The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, expressed his “concern” on Friday about the adoption, on Thursday, in China of a law of “ethnic unity”, which, in his opinion, could “limit religious and cultural freedom” in the Asian country, inform the news agencies France Presse and Agerpres.
The new law, adopted by China's National People's Congress, formalizes policies aimed at promoting Mandarin as a “common national language” in education, official business and public spaces.
Social cohesion is the stated aim of this new law, which will punish participation in “terrorist activities, ethnic separatist activities or religious extremism activities”.
A law considered by human rights defenders to have negative effects on minority languages and cultures in China.
“This law risks enshrining assimilation policies in legislation, restricting the teaching of minority languages and limiting religious and cultural freedom,” Volker Turk reacted to X.
“Its provisions could excessively restrict the freedoms of expression, belief and assembly and could penalize, in a broader sense, the peaceful exercise of the rights of minorities”, he pointed out.
The law will most likely affect Uighur, Mongolian and Tibetan speakers
China, where the majority ethnic group is Han, recognizes 55 minorities that speak several hundred languages and dialects, but the Chinese government has been accused for decades of pursuing policies to forcibly assimilate these minorities.
In some regions, such as Tibet or Inner Mongolia, where significant ethnic minority groups live, government policies have already mandated that Mandarin be used as the language of instruction.
“International human rights law requires states to protect the identity of ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities,” recalled Volker Turk in his message.
No minority language is specifically mentioned in the new law, which, France Presse estimates, will most likely affect Uyghur, Mongolian and Tibetan speakers.
