China's Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress Takes Effect July 1

China's Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress took effect on July 1, 2026, Fox News reported. The measure covers Uyghurs, Tibetans, Southern Mongolians, Hong Kongers, Falun Gong practitioners and independent Chinese interfaith communities. Under the law, Uyghur girls who refuse to intermarry with Han Chinese can face criminal charges.

Education in mother tongues is replaced by state-mandated Mandarin. Parents must instruct children to love the CCP, and citizens are encouraged to report neighbors for deviations from approved thought. The law grants Chinese authorities power to target individuals anywhere in the world, including by freezing assets or issuing bounties.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, human rights experts and democratic leaders stated that the law violates international law and state sovereignty. Rushan Abbas said her sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, was abducted in September 2018, six days after Rushan spoke on a panel in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Gulshan Abbas was sentenced in a secret trial on fabricated charges after turning 64 and has been detained nearly eight years as of July 2026. On March 30, 2026, Abdulhakim Idris, a U.S. citizen and executive director of the Center for Uyghur Studies, was detained at a Malaysian airport for nearly 22 hours.

Malaysian authorities seized his American passport and returned him to the United States under escort after pressure from the Chinese government.