms for protecting human rights. China supports the necessary reform of the human rights treaty bodies, promoting dialogue and cooperation between the treaty bodies and signatory states on the basis of mutual respect.

Advocating and conducting international exchanges and cooperation concerning human rights. China prioritizes communication, exchanges, and cooperation with other countries in the field of human rights, and is committed to conducting constructive dialogue and consultations on human rights on the basis of mutual respect, openness, inclusiveness, communication and mutual learning. Since the 1990s, China has established dialogue and consultation mechanisms for human rights protection with more than 20 other countries. China has organized dialogues on human rights with international organizations and Western countries, including the US, the EU, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand, and held consultations on human rights with Russia, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Malaysia, Pakistan, Belarus, Cuba, and the African Union. Since 1996, China has conducted technical cooperation on human rights with Australia and Switzerland. The China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS) and other human rights NGOs in China have organized teams to visit dozens of countries in Asia, North America, South America, Europe, Oceania and Africa, and invited government officials, experts and academics on human rights from various countries to visit China, which has increased mutual understanding and trust. In recent years, China has hosted several international seminars on human rights, including the Informal Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Seminar on Human Rights, the Beijing Forum on Human Rights, the International Seminar on the 30th Anniversary of the Adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, the South-South Human Rights Forum, the China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights, the International Seminar on Human Rights and Museology, the Sino-American Dialogue on the Rule of Law and Human Rights, and the China-Germany Seminar on Human Rights, which increased China's circle of friends in exchange and cooperation on human rights, and enlarged mutual understanding with other countries in this regard.