Multilateralism and international cooperation are essential tools to protect human rights and create a fair international order, experts and leaders of social organizations said at a seminar in Beijing on Wednesday.

The seminar on global human rights governance is a side event of the 48th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council and has attracted nearly 20 experts, academicians and leaders of social organizations from China and other countries.

"Certain countries practice unilateralism and power politics in the name of multilateralism. They impose their own values and institutions on other countries, and intervene in their domestic affairs, creating division and confrontation. These actions threaten international peace and human rights," said Men Lijun, secretary-general of China Foundation for Human Rights Development, at the seminar organized by the China Foundation for Human Rights Development and the Chinese Minzu Unity and Progress Association.

The participants also discussed the human rights situation in China. Rika Yoshida, a Japanese lecturer who works at Minzu University of China in Beijing, has talked about her experiences in China and the country's policies to protect human rights, especially among ethnic minority groups.

"When I visited multiple cities in Xinjiang this July, I was able to talk directly to local people. I saw that students can learn mandarin and Uygur language freely, people can communicate freely in mandarin or Uygur language, and signs of stores are in both mandarin and Uygur," Yoshida said.

Yao Kun, the deputy director of  the Institute of World Political Studies at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said China has been fulfilling its international obligations in protecting human rights and has played an active role in global human rights governance.

"China has approved or jointed 26 international human rights documents, including six core human rights agreements of the United Nations. It has also successfully participated in Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council three times, and been elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council five times."

Some participants also voiced the opinion that China opposes any form of inference in other countries' internal affairs.

They say China has made continuous efforts to maintain international fairness and justice and promote international cooperation in protecting human rights to form a more fair, reasonable and inclusive system of global human rights governance.

(Cover: Participants take a selfie with local snacks displayed at an exhibition in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, September 27, 2021. /CFP)