The takeaway from Beijing human rights forum

Editor's note: Liu Jianxi, a special commentator for CGTN, is a Beijing-based analyst of political and international relations. With 10 years of experience in media, she writes on topics pertaining to the U.S., the EU and the Middle East. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The 2026 Forum on Global Human Rights Governance opened in Beijing on June 11, during which Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee's Publicity Department, delivered a keynote speech.

This forum serves as a vivid demonstration of China's longstanding commitment to a people-centered approach to human rights and the progress it has made in advancing that vision.

Indeed, an important task of human rights governance is to ensure the basic conditions for human survival and social mobility. From this perspective, development is not separate from human rights; it is their foundation. By linking human rights governance to cooperation and development, Beijing is signaling that it wants to move the conversation away from confrontation and toward outcomes.

From 2021 to 2025, China achieved remarkable progress in human rights protection, providing much-needed stability and certainty for global human rights development, according to the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2026-2030) released at the opening of the forum.

That message resonates because concrete achievements back it up.

All 181 tasks outlined in China's National Human Rights Action Plan (2021-2025) have been fully implemented, according to an evaluation report released last week. The tasks, encompassing eight main areas from economic, social and cultural rights to international exchange and cooperation, are as diverse as poverty alleviation and food security, pollution prevention and ensuring women's equality.

"China has identified and assisted over seven million people at risk of relapsing into poverty by 2025," the report said. The number of formerly impoverished people in employment has stayed above 30 million for five consecutive years.

And such achievement has been well received by the international community. According to the latest CGTN poll surveying 12,000 respondents from 43 countries, satisfaction exceeded 60% across the eight governance fields mentioned above, with the top four – infrastructure, education level, employment level and income level – all receiving satisfaction ratings above 70%.

These figures point to a direct improvement in the right to development, which China has long described as the most basic human right. In a world where millions still struggle with hunger and deprivation, China's position that development is central to rights protection has a strong appeal.

Health care is another area where the development-centered model has produced visible results. China has expanded its medical system dramatically in recent decades, widening coverage and access to medical treatment across the country. Over the past five years, more than 3,000 disease prevention and control centers have been established.

China prioritizes life, health and public infrastructure, and its position about rights is practical rather than ideological. It considers the right to live with security and access to care as important as any legal principle.

Employment and social stability matter significantly in this framework. China emphasizes job creation, industrial upgrading and poverty reduction as part of a broader rights agenda. From 2021 to 2025, over 15 million migrants who returned to their hometowns to start businesses were given support, according to the assessment report.

The message is clear: The ability to work, earn and participate in economic life is itself a human right, not just an economic statistic. In a country as large and diverse as China, stable development is not a secondary concern; it is the basis of social confidence.

This is why this forum carries significance beyond itself. It is shaping the language of global governance. China is not merely defending its own human rights record; it is arguing that the international system should allow for different development paths and different models of rights protection.

China presents human rights as something that must be built through national development and international cooperation. This view was echoed by more than 400 Chinese and international participants from over 100 countries, as well as representatives from the United Nations and other international and regional organizations attending the forum.

Participants generally agreed that, amid growing instability and uncertainty in the international landscape, the realization of human rights is increasingly complex. That explains why countries around the world should uphold the basic norms governing international relations and work together to foster a fair and just international environment conducive to the advancement of human rights. Meanwhile, solidarity and cooperation are also called upon as concrete actions are required to address shared human rights challenges and translate aspirations into reality.

At the heart of these discussions lies a fundamental question: How should human rights be measured and advanced in today's world?

Human rights are not only about voting, protests, or institutional checks. They are also about whether children can go to school, families can afford healthcare, jobs are available, and society feels safe.

That is why Thursday's forum matters. It is not simply saying that China has done well. The message is that modern human rights governance needs merit by its ability to improve people's lives in tangible ways, not by how loudly it reproduces familiar slogans.

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