The International Coalition for Democratic Renewal (ICDR) and participants of the Forum 2000 Conference firmly condemn the People's Republic of China’s new Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress (Ethnic Unity Law), which entered into force on July 1st, 2026.
We view this law as a serious escalation in the Chinese state's campaign to erase the distinct identities of its ethnic groups, namely the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Southern Mongolians, and others, and as a direct assault on principles this Forum exists to defend: pluralism, freedom of conscience, and the right of every people to exist as itself.
The law does two things that should concern every democracy represented here, not only those with a direct stake in the communities it targets.
First, it legislates assimilation as state policy. By fusing loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party with membership in the Chinese nation, and by mandating Mandarin-language education and the "sinicization" of religious practice, the law converts what international law recognizes as protected rights - language, faith, culture - into acts of disloyalty. This is not merely a domestic governance matter. It is a template. Authoritarian states study one another's instruments of control, and a law of this kind, left unanswered, becomes a precedent available to others.
Second, and more urgently for the international community gathered at this Forum, Article 63 of the law claims legal authority over individuals and organizations outside China who "undermine ethnic unity and progress." This is an assertion that Chinese law reaches into the territory, courts, and daily lives of sovereign states. It is aimed at diaspora communities, but its target is broader: it is a test of whether democracies will accept limits on the jurisdiction of their own laws over their own residents. An Uyghur, Tibetan, or Mongolian activist speaking freely in Prague does not need China's permission to do so. A law that says otherwise is not a matter of internal Chinese governance; it is a claim on the sovereignty of every state where such people live or visit.
We note that these concerns have been shared by the international community. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council in June 2026 that the law risks deepening restrictions on language, education, religion, culture, and assembly, and called for it to be repealed. UN independent experts warned the law would significantly impede on the linguistic, religious and cultural rights of different ethnic groups. The European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the law in April 2026. Uyghur, Tibetan, and Mongolian civil society organizations have documented its provisions and consequences in detail, and we commend their work and draw on it here.
The ICDR and Forum 2000 participants therefore call on the international community, including governments, parliaments, media and civil society organizations gathered in this community to:
- Treat Article 63 as a matter of national sovereignty, and respond to it accordingly, including through legal firewalls that prevent domestic institutions from acting on Chinese claims against residents and citizens.
- Support the documentation and testimony work of Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongolian, and other affected diaspora organizations, and ensure their access to international forums, including this one.
- Press for the law's repeal through bilateral and multilateral channels, and decline to treat its implementation as an internal affair beyond the reach of international scrutiny.
- Resist the normalization of extraterritorial authoritarian law as a tool of governance, recognizing that a precedent set against one community will not stay confined to it.
Forum 2000 was founded by Václav Havel on the conviction that the defense of human dignity, freedom of expression, and cultural and religious identity is not a matter of charity extended across borders, but a shared obligation among free societies.
