CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12th, 2026
Contact: contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
https://campaignforuyghurs.org/

China’s New “Ethnic Unity Law” Codifies Genocide 

On March 12, 2026, China’s legislature approved and codified into a law a provision that promotes “ethnic unity.” However, this law does not encourage “ethnic unity.” It encourages the demolition of individual cultures and languages and the promotion of the assimilation of different ethnoreligious groups into Han Chinese society. 

The law, which embodies Xi Jinping’s racist mission to create a singular national identity molded by the Chinese Communist Party, includes sweeping provisions targeting public and private life. It orders Mandarin Chinese to be the sole instructional language in schools and in official communications. Authorities are to guide citizens toward the “correct” views on topics such as history and religion, and encourage them to shed their “outdated customs.” Parents are to “educate and guide children to love the Chinese Communist Party.” Members of other ethnic or religious groups cannot object to marriages with Han Chinese populations, and the law encourages residents to live in “mixed communities,” promoting Han Chinese migration to regions such as East Turkistan and Tibet.  

This law fully codifies and legalizes the oppressive practices Uyghurs have been living under for years. In regions such as East Turkistan, the population has been subjected to mass detention, family separation, violence against women, the erasure of individual religion, language, and culture, and mass surveillance. Now, this law calls for “mobilizing all aspects of the party, state, and society to forge a single national consciousness.” This creates the space for the Chinese regime to fully eliminate individual identities and cultures under the name of assimilation and unity. This law has codified genocide. 

“CFU strongly condemns this so-called ‘ethnic unity law’ passed by the Chinese legislature,” says CFU Executive Director Rushan Abbas. “These policies do not promote unity: they legitimize genocide and legalize the crimes against humanity. It gives the CCP total control to eliminate all cultures and civilizations they do not deem worthy of survival. We stand at the precipice of a total erasure of Uyghur identity, and the international community must take tangible action. The Chinese government is not only an enemy of the people within China’s borders, but an enemy of freedom, democracy, and all humanity.” 

CFU calls on the international community and all citizens to stand up for the rights of Uyghurs and other ethnoreligious groups unjustly targeted by this new law. The protection of individual languages and cultures in the face of genocide and forced assimilation is essential. Louder outcry against these genocidal policies is paramount to ensuring the survival of Uyghur civilization in the face of escalated oppression.