TEHRAN - At the present time, the 79th UN General Assembly is being held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, during which, the Third Committee of the General Assembly is focusing on human rights issues for a general debate. Currently, there are still a few forces that have been making reckless comments on China’s human rights cause. Therefore, I would like to explain this important question and clarify its root cause.

China attaches great importance to the promotion and protection of human rights. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government have always considered the promotion and protection of human rights to be essential. It regards the rights to subsistence and development as the primary and basic human rights, and believes that living a life of contentment is the ultimate human right. It strives to give every person a stronger sense of gain, happiness and security, and applies the principle of universality of human rights to our national realities, scoring a series of new, historic achievements.

China has always taken development as the foundation for human rights and has ensured more effectively the rights to subsistence and development for our people. We have eradicated absolute poverty, once and for all, on our land. We have met the target of poverty reduction set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. We, the over 1.4 billion Chinese people, have achieved moderate prosperity in all respects. We strive for fuller and higher-quality employment. Since 2012, the number of new urban jobs nationwide has exceeded 13 million annually. We have established the world’s largest education, social security, and health care systems. All our people now enjoy more equal access to more fruits and benefits of development. We have always placed the protection of people’s health in a strategic position of priority for development, and the average life expectancy increased to 78.6 years in 2023. We have acted on the idea that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. In 2023, China’s clean energy consumption accounted for 26.4% of total energy, and the scale of renewable energy development and utilization ranked first in the world.

China has stayed true to its principle that all its people enjoy human rights equally, and the rights of all ethnic groups and special groups are fully guaranteed and more effectively protected. The people of all the 56 ethnic groups remain closely united like the seeds of a pomegranate. We see how vibrant and prosperous Xizang is. Similarly, people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are also living a thriving life as they work in solidarity to build the economic hub of the Silk Road Economic Belt and establish a pilot free trade zone. China has also improved its legal system to fully protect the rights of women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities. 44.16 million rural women have been lifted out of absolute poverty, and the average life expectancy of women exceeds 80 years. The proportion of female employees remains above 40%, and the total number of female scientific and technological workers is approximately 40 million, which accounts for 45.8%.

China has participated in global human rights governance, and contributed to worldwide progress in human rights. China has accelerated the implementation of Global Development Initiative(GDI), established a “Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund” and Global Development Promotion Center. The Global Development Project Pool has continued to expand, and more than 200 cooperation projects have come to fruition. More than 100 countries and international organizations support the GDI, and more than 80 countries, including Iran, have joined “The Group of Friends of the GDI” established at the United Nations. In the past 10 years, the Belt and Road Initiative has created 420,000 jobs for the BRI partner countries and lifted nearly 40 million people out of poverty.

In recent years, in order to suppress China's development and maintain the hegemony, the US attacks the human rights situation in Xinjiang, against factual basis and confuses right and wrong. US stigmatizes China for continuing to carry out “genocide” and “crimes against humanity in Xinjiang”. It’s purely their calculation of using Xinjiang-related disinformation to contain and suppress China. Of all people, the people in Xinjiang, whatever their ethnic backgrounds, are in the best position to tell the world what the human rights conditions are like in Xinjiang. Since the establishment of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Uyghur population has grown from 2.2 million to more than 12 million, and the average life expectancy has increased from more than 30 years to 75.65 years. Xinjiang's GDP has grown from 0.84 trillion yuan in 2013 to 1.91 trillion yuan in 2023. Xinjiang today enjoys social stability and economic growth and the people there live a happy life. It is at its best in history where people of all ethnic groups are working together for a better life, this is the true feeling of people from various countries, including Iran, after visiting Xinjiang.

China and Iran are comprehensive strategic partners and the two sides share broad consensus on human rights issues. Both sides agreed that promoting and protecting human rights is a common cause of the international community, and all countries should attach equal importance to and systematically promote all types of human rights. Not long ago,  the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was successfully held, the “Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization” specifically pointed out that, “Adhering to the correct outlook on human rights, we will provide more effective human rights protection through law enforcement and administration of justice. ” China is willing to work with Iran to champion humanity’s common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, strive for greater progress in human rights in the world and build a community with a shared future for mankind and make our world a better place.