This photo taken on Feb. 27, 2023 shows the 52nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) taking place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.(Photo: Xinhua)

"Unfortunately, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which should be our common blueprint, is often misused and abused. It is exploited for political gain; and it is ignored, often by the very same people." At the High-level Segment of the UN Human Rights Council on February 27, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the politicization of human rights.

The UN chief's observation is not without ground. For quite some time, though styling themselves as champions of human rights, some Western countries have already given away their true proclivity for cherry-picking when it comes to human rights. While shedding tears for the children of Ukraine from the podium of the Human Rights Council, Western countries look the other way when the innocent lives of Syrian children were taken, not by the earthquake, but by the devastating lack of heavy equipment, search tools and, consequently, insufficient rescue capacity, as a result of their insistency to retain unilateral sanctions against Syria.

The Syrian Foreign Minister said in grief and anger at the same event that the devastation didn't shake the conscience of some countries and their leaders who have always claimed to uphold humanity and didn't hesitate to politicize this natural disaster. He said that these countries turned a blind eye to the cries for help of victims under the rubble under the shortage in rescue equipment. MEP Mick Wallace also reckoned in a tweet, "If the EU really cares about these people, could they show it by ending their illegal sanctions on Syria which have killed so many innocent people?"

It took only three days for the earthquake to fade out of European news headlines and be superseded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Europe. British writer David Hirst expressed surprise and disapproval that his country provided only $6 million to relieve 23 million earthquake victims and $2.3 billion to supply weapons to Ukraine. He said that the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria revealed the true face of Europe and the entire West, and proved to the world that the West is more interested in destruction and war than in reconstruction.

From defining literal freedom, over life, as human rights under COVID, and asking countries with lesser medical facilities to follow suit as Western countries caved in to the virus; to using "human rights" as a pretext to impose economic blockades and sanctions on developing countries, which would reduce the impoverished to even greater poverty and hunger; and to interfering in the internal affairs of other countries in the name of defending human rights, which led to political turmoil and even death - how the concept of human rights is defined by certain countries is determined by, and only by, the ideology and political interests they pursue. The politicization of human rights does more than hinder the advancement of human rights as a global cause - it plunges countries into chaos. Instead of improving human rights, new wreckages are left in its trail. To make things worse, the stain that politicization easily leaves on the concept of human rights would be a huge degradation that is difficult to undo.

Resting on the laurels of being developed, some Western countries are keen on measuring developing countries using their own yardstick for human rights, and even keener on applying double standards to reflect political alignment. The promotion of human rights of each country should be anchored in their own national conditions and the people's needs. There is no need to look to specific countries or to be judged by the West. For developing countries, the less-developed countries in particular, the right to survival and development are of primary importance as human rights and should be protected and promoted all the more.

As a representative from the developing world said in his speech at the Human Rights Council, "Human right is not a definition. Human right is an exercise." Upon the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and the 37th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development, when dignitaries gather in Geneva to join the discussion on human rights, we should also reflect on what the concept is about in the first place - human - and be inspired by that answer to operationalize human rights for, instead of against, the life and development of human.

The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for the Global Times, China Daily, etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com