2018年CRI Poverty reduction key to global human rights agenda: forum participants

 

The 2018 Beijing Forum¹ on Human Rights has kicked off, with the theme "Poverty Elimination²: Seeking Common Development to Build a Community of Shared Future for Human Beings."

The two-day event this year has over 200 attendees from over 50 countries, regions and international organizations.

Participants have agreed that the battle against poverty constitutes a key part of the global human rights agenda.

"I think poverty reduction is an important part of human rights globally. The right to economic and social well-being³ is an important part of all people. So I think the efforts that are being made to reduce and eliminate extreme poverty are a key part of sharing human rights for everyone around the world," says Benjamin Davis, a program leader with the UN's Strategic Program on Rural Poverty Reduction.

Davis considers China's experience in poverty reduction as one of the great success stories globally over the past twenty or thirty years.

He adds that he is looking forward to learning different people's perspectives on human rights at the forum, and how poverty alleviation⁴ fits into their human rights.

Tom Zwart, Director of the Cross-Cultural Human Rights Centre (CCHRC) in Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, agrees that human rights have a better chance for development when poverty is not an issue.

He says that the Chinese experience has shown that people will invest in their own future when poverty is reduced, but what he finds problematic is that China's efforts have not been fully⁵ recognized.

"Many northern countries do not see how many contributions are made by China to the human rights efforts. And as long as that doesn't happen, you do not have an equal playing field. So that's the problem. China's efforts are great, but they need to be more recognized by northern countries," says Zwart.

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Sima Samar says poverty reduction is key to human rights development, stressing that poverty reduction is shared responsibility.

"I think that the dialogue should be continued in order to learn from each other, because I do feel that it's not private responsibility or a personal responsibility. It's a collective responsibility, and we need to stand together to reduce poverty and reduce conflict as well," says Samar.

Huang Kunming, Head of the Publicity⁶ Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, says China is willing to cooperate closely with other nations to protect human rights.

The Beijing Forum on Human Rights was firstly held in 2008, with this year's event the eighth of its kind.

1 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

2 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

3 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

4 alleviation   

n. 减轻，缓和，解痛物

参考例句：

• These were the circumstances and the hopes which gradually brought alleviation to Sir Thomas's pain. 这些情况及其希望逐渐缓解了托马斯爵士的痛苦。
• The cost reduction achieved in this way will benefit patients and the society in burden alleviation. 集中招标采购降低的采购成本要让利于患者，减轻社会负担。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。