China has urged the UN Human Rights Council to avoid political confrontation while promoting constructive dialogue and co-operation to ensure its success for improving human well-being.

"Political confrontation led to the credibility crisis" of the council's predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, said Yang Jiechi, China's vice-minister of foreign affairs.

"The success of the council will depend in large measure on whether countries with different social systems and levels of development can establish mutual trust, treat each other as equals and address their differences in a constructive way."

The senior official made the remarks in Geneva on Tuesday at the inaugural session of the council, which opened on Monday and will last until June 30.

The 47-member new council replaced the former 53-nation Human Rights Commission, which was formally closed on June 16.

Yang said the Commission on Human Rights was not able to free itself from the influence of the Cold War mentality despite its achievements in safeguarding human rights over the past 60 years. "As a result, it suffered eroding credibility and was long plagued by political confrontation, selectivity and double standards," he told the session.

To end this state of affairs "running counter to the trend of history," Yang proposed that the council's Universal Periodic Review should ensure that all countries, regardless of their size, are treated impartially and in a fair manner.

It should also ensure 'all countries' historical, cultural and religious backgrounds and differences should be equally respected," he added.

Liu Hainian, director of the Centre for Human Rights Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China's call for a non-confrontational approach in the council's work was based on the lessons of the Human Rights Commission.

"Due to the dominance of some Western powers, the commission was turned into an instrument for them to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries," he told China Daily.

"Politicization of human rights and its practice of double standards ended in the commission itself being discredited and the real issue of human rights being watered down."

The researcher stressed that "only by upholding the principles of fairness and equality" can the council avoiding the commission's fate of becoming a "political abattoir."

"Constructive dialogue and co-operation is the only effective way of enabling the council to play its due role in improving human well-being," Liu said.

During his speech Yang also called on the council to give more weight to economic, social and cultural rights, because human rights of many people in the developing world are "seriously curtailed by poverty, disease and environmental degradation."

"The way that economic, social and cultural rights were dealt with in the Commission on Human Rights, characterized by more words than action, must be changed," he said.

"The council should urge the international community and UN agencies to take effective steps to help countries gain the right to development."

The vice-minister also said the environment of peace, greater harmony and tolerance in society and effective institutional safeguards are also key to the enjoyment of human rights.

He noted that China, as the world's largest developing country, has made important contributions to the cause of human rights through its development.

(China Daily 06/22/2006 page2)