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Former UN chief praises China's reform progress
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-02-07 20:46
Former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali said that China is doing
much to introduce economic, political and democratic reforms in an interview
published in the latest issue of the Human Rights magazine.
Boutros Ghali, also President of Arab Republic of Egypt National Council of
Human Rights, aired his views on human rights in China and the world as a whole.
Ghali said, it is obvious that the awareness of the culture of human rights
is increasing among the Nations. The governments are on the track of
establishing national commissions for the protection of human rights.
Furthermore, there is a rapid increase in the number of Non-Governmental
Organizations working in this field.
"However, we still can see clearly that the respect of human rights in the
world has not yet reached the optimum level. There are many obstacles hindering
the proper application of human rights' principles such as, poverty, wars,
political interests, and cultural diversity," Ghali said. He also noted that
since the tragic events of September 11th in New York and in Washington, in many
countries concerns for security have taken precedence over some human rights
principles.
On the present human rights situation in China, Ghali said that there is no
doubt that China is doing much to introduce economic, political and democratic
reforms including supporting and encouraging Human Rights norms in Chinese
society.
For example, in 2004 the Human Rights issue had been considered as an
important aim to be achieved, in a way that the Chinese parliament made many
amendments in the Chinese constitution to protect human rights. The China
Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS) is already playing an important role
and will play a more important role with the economic and social development of
China, he said.
Boutros Ghali said that nowadays Egyptian people cherish freedom, democracy,
and the respect for human rights. They desire more economic, political and
social development to be persistently sought out of self-motivation and without
any external prompting.
Hence, there are more than 20 non-governmental organizations in Egypt that
deal with the human rights situation and defend the rights of Egyptian citizens
against human rights violations regardless of the identity of the affiliation of
the victims or the violators, said Ghali.
He pointed that the National Council for Human Rights was established in
Egypt in 2003 to preserve human rights, develop people's awareness of human
rights norms, and guarantee the practice of human rights in Egypt. The
establishment of the National Council for Human Rights is an important step
towards democracy and maintaining citizen's rights, and it realizes one of the
most important international criteria set by the United Nations.
Ghali visited the CSHRS last year, the largest organization specializing in
human rights studies in China, and decided on cooperation between Egyptian
Commission of Human Rights and the CSHRS.
"We are still at the beginning of the cooperation, but I am sure that the
political will exists in both Beijing and Cairo to promote the relations between
our two institutions," he said.
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