At the 43rd Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Chinese social organizations such as China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE) co-hosted a parallel meeting under the theme of “NGOs Promoting SDGs: Chinese stories” at the Palace of Nations, Geneva on March 2nd, 2020. The meeting was attended by representatives of many countries’ diplomats in Geneva, relevant international organizations and NGOs. Liu Kaiyang, deputy secretary-general of CNIE, said at the meeting that development is of critical importance for protecting and promoting human rights. In recent years, Chinese social organizations have made proactive efforts to alleviate poverty, promote education equity, and tackle climate change, and contributed to the realization of SDGs.
    Representatives of China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), China Association for International Understanding (CAFIU), China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE), and UN Association of China (UNA-China) delivered speeches on such topics as poverty eradication among the UN SDGs, prevention and control of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), promotion of realization of SDGs in countries along the Belt and Road through Silk Road Community Building Initiative, advocacy of multilateralism and efforts for promoting global partnership.

    Xu Qiang, secretary-general of Beijing NGO Network for International Exchanges (Beijing NGO), introduced the progress in projects including promoting environmental protection, sustainable urban development, advocating gender equality, and shared the measures taken by Beijing’s social organizations to promote SDGs and protect human rights. The representative of Beijing Youth Legal Aid and Research Center, Beijing NGO’s member unit, introduced the practices on how to protect children’s rights and interests better, especially on eliminating violence against children and helping achieve justice for children in the realization of SDGs.
    As a representative of NGOs of the capital city, Beijing NGO Network for International Exchanges began to attend the Human Rights Council since 2016. This is the sixth time for Beijing NGO to participate, which has become a useful practice to “appear and speak” on the international conference stage of the United Nations.