The international community should cooperate in the spirit of
solidarity to complement national efforts in implementing the right
to development, Chinese Ambassador Sha Zukang said Tuesday at the
60th annual session of the United Nations Commission on Human
Rights (CHR).
“The right to development is an inalienable human right. It is
necessary to create an enabling environment at the international
level,” said Sha, who is also chief of the Chinese delegation to
the CHR session being held from March 15 to April 23.
“A fair, equitable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading
system and effective participation in international decision-making
is indispensable for developing countries to realize the right to
development,” he said.
Sha made the remarks on behalf of the Like Minded Group of
States (LMG), which was founded in 1997 and reflects developing
countries’ opinions on human rights.
The LMG comprises Algeria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cuba,
Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan,
the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
Describing the challenge of realizing this right as “daunting,”
the ambassador noted that “most of the developing countries,
including the least developed countries, are becoming more and more
marginalized in the process and their basic right to survival is
under threat.”
“The LMG believes that states bear the primary responsibility
for the realization of the right to development,” Sha said.
“Development should be human-centered. Development strategies
should be well-balanced and well-coordinated in terms of rural and
urban, coastal and inland, economic and social, environment and
development etc. Only thus can a country’s development be
sustainable, and its people be the beneficiaries,” he said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2004)