On July 1, 2026, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) offices in Washington, D.C., and Brussels joined Tibetan communities in demonstrations against China’s so-called Ethnic Unity and Progress Law
Global reaction
Demonstrations were held outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., and in cities and towns across the United States, India and Europe, where Tibetans were joined by Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Chinese dissidents and other non-Chinese communities in calling for the law’s repeal. At the protests held at the European Parliament in Brussels, several Members of the European Parliament condemned the law and voiced support for the Tibetan people.
In the U.S., U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Jim Risch (R-ID), Ranking Member and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, issued a joint statement on July 1 condemning the EUPL and warning that it further institutionalizes the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) campaign to erase the religious, cultural, and linguistic identities of ethnic minority groups located both inside and outside China.
“In particular, we are deeply concerned by language in the law that demands ideological compliance with the CCP, mandating that even people outside China deemed to be undermining ‘ethnic unity and progress’ by the Chinese government can be held legally responsible in China,” they wrote in the joint statement.
“This sweeping legislation gives Beijing near limitless authority to prosecute those who would speak out against Beijing’s oppression and only continues its development of a legal framework to legitimize its transnational repression,” they added.
The joint statement was also signed by Senators John Curtis, Jeff Merkley, Jacky Rosen, Ted Budd, Tim Kaine, Tammy Duckworth and Lindsey Graham, and House Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI), Ranking Member Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Representative Young Kim (R-CA) also joined the statement.
“We will continue to push back against the CCP’s efforts to undermine the sovereignty of other countries and support the internationally recognized human rights of Tibetans, Uyghurs and other ethnic and minority groups. All people deserve to have a say in their own future, preserve their culture and freely express their religious beliefs,” they added.
Calls for global action
On June 20, 2026, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the democratically elected leader of the Central Tibetan Administration in exile, urged global governments and international organizations to oppose the law and press for its repeal, warning that it will further accelerate forced assimilation of Tibetans while expanding extraterritorial repression.
In a June 28, 2026 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, ICT Chairman Richard Gere urged U.S. policymakers recognize the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law for what it is: “a declaration that Beijing’s ideological jurisdiction extends beyond its borders,” and warned that the oppression in Tibet is at the fulcrum of the larger struggle between liberty and autocracy.
Chairman Gere also keynoted a Baltic parliamentary conference in Riga on June 3, where participants described the law as a serious turning point codifying the forced assimilation of Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongolians and urged coordinated EU action.
At a hearing last month before Canada’s House of Commons human-rights subcommittee (SDIR), ICT President Gyatso raised concerns about Article 15 of the law which prioritizes Chinese over Tibetan and warned it reduces Tibetan language and identity to “a subordinate status.”
At a similar hearing on the law at the European Parliament in May 2026, Gyatso also warned of the risk of arrest, arbitrary detention, or ill-treatment of Tibetans living in exile worldwide, as Article 63 enables the Chinese authorities to target people outside China for broadly defined acts such as “undermining ethnic unity.”
Tibetans protest new law
Participating at the demonstrations staged outside the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. on July 1, D.C., ICT President Tencho Gyatso said, “These policies are not new. Tibetans have been experiencing them for decades through restrictions on our education, religion, and cultural expression. But what makes today so alarming is that this law gives those policies a formal legal framework and justifies the actions of the CCP. It attempts to legitimize what Tibetans have long known: a systematic effort to silence identities that do not fit the CCP’s vision.”
(EUPL), which came into effect on Wednesday.
ICT President Tencho Gyatso described the law as a dangerous escalation in China’s campaign of forced assimilation and a tool of identity erasure, and additional statements against the law came from lawmakers around the world.
