Chinese Ambassador Sha
Zukang said in Geneva Friday that national and regional
particularities should be fully considered by the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) when it
carries out its activities for strengthening national human rights
protection mechanism.??
Sha made the remarks on behalf of developing countries in
response to High Commissioner Louise Arbour's annual report
submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights, the main UN human
rights body.
"In her report, the High Commissioner highlighted the importance
of strengthening national human rights protection mechanism," Sha
said at the 61st annual session of the commission.
"Though human rights are universal, the significance of national
and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and
religious backgrounds must be borne in mind. It is hardly possible
to have a uniform human rights protection system," he added.
As to economic, social and cultural rights and the right to
development, the Chinese ambassador said that although the OHCHR
has done a lot to advocate and promote these rights during past
years, even today they are still not universally accepted as basic
human rights.
Many countries, especially developing countries, are still faced
with impediments in realizing these rights, especially the right to
development, and their reasonable requests have not been met with
satisfaction, he said.
"There still lacks an international environment conducive to
their realization," he added.
(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2005)