Human rights should not be politicized: Chinese diplomat

Chinese diplomat Fu Cong stressed in Geneva on Thursday the need to depoliticize the human rights forum so as to safeguard the Human Rights Council's (HRC) integrity. "We must maintain the credibility and authority of the international human rights mechanism and reverse the current trend to politicize human rights," he said following the release of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein's annual report. "We should also insist on making national governments as the main driving force to mainstream human rights issues," Fu added, while urging the High Commissioner to refrain from making subjective comments which are not backed by factual evidence. "China is a country governed by law. Fighting crime by law is our judicial sovereignty. Nobody is above the law," said Fu, who is the deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland. The diplomat called out rampant prison abuse in the United Staets, especially in the Guantanamo facility, while deploring widespread gun violence and deep-rooted racism prevalent in the country. Fu also called out large-scale eavesdropping carried out by US authorities, drone attacks killing innocent civilians and the conduct of US troops on foreign soil. Referring to the issue of "comfort women" during WWII, Fu said: "We advise the United States and Japan to deeply reflect on themselves rather than interfere in the internal affairs of other states in the pretext of human rights." The remarks were made during an interactive dialogue with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on his annual report, part of the 31st HRC session which ends on March 24.