Editor's Note: On the occasion of the first anniversary of the launching of the Human Rights magazine, our staff reporters interviewed the Australian, Egyptian, Hungarian and Indonesian ambassadors, and Mexican minister to China. Following are their points of view on the global and China's human rights.

Mr. David Taylor Irvine, Australian Ambassador:

The clear trend in the global human rights situation over the last decade has been a positive one. More and more countries on all continents are adopting democratic principles, respect for the rule of law, and adherence to international standards of human rights. But we must all do more to promote under standing and the observance of internationally agreed human rights.

Australia contributes to the international human rights cause through our active involvement in UN mechanisms such as the Corn mission on Human Rights. We will be even more active when we resume membership of the Commission on 1 January 2003. We also firmly believe that constructive dialogue is the most effective way to deal with human rights on a bilateral basis. We have held six rounds of dialogue with China and have successfully applied the same principles to new dialogues that we now have with Vietnam and Iran.

Improved observance of human rights will inevitably accompany the economic reform and opening up that China is embracing. Australia particularly welcomes the increased personal freedoms that the Chinese people now enjoy. The freedom to choose where to work and where to live, to make individual decisions about lifestyle, and the freedom to travel in China and abroad are now enjoyed by the Chinese people and have done much to transform the face of Chinese society. Likewise Australia welcomes the efforts China has made to advance the social, economic, and cultural rights of its people, the measures it has taken to protect the rights of women and children, and the relative freedom of religion the Chinese people now enjoy. Considerable work is also being done to implement the concept of the Rule of Law in China. China's observance of some human rights, such as those that relate to freedom of speech, assembly and association, has improved over the pre-reform era. But, as with many countries, continuous work needs to be done to ensure that practices in China conform with all the universally accepted standards of human rights. Australia is happy to work together with the Chinese government and people on these issues.

I have read Human Rights and commend the journal's efforts to provide an English-reading audience with a better understanding of several key human rights issues and of the work of the China Society for Human Rights Studies.

Mr. Aly Houssam El-Din El-Hefny, Egyptian Ambassador:

Although the principle of "Promoting and Encouraging Respect for Human Rights and for Fundamental Freedoms" is one of the most important purposes of the UN, this issue has been always problematic. Nowadays, human rights problems still arouse serious concerns from the international community. To overcome the wide human rights violations which we witness everyday in many places of our universe, we should emphasize the importance of the principles of the UN Charter, especially in respecting the right of all peoples to self-determination. In this respect, the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and the on-going daily violations of the human rights there, represent the most serious breach of the concept and principles of human rights.

Furthermore, it is very essential to combat and eliminate poverty. The biggest challenge to the humanity is to treat the widening gap between the North and the South; such a gap which accumulates poverty in the developing countries and denies vast population its basic human needs. Another serious factor is the ever-increasing abuse of the banner of the human rights by certain circles and countries, to impose certain ideas or patterns, whether cultural or economic or political, on other countries. This factor has become one of the most destabilizing factors in the modem world. In this respect, it is well observed that China has been among the leading countries in exerting good efforts to change the climate which breeds human rights violations. China has actively called for a "New Security Concept," as well as a "New Economic Order," which reflect a wise approach towards a New World based on sharing benefits and equality.

In general, the present human rights situation in China has been developing side by side with the positive development of the whole society. China's economy has developed rapidly and the living standards of both the urban and the rural residents continue to improve. The Chinese government has always paid full attention to the problems of poor rural population. Consequently, the number of poor population has been steadily reduced over years. The medical and health services has also continued to improve, and the mean life expectancy reached 72 years, which is rapidly approaching the 75 years level of the developed countries.

The Chinese government has protected as well the right to work. The number of total employment has been increasing despite of the on-going economic reform, taking into consideration the ever increasing reemployment rate in new jobs. At the same time, the social security system, including the pension insurance, the unemployment insurance and the medical insurance, is improving. The sector of education has also witnessed tremendous improvement. The compulsory education projects in impoverished areas, for example, have been extended. The illiteracy rate among the Chinese people has dropped to almost 4.5%, which is an excellent achievement.

China also gives priority to promoting the legal system to ensure civil and political rights according to law. All competent international circles acknowledge the progress made by China's government to enhance the rule of law along the whole country. At the same time, significant efforts have been exerted by the Chinese government to ensure the equal rights of the ethnic minorities, which already enjoy the right to regional autonomy. Furthermore, the Chinese authorities have strengthened their efforts to fight poverty in ethnic minority areas. In such areas, the protection of the freedom of religious beliefs and practices is fully ensured. Such regions also formulate their own regulations concerning family planning.

To sum up, I can say that I am deeply impressed by the achievements of modem China, by its reform and opening up, as well as by its unprecedented positive developments of the various aspects of human rights in the country and wish this friendly country and people more achievements especially realizing Xiaokang by the year 2020.

Mr. Mihaly Bayer, Hungarian Ambassador:

The situation of human rights in the world improved a lot during the past decades thanks to the joint efforts of the international community and those of the United Nations. However, the present conditions are still far from satisfactory. The most important task for the future is to accomplish the overall and unconditional acceptance of the universal principles of human rights. The best way to do that is the dialogue in both bilateral and multilateral fora. It is important to stress in this context that different countries and regions have different historical, cultural and religious traditions. Therefore, it is logical that there are also different notions of human rights in different parts of the world. Nevertheless, this circumstance should not be used as an excuse for violating basic principles of human rights in any country.

The situation of human rights in China changed a lot during the past decades. Thanks to the legal reform opened in 1978, Chinese law has grown markedly in terms of quantity and quality. In the quarter century since the end of the "Cultural Revolution," the PRC has engaged in the single most concerted national effort in terms of legal development in Chinese history. The results are impressive and they benefited the whole Chinese society.

Hungary has observed the Chinese efforts with great sympathy and is ready to share her experience gained in the last decade during the transition to democracy, rule of law and market economy. China and Hungary, two traditional friends, whose recent history and the challenges they had to surmount in the past have many common features. This is the reason (why our two countries started a dialogue on human rights in 2000. We consider the open and constructive exchanges of views on human rights issues with China helpful to both sides.

The Hungarian experience proved that a well functioning market economy and the rule of law are closely linked with each other because the market mechanisms can only work in a regulated and calculable legal environment. I am convinced that China is on the best way towards the full application of these ideas, even if her historical and cultural background is quite different from that of Hungary.

The Human Rights magazine proves that China attaches great importance to human rights issues and to informing the public on the latest developments and achievements in this field. I think this is a good approach, because it opens the floor to further exchanges of views and helps to eliminate many misunderstandings and lack of knowledge on this matter. As the Ambassador of a country that has a regular Human Rights Dialogue with China, I read the magazine with great interest. Nevertheless, I would appreciate to find more information about China's co-operation with other countries on human rights issues

Mr. Aa Kustia, Indonesian Ambassador:

The world human rights situation now needs to be improved further, particularly in some parts of the world which are in conflicts among the people in the country. I am of the view that every country in the world attaches great importance to the need of promoting and protecting human rights in their own countries. As the human rights in a certain country has now become the concern of others, the international community needs to cooperate close ly to solve the root causes ot human rights in constructive way in order to properly improve the human rights situation in the world. There is no a single country or group of countries has privileged to assume the role of both judge and jury in passing judgement on a number of developing countries and qualifying them as violators of human rights of their own people. This approach, I fear, may result in destroying the genuine dialogue necessary to bring about international cooperation aimed at promoting and protecting all human rights, I believe that a balanced, objective and comprehensive consideration and judgement of the situation in any country in today's pluralistic world, in particular when dealing with the very complex and sensitive issue of human rights, should take into account the significant progress and positive development achieved by the countries concerned. This implies that our efforts to generally understand and implement human rights in accordance with the state of each country's social, economic and political development still need to be improved. In addition, there are certain constraints that developing countries must contend with which are not present in developed societies. Without taking these constraints into account, no fair evaluation is possible. In short, the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide should be done through cooperation, based on mutual respect and dialogue which, in my view, has proven effective rather than confrontation by hurling unfounded accusations, or preaching self-righteous sermons to one another, imposing incompatible values or waging political campaigns under the guise of human rights advocacy since no country is entitled to claim to have a perfect human rights record-no nation can.

Most of the developing countries have enjoyed progress on human rights situations in their countries, particularly China who has been developing its economy so fast in the past years. The Chinese people have what is enjoyed by the people in developed countries. They are free to go every where and free to do what they like as long as they observe the law and regulation in the country.

I found Human Rights magazine is very useful to enrich my knowledge particularly on human rights and legal issues relating to human rights.

Mr. Jose Oramas Cadena, Mexican Minister:

First of all I want to thank you for your kind interest in gathering an array of points of view regarding the present situation of human rights the world over. China and Mexico share the same constructive position regarding this topic, and look forward to find more cooperative ways in pushing forward a positive support for the protection and promotion of human rights. In September 2001, the Mexican Vice Minister for Human Rights, Mariclaire Acostaa, visited China and held a series of very fruitful meetings with Chinese officials and organizations on human rights. We have set as a priority to proceed with this dialogue.

During the said visit, the Mexican side was deeply impressed by the progress made by China in the protection and promotion of people's rights to subsistence and development; the protection devoted to ethnic minorities and the effective means to grant them autonomy in different levels of self-government; as well as wide religious freedom. On the other hand, it is important to point out that both countries, as developing nations, support the same position that human rights should not be a pretext to intervene in the internal affairs of any country.

We are well aware of China's unremitting efforts to build a advance science and education, enrich culture, foster social harmony and upgrade the texture of life for the people, together with the rule law and the rule of virtue, as was stated in the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. With these solid foundations China is witnessing an unwavering improvement in human rights compared to the situation before 1949.

We read with keen interest the bimonthly publication of the Human Rights magazine published by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and kindly sent to this Embassy. The in-depth analysis and frank consideration of many topics in the human rights realm in China is a very important and reliable source of information of the constant progress that China is making in this field.