GENEVA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Human rights cannot be realized without development and each country has to follow its own path to growth, an expert told Xinhua Tuesday.
"It is unfortunately the intent of some developed countries to put limits on the models of development. This is not the way human rights are realized," said Carlos M. Correa, executive director of South Center, a think tank based in Geneva.
In an interview after a side-event of the current 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Correa told Xinhua that development is the key to achieving human rights holistically.
"Human rights is not just about income, it's about the education. It's about housing. It's about access to water, (and) access to medicines," he said.
He said that since mid 1990s, the social-economic components of human rights have been increasingly recognized.
"Originally it was more in terms of political and civil rights but these are now crucial components very well recognized as human rights because the rights are indivisible," he said.
"You cannot reach a situation where political and civil rights are exercised if people are not getting education, are not getting their basic needs satisfied," Correa told Xinhua.
Correa spoke at a side-event co-sponsored by the African Group at the UN Office at Geneva and the Permanent Mission of China.
"This is a manifestation of the close cooperation between China and the African continent," he noted.
Cooperation between China and Africa provides a model for other countries, he said.
"China has got a strategic view about the importance of cooperation with Africa and understands how south-south cooperation can actually be used in order to improve the situation on the continent," he told Xinhua.
Responding to some critical comments on China-Africa cooperation, Correa said that there is a lack of understanding of the very important role that China has played in improving the capacity of these countries in economic terms.
"There might be something to be improved, no doubt. But that does not undermine the major efforts made to reach cooperation which is mutually beneficial for the people of China and the African people," he said.
