Only by abandoning double standards and restoring principles of equality can the UN Commission on Human Rights maintain objectivity and fairness, said Chinese Ambassador Sha Zukang yesterday at the 58th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR).

He said the UNCHR, the leading human rights body in the UN, should be a forum for countries to exchange views and hold dialogue, with a level playing field, on ways to improve human rights around the world.

"Unfortunately it has turned into a battlefield for ideological confrontation," Sha said.

He said in recent years, almost all country-specific resolutions that have been adopted were targeted against developing nations.

This has left people with a false impression that human rights problems are caused by third world countries while developed countries are seemingly without fault, he said.

"The statements made by some developed countries in this hall are full of high-sounding jargon, but what they have done is quite another story," he added.

The Chinese ambassador to UN in Geneva also gave accounts of human rights achievements by the Chinese Government.

"In the past year, the Chinese Government kept up its efforts to develop the economy. The government is also open and active in promoting international exchanges and cooperation in the field of human rights," he said.

(China Daily April 9, 2002)