One would have expected that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is conversant with the true perspective on reporting human rights. Apparently, however, the current and emerging global circumstances and developments have put the onus on China to educate the world on the true nature of human rights.

On September 13, China played this role yet again at the 51st regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for discussing the human rights report. The remarks by Chen Xu, the representative of China’s Permanent Mission to the UN Office at Geneva, echoed the sentiments of 30 countries attending the forum.

It is instructive that majority of these countries were developing ones, which means that they have for long been vulnerable to the whims of some Western countries, who have for long dictated the nature of human rights for them. Unfortunately, the developing countries do not have the clout China has in articulating their point of view on the global arena.

Chen’s remarks evoked a few pertinent issues that the global community needs to consider in monitoring and evaluating the human rights records of countries. One, who determines the yardstick Western countries use to measure human rights for everyone else but themselves? Secondly, who abrogated this role to these latter day holier than thou global prefects? Three, why the double standards that, for instance, condemns murder on one hand, and on the other condones the same vice depending on the perpetrator?

The West continues to politicize and weaponize human rights as one of the most effective ways of isolating and neutralizing its geopolitical nemeses. One of the prominent cases are the malicious allegations of human rights abuse of Muslims in China’s highly productive Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The West has used the Xinjiang baseless allegations to sabotage China’s economy by calling for the boycott of product and products from the region. Similar allegations levelled on the government of Hong Kong’s Special Administrative Region failed miserably to stop the ultimate return of the territory to Chinese mainland.

But who is fooling who? The world stands witness of how countries like the United States (U.S.) have traumatized Muslim populations across the world, from the Middle East to Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of Muslims have died from U.S.’ inhuman military escapades in the name of democracy and fighting terrorism.

Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has offered us vital lessons on the basic nature and priorities of human rights. Chen put this issue in perspective: “With COVID-19 resurgences impacting socioeconomic development, especially in developing countries, more attention should be paid to economic, social, cultural, developmental and health rights of the people”.

This is an issue that cropped up recently when CNN international correspondent Christiane Amanpour interviewed Kenya’s president William Ruto. Christiane asked Ruto’s stand on gay rights in the country. The latter maintained that while Kenya respects everybody, homosexuality “is not a big issue for the people of Kenya”. In any case, respect is a two-way traffic and Kenya expects reciprocation for its people’s cultural beliefs.

Anyway, at the moment the country’s leadership is grappling with grave challenges including unemployment, a struggling economy, drought and the socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country has not reached a stage where its citizens feel that gay rights should be openly discussed as they affect a considerable demographic.

This brings up the issue of funding for human rights. While the West is giving millions of dollars every year to support gay rights and fund other areas where it has selfish interests, the real problems continue to be underfunded or ignored altogether. Developing countries are in need of emergency funds to address children’s hunger and malnutrition, and to treat various diseases that plague the mass of their population.

China has formulated and implemented three action plans on human rights since 2009. The latest report, “Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025)” released in September 2021 notes that the country’s socio-economic progress has been commensurate to the country’s human rights track record both at national and international levels. Indeed, the next phase of human rights as contained in the report is in tandem with the five-year period from 2021 to 2025 in which China has set out on a new journey towards the Second Centenary Goal of building a modern socialist country.

The new Action Plan adheres to the constitutional principle of respecting and protecting human rights, and the Outline for the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035. It follows the spirit embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights conventions. It also takes into consideration the new challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic which have necessitated reviewing of what had always been taken for granted around the world.

Every voice should be heard and accepted on its own merit. The Western media should not abuse its pervasiveness to manipulate facts and misinform the world of developments whose subjects have no right of reply of such a magnitude. May be some time it is better to laugh on a bicycle than cry on an expensive limousine.