(TibetanReview.net, Jun28’26) – A group of 151 Tibet groups have on Jun 27 appealed to the foreign ministers of 14 countries and the European Union to oppose China’s “Law on Ethnic Unity and Progress” while lawmakers from the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have called for a Europe-wide condemnation of this law. Despite what the title says, this is a criminal law mandating that ethnic minorities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) become one with the country’s so-called Han majority people in their language, culture and outlook.
Although the law formally comes into force on Jul 1, the policy underlying it has already been implemented for decades, and was given a new fillip after President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 with his signature call for the Sinicization of the PRC’s ethnic minority regions.
A total of 151 Tibetan organisations and Tibet support groups around the world have issued an open letter, appealing to the foreign ministers of 14 countries and the EU to oppose this law, calling it a “direct assault on the fundamental rights, identity and future of the Tibetan people”.
The letter is addressed, and has been sent, to the foreign ministers of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
The letter says: “The new law provides Beijing with a legal framework to intensify its campaign of forced assimilation by restricting the use of the Tibetan language, curbing religious freedom, suppressing cultural practices and penalizing peaceful expressions of Tibetan identity.’’
The groups have expressed concern that the law requires parents to educate children to love the Communist Party of China, that it prioritises Mandarin Chinese in education and public life, mandates state-led social integration, and expands penalties for actions deemed to threaten ethnic unity.
The legislation is also stated to enable authorities to regulate what Tibetan families teach about their history, culture, religion and identity.
The groups have highlighted the fact that residential boarding schools have been set up to educate at least one million Tibetan children separated from their families and communities.
They have alleged that in these schools children are educated primarily in Mandarin with limited access to the Tibetan language, discouraged from practising their religion, subjected to political indoctrination, including military-style drills and patriotic programmes aimed at fostering loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and President Xi.
The open letter urges the foreign ministers to use their diplomatic influence to press China to repeal this law and uphold the rights of the Tibetan people.
“Silence from the international community would amount to acquiescence in the erosion of Tibet’s distinct cultural, linguistic and religious identity,” they have said, and called “for coordinated diplomatic action before the law comes into effect on Jul 1.”
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The Baltic state lawmakers have made their call at a conference reported by Germany-based International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) on Jun 27. The society said the Law enshrines the forced assimilation of Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongolians, among others.
The group said Dutch MEP Jan Paternotte and German Bundestag member and Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Brand supported the appeal, as did US actor Richard Gere in his capacity as chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT).
Noting that the European Parliament had already condemned the law on Apr 30, 2026. the group said conference participants urged stronger EU coordination on Tibet policy, including the establishment of an EU Special Representative for Tibet.
The group noted that Michael Brand expressed his support for “initiatives that denounce and oppose this racist Chinese regime as a global threat to stability, peace, and human rights.”