GENEVA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Li Shouping, an expert of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and a professor of law school at the Beijing Institute of Technology, speaking at the 54th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on Sept. 19, emphasized that the right to the environment, which is common to all human beings, is a collective human right, and that, therefore, the management and disposal of hazardous substances is by no means the private business of a single country, and that full consideration should be given to other factors, such as the environment, health and safety.

Speaking at the day's interactive dialogue on hazardous waste and safe drinking water and sanitation, Mr. Li Shouping said that on 24 August this year, the Government of Japan had unilaterally and forcibly initiated the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear accident into the sea in defiance of the international community's strong questioning and objections, and that what the Japanese side had done was to transfer the risk to the whole world and to perpetuate the suffering of future generations of humankind, which constituted a violation of the rights of the whole of humankind to health, to development and to the environment, and might even amount to a crime against humanity. This is a violation of the rights of all mankind to health, development and the environment, and may even constitute a crime against humanity.

Li Shouping calls on the international community and United Nations special rapporteurs to focus on this issue and to further discuss the management of and responsibility for the discharge of nuclear sewage into the sea.