Wellbeing improved

Before 1949, the Chinese people, living in a country torn by wars and conflicts, could not really speak much of human rights. Once labelled as the "Sick Man of East Asia," life expectancy at the beginning of the new republic was around 35 years, according to official data.

And it rose to 77 years in 2018. Besides, maternal and infant mortality also decreased substantially, from 1,500 per 100 thousand and 200 per thousand 70 years ago, respectively, to 18.3 per 100 thousand and 6.1 per thousand in 2018, both meeting the Millennium Development Goals ahead of schedule.

Thanks to a community-level health service system covering Chinese urban and rural areas, the number of health service institutions increased to 987,000 in 2017, up by 480 percent from 1978, with the number of health professionals soaring by 260 percent to 8.98 million in 2017. Basic public health services have also improved, with national vaccination coverage among children topping 90 percent.

China used to be an illiterate country around 1949, where 80 percent of its people could not write. In 2018, average years of schooling for those aged 15 and above were 9.6, and the figure for the working-age population was 10.5, according to a white paper on China's progress in human rights issued by China's State Council Information Office in December 2018.

"It's an example for many other countries to learn, to see where China came from and what China is today," Namibian Ambassador in Geneva Penda A. Naanda said at the exhibition.

"Poverty alleviation is one of them. Agriculture, education, health, and of course technology ... so those are just among the areas that are highlighted by the exhibition which is very important," Naanda said.

"Contextual implementation"

"The secret to all of this lies in the way we promote human rights in China -- knowing our own realities, putting the people's interests above all else, and promoting human rights through development, the rule of law, and greater openness," said Chen.

In a congratulatory letter to a symposium marking the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Beijing last December, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China has been combining the principle of human rights' universality with the reality of modern times and staying committed to a path of human rights development that fits the Chinese context.

In the eyes of Tom Zwart, a professor at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands, China's practice is a "contextual implementation."

Human rights are universal, but implementation is contextual, Zwart said Monday afternoon at a side event in the Palais des Nations, adding that the Chinese approach "is rooted in the Chinese ideal of harmony. And harmony will be achieved by diversity."

"We don't have to be completely universal. We can also be diverse. And that's a very important ingredient of reaching harmony," said Zwart, also convener of the Cross-cultural Human Rights Network, which was established in Beijing in 2014 to familiarize Northern audiences with Southern ideas, concepts and theories on human rights.

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