UN Human Rights Chief Calls on China to Repeal Ethnic Unity Law Ahead of 1 July Implementation

By Tenzin Chokyi

DHARAMSALA, 18 June: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called on China to repeal its newly adopted “Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress,” warning that the legislation risks further restricting the fundamental rights of “ethnic minorities,” including Tibetans, ahead of its scheduled implementation on 1 July.

The remarks were delivered during the opening of the 62nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, which runs from 16 June to 9 July. The session brings together UN member states to examine human rights situations around the world through plenary debates, interactive dialogues, and thematic discussions.

Expressing concern over China’s policies toward ethnic minorities, Türk said he remained “very concerned” about China’s counterterrorism and assimilation policies, particularly as they affected minorities in East Turkistan (Xinjiang), Southern Mongolia (Inner Mongolia), and Tibet.

He warned that the new ethnic unity law “risks deepening restrictions on freedoms of language, education, the practice of religion, culture, expression, and assembly; and on penalising the peaceful exercise of minority rights in general.”

“I call for the law to be repealed and for these practices to end,” Türk told the Council.

His remarks came less than two weeks before the law was due to enter into force on 1 July and have provided fresh momentum to broader advocacy efforts by Tibetan organizations and their supporters worldwide, who have opposed the legislation since its adoption by China’s National People’s Congress in March.

Responding to Türk’s intervention, the International Tibet Network (ITN) said the UN human rights chief had echoed concerns that Tibetan organizations have raised since the law’s adoption.

“This is a significant moment. The world’s top human rights official has recognised what Tibetans have been warning all along: this law is not about unity. It is about forced assimilation,” the network said in a statement.

As part of the wider advocacy campaign, the ITN has launched a global petition urging governments and international institutions to publicly condemn China’s “Ethnic Unity Law” before it takes effect on 1 July. The petition contends that coordinated international pressure is needed to  push back against what the network describes as an expanding legal framework for assimilation in Tibet.  The campaign is open to supporters worldwide ahead of the law’s implementation.