China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations' (UN) Geneva office on Saturday called for countries to strengthen global cooperation and multilateralism and urged the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to conduct constructive dialogue to fulfill its duty.

Chen Xu made the remarks in a statement on behalf of 32 states, including Russia, Cuba, Pakistan, South Africa, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, at the ongoing 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is raging around the world, threatening people's right to life and health, severely affecting the economy, society and people's livelihood of all countries, and aggravating inequality, Chen said.

The hard-won development gains of the world may be reversed, he said.

We are deeply concerned about the increase in racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerable behaviors in some countries.

Calling for all countries to support the fundamental role of the UN in coordinating global containment of the virus, Chen pointed out that the crisis has exposed that multilateral human rights institutions have for a long time seriously underinvested in economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development.

We call upon the international community to give priority to addressing inequalities within and among countries, he added.

We urge the OHCHR to strengthen constructive dialogue and engagement, step up efforts to gain the trust and cooperation of member states, and perform its functions objectively and impartially, he said, adding that the OHCHR should properly reflect the information provided by states when preparing its report and make public the comments on the report.