Mario Marazziti, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of the Lower House of Italian Parliament, hailed China's human rights achievement over the years as "a major development" during a forum in Beijing on Thursday.

Mario Marazziti, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of the Lower House of Italian Parliament, hails China's human rights achievement over the years as "a major development" during a two-day forum on China's human rights in Beijing. [Photo by Zhang Lulu/China.org.cn]

"A terrific change in human rights in China"

"I feel there has been a terrific change of human rights in China. The loosening of the one-child policy and the abolition of the 're-education through labor' system shows the will of the country to create more harmony and be less harsh," Mario Marazziti said.

He and more than 100 officials and human rights experts from the United Nations and 30 countries and regions attended the Seventh Beijing Forum on Human Rights from Sept. 17 to 18.

Marazziti acknowledged that the complexity of problems in China is mainly due to its huge population, comprised of more than 50 ethnic groups with different cultures.

"[The improvement of] human rights is a process, it is not something that one can teach somebody else. Human rights cannot be exported," Marazziti said.

As to the accusations that are often leveled against China, Marazziti believes that they are sometimes to do with the different political systems of China and other countries, but he also said that some accusations are targeted at Western countries, not China.

"We also criticize Europe and America, because sometimes I have the feeling that there is a double standard. But still, sometimes it is Europeans that criticize Europeans, not China," he added.

"I think the West is dreaming of China [becoming] a Western democracy, but this is wrong, because China is China. At the same time, China can invent for itself a new path to freedom and democracy for all."

Marazziti called for Western countries and China to learn from each other.

"We'd like to learn from China's sense of community to (balance) too much individualism in the West, but China can also be more open."

Reducing death penalty - "A big development"

An advocate of the abolition of the death penalty, Marazziti is convinced that the death penalty does not necessarily prevent people from committing serious crimes, and there are other ways to stop crimes.

According to Marazziti, only 20 countries in the world had abolished the death penalty as of 1971, but now only 49 countries in the UN opposed a resolution that called for abolition of capital punishment.

As to China, Marazziti said that improving human rights will take time due to the complexities of problems.

But he also acknowledged China's effort in decreasing the number of death penalty cases, for example China has revoked the right from prefectural courts to give the death penalty.

"It is a big development." he said.

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