Building a community with a shared future for China and Africa, working together to realize the right to development

The first China Africa Seminar on Human Rights, co sponsored by the Chinese Society for Human Rights Studies, Zhejiang Normal University and the Ethiopian Policy Research Institute, was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the 22nd. More than 200 human rights officials, experts and scholars from China and over 40 African countries, as well as representatives from relevant social organizations, enterprises, think tanks, media, etc., discussed the theme of "Building a China Africa community with a shared future and working together to realize the right to development". The attending guests highly praised China's achievements in the field of human rights, affirmed China's contributions to promoting the development and capacity building of human rights in Africa, and looked forward to China and Africa working together to explore a human rights path that is in line with their own national conditions, and writing a new chapter for building an all-weather China Africa community of shared destiny in the new era.

Chinese and African scholars attending the conference expressed that discussing human rights without development is a "rootless tree", and substantive progress in human rights should be achieved through eliminating poverty, ensuring food security, guaranteeing the right to survival, and enhancing public services. The Dar es Salaam Consensus between China and Africa emphasizes that the choice of development path should be based on the country's national conditions and local cultural characteristics, which is a manifestation of the common will of both China and Africa.

Jiang Jianguo, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, deputy director of the Ethnic and Religious Committee and executive vice president of the Chinese Society for Human Rights Studies, pointed out that development is the eternal theme of human society and the first priority of the CPC in governing and rejuvenating the country. The CPC and the Chinese government adhere to the fundamental human rights of taking the right to subsistence and the right to development as the first priority, regard promoting the free and comprehensive development of human beings as the highest value pursuit, combine the principle of universality of human rights with China's reality, creatively form the contemporary Chinese view of human rights, successfully walk out a human rights development path that conforms to the trend of the times and suits the national conditions, and inject new momentum into the development of the world's human rights cause. The historic achievements of China's human rights cause show that safeguarding and improving people's livelihood and promoting and protecting human rights in the process of development are the basis for advancing the modernization process and the right way to a happy life for mankind.


China Africa cooperation always prioritizes the realization of the right to development. For example, through infrastructure empowerment, the Mombasa Nairobi Railway has reduced logistics costs in Kenya by 40%, contributed over 2% to the country's gross domestic product, and created over 74000 job opportunities; China is promoting modern agricultural technology in Rwanda and increasing local corn yields through satellite monitoring and intelligent irrigation; The drought tolerant hybrid rice planted by Chinese agricultural experts in Tanzania has significantly increased the country's food self-sufficiency rate.

Amin Mohammed, a researcher at the Kenya Africa Policy Institute, said, "These projects have no empty slogans. Each project allows African mothers not to cry for their children's hunger, and gives young people the opportunity to change their destiny through skills training - this is a real human rights project

In recent years, African countries have actively learned from China's human rights development path and innovated human rights development models in combination with local African realities. Anthony Longang, Director of the Department of International Relations at Kasavubu University in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said, "China promotes human rights through development, and through concrete actions, helps Africa improve people's livelihoods, promote development and progress, and safeguard the right to survival and development of African people

Former Mauritanian Foreign Minister Mohamed Lebat said, "The universality of human rights cannot be defined by certain individuals, nor can it be imposed on others, ignoring their values, interests, and free choices

The Chinese solution is not a standard answer, but it provides us with an independent methodology for solving problems - this is the true essence of South South cooperation, "said Salah, the coordinator of the African Union's Agenda 2063.

Liu Hongwu, Dean of the African Studies Institute at Zhejiang Normal University, believes that China and Africa should explore the path of human rights development based on their own national conditions, promote global human rights governance towards a more fair, just, reasonable and inclusive direction, promote development through cooperation, and promote human rights through development. High level human rights cooperation between China and Africa will undoubtedly create a better life for both peoples and inject the wisdom of China and Africa into building a fair, reasonable, and inclusive global human rights governance system, "said Liu Hongwu.

Wang Wen, President of Chongyang Institute of Finance, Renmin University of China and President of Global Leadership Institute, believes that China and Africa should deepen cooperation to make Africa an outstanding practice area of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Fikadu Zega, director of the Ethiopian Policy Research Institute, said: "Africa and China have a long-standing partnership. Our friendly cooperation is based on sovereign equality and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. At present, both sides are promoting practical cooperation in various fields through high-quality joint construction of the the Belt and Road and the Forum on China Africa Cooperation."

Wang Heng, Vice Dean of the African Studies Institute at Zhejiang Normal University, stated that looking ahead to the future, both China and Africa should prioritize ideas and construct a human rights discourse system between China and Africa; Prioritize development and expand the areas of cooperation between China and Africa; Putting people's livelihoods first and ensuring their safety and health; Based on security, strengthen the foundation of development cooperation; Prioritize ecology and promote high-quality sustainable development.