Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

April 20, 2023

China Denies Cultural Genocide in Mongolia at UN Forum of Indigenous Peoples


China's government representative responds at UN Forum/Image by Censored News

China Denies Cultural Genocide in Mongolia at UN Forum of Indigenous Peoples

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

NEW YORK -- China's representative to the UN Indigenous Peoples Forum passionately denied that China is guilty of cultural genocide in Mongolia.

While denying that China is engaged in cultural genocide, China's representative redirected the focus to the genocide of Indigenous Peoples in residential schools.

"China does not have Indigenous Peoples," he said.

China has regional ethnic autonomy, said China's representative at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, on Wednesday afternoon.

Pointing out the historical inequalities and tragedies that Indigenous children have suffered in residential schools, he said Indigenous People have suffered a "dark history of genocide and cultural cleansing."

Efforts must be made to right the historical wrongs and restore justice and equity to Indigenous Peoples, he said.

Denying cultural genocide in Inner Mongolia, he said false comments were made here, at the UN Forum on Tuesday. As a diplomat from Inner Mongolia, he vehemently denied the cultural genocide.

 "I want to set the record straight."

China has been a  multi-ethnic country since time immemorial, he said, maintaining equality, unity, fraternity, and harmony among its 56 ethnic groups.

China ensures regional ethnic autonomy, he said, and guarantees the freedom of language. China has a policy of bilingual education and has newspapers in ethnic languages. Further, he said China promotes traditional medicine and established hospitals and institutions of higher learning in traditional medicine.

"We respect Mongolian traditions." 

"You are all welcome to come and see the real China," he said, adding that once people shed their biases they will see that the allegations of cultural genocide against its ethnic minority regions could not be further from the truth.

Read more: China Criticized for Cultural Genocide 

by Language Magazine

Mr. Enghebatu Togochog, an internationally acclaimed and prominent human rights activist from Southern Mongolia, spoke about the new policy of the Chinese government to replace the Mongolian language in the educational institutions and the official system in Southern Mongolia.

“Under President Xi Jinping’s new campaign of adopting ‘Common Chinese national identity’ in the colonized regions he has started a ‘cultural genocide’ which is aimed at destroying the original national identity of these countries and submerging them into the Han Chinese identity.

The Mongolian people are strongly resisting this Chinese policy. As a result of this national resistance movement thousands of Mongols who were fighting for their mother tongue have been arrested in recent times. Unfortunately, families of a large number of those who were arrested are not able to get any information about their whereabouts,” he added.




Cultural Genocide in Mongolia 2020

In August government announced that from September classes in Mongolian language would be sharply curtailed. Which under the regulation to teach in Mandarin. It has been reported that similar programs are being carried out in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, home to the Tibetan and Uyghur ethnic groups respectively.

Parents in Inner Mongolia responded to keep their children at home instead of going to the school. In Naiman County, there should be 1,000 Mongolian student normally, only 40 registered, which just 10 showed up on the first day of class. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) demands “all ethnic groups in the People’s Republic of China are equal. The state protects the lawful rights and interests of the ethnic minorities. However, in reality, PRC authorities have spent 70 years which they slowly chipping away at the right of ethnic minority woman including Uyghurs and Mongolians. Drawing comparisons between the situations in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang has become common among China watchers, as well as Inner Mongolian human rights groups abroad, who have termed the recent Chinese actions “cultural genocide”.

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