A Chinese human rights expert has called for the rule of law to be applied when handling human rights and development issues.

To improve the capacity and level of human rights protection through scientific development and to smooth relations between human rights and development, law-based governance is needed, Luo Haocai, president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS), said at the opening ceremony of the Third Beijing Forum on Human Rights, which started Tuesday.

Luo also stressed the idea that human rights should not be allowed to be reduced to a political tool.

"We should respect 'res judicata (the binding force)' of judicial decisions. We should not carp on about binding verdicts made by domestic or foreign courts," he said.

Progress in modernization development and human rights are long-pursued goals of the Chinese government and the people, Wang Chen, director of the Information Office of the State Council, said at the opening ceremony.

The improvement and development of human rights in China is obvious and China will continue to make unremitting efforts to respect and protect human rights, Wang said.

The Beijing Forum on Human Rights is sponsored by the CSHRS. The theme of this year's theme is "Human Rights and Development."

About 100 senior human rights officials and experts from 28 countries and China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and international organizations including the United Nations, joined their Chinese mainland counterparts at this year's forum.