BEIJING, Nov. 24, 2006 -- What's the new catchphrase for human rights development in China? Well, it's Harmony, or peace, security and a happy co-existence between different people, communities and nations.

With top leaders tirelessly calling for the building of a "harmonious society" in China, as well as a "harmonious Asia" and "harmonious world", Chinese officials and human rights experts now take pride in their creative adding of "harmony" as a key conception of human rights promotion and guarantee.

Peace and security are invariably interlinked with human rights, they preach, finding both echoes and questioning at an international symposium held in Beijing from Nov. 22 to 24.

With the theme of Respecting and Promoting Human Rights and Constructing the Harmonious World, the symposium attracted experts on human rights from 18 countries and regions including the United States, Switzerland, South Africa and Vietnam.

"Only in the regions of East Asia can it (human rights) be connected to harmony," says Makarim Wibisono, Indonesian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

"The idea of harmony being connected to human rights is significant and relevant to Asian cultures, which are largely rooted in Confucianism, he said.

It certainly can render the concept of human rights more approachable to many who are not familiar with the notion," he said, noting many remain suspicious of human rights as an ideology foisted upon developing countries by a hypocritical western world.

The close relationship between a harmonious world and human rights can be a virtuous circle or vicious spiral. "Social harmony relies on justice and the right to development because both poverty and injustice are the roots of disharmony in the world, " says Dong Yunhu, vice president and secretary-general of the China Society for Human Rights Studies.

Dong believes all imparities between nations, between urban and rural areas and between the rich and the poor can be attributed to neglect or ignorance of human rights.

"The value of human rights is universal, but the dynamic of its implementation varies in different countries."

That is to say "a country's human rights cause must be built upon the harmony of its internal social environment, whereas the universal realization of human rights is impossible without the harmonious co-existence of all nations with different cultural, political and religious beliefs."

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Yet, Dong points out, uneven global development during the past 40 years has resulted in more uncertainties affecting world peace, development and harmony.

The introduction of a concept of harmony into human rights apparently is not quite acceptable to James Oliver Williams, an American professor of political science at the North Carolina State University. "This concept reflects different ideas of rights."

For most western countries, he argues, the principles embodied in the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights are considered the minimum rights that all individuals desire and deserve, regardless of their different political, cultural and religious backgrounds.

In Asian countries at large, "governments are keen to advocate cultural factors playing a role in universal rights, acting on the principle that the individual's rights conflict with a wider social harmony and stability, citing Asian values as contradictory to a western notion of universality."

In his view, unless an agreement is reached on these principles there would be little harmony on human rights among the major countries of the world.

Dong Yunhu believes "if human rights were a vehicle, then political liberties and socioeconomic development are like the two wheels. The vehicle will overturn if they are unbalanced."

In other words, "a nation shouldn't be engaged in the development of political power or liberties without considering its socio-economic development. Otherwise, there will be social chaos and more human rights will be damaged as harmony is ruined."

China issued its first White Paper on Human Rights in 1991, making human rights protection and promotion a key part of the country's political development.

In 2004, human rights as a legal concept was included in China's Constitution, which stipulates clearly that "the state respects and safeguards human rights.

Some criticize the United States as being hypocritical and applying double standards when it comes to human rights.

"Human rights is something abstract just like the concept of fruit, which is a collective notion of apple, pear and banana. But the United States just wants to push its ideal of human rights into the whole world as the standard of human rights fulfillment. It's like saying only a banana is a fruit, the apple and pear are not," says Dong.

To make human rights tangible and a way of life, Dong Yunhu says dialogue and education are essential.

Education is for both government officials and ordinary people. For the civilians, they should be told their rights and duties, whereas officeholders must be told from where their power is derived.

"Government officials have to know clearly that the power in their hands comes from the people, who are the main body of power. So therefore their duty is to safeguard the people's rights rather than take it as a privilege and abuse that power."

Running parallel to the symposium is a 10-day human rights exhibition from Nov. 17 to 26 in Beijing. With more than 700 pictures and 250 legal documents on display, Dong Yunhu says, "hopefully, the exhibition will present both Chinese and foreign viewers with a clear picture of human rights conditions in China, and help set record straight."

As for dialogue, Jody Kollapen, chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, says that is the key to promoting and protecting human rights in the world, which is confronted with all kinds of religious clashes.

Kollapen believes the conception of harmony is very original and is China's great contribution to the cause of global human rights.

"Equality and respecting each other are pivotal to world harmony, " he says, expecting China to be able to play a leading role in human rights protection.