S.Res. 791

116 SRES 791 IS: Condemning the People’s Republic of China’s Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, concerned with its implications on the rights and freedoms, as well as survival of the identity, of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, and other affected communities, and calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to end its abuses and campaigns of transnational repression that undermine United States sovereignty and threaten the safety and freedoms of people in the United States.
 U.S. Senate
 2026-06-24
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 III  119th CONGRESS  2d Session  S. RES. 791  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   June 24, 2026   Ms. Rosen  (for herself,  Mr. Curtis ,  Mr. Merkley , and  Mr. Banks ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the  Committee on Foreign Relations    RESOLUTION
Condemning the People’s Republic of China’s Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, concerned with its implications on the rights and freedoms, as well as survival of the identity, of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, and other affected communities, and calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to end its abuses and campaigns of transnational repression that undermine United States sovereignty and threaten the safety and freedoms of people in the United States.
Whereas the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China guarantees specified rights, including freedom of religious belief and the right of people regarded as minorities to use their own spoken and written languages and preserve their cultural traditions;
Whereas the People’s Republic of China is a State Party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
Whereas Chinese authorities have systematically imposed policies that displace ethnic and religious minority communities, separate Tibetan and Uyghur children from their families through state‑run boarding schools, limit the use of minority languages, curtail religious practice through intrusive state controls, and compel conformity with ideology mandated by the Chinese Communist Party;
Whereas the policies of the People’s Republic of China have threatened the rights and freedoms of a broad range of communities, including Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Christians, and other ethnic and religious groups across China, as well as the people of Hong Kong whose civil liberties and autonomy have been systematically eroded in recent years;
Whereas, on January 19, 2021, the United States Department of State determined that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim Turkic peoples in Xinjiang, where the Chinese Communist Party is engaging in forced sterilization, forced labor, arbitrary detention, and restriction of religious practice;
Whereas Chinese Communist Party member Chen Quanguo first experimented with systematic surveillance, intimidation, detention, and draconian controls on expressions of religious and cultural identity in Tibet before expanding and accelerating those repressive techniques in Xinjiang;
Whereas the July 1, 2026, entry into force of the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law of the People's Republic of China institutionalizes and expands coercive assimilation and cultural erasure policies directed toward Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Christians, and other groups;
Whereas the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law codifies the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign of  Sinicization,  requiring schools, religious institutions, families, media, and cultural organizations to align their activities with Party‑mandated ideology;
Whereas the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law criminalizes expression deemed to  undermine ethnic unity  or  create ethnic division ;
Whereas the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law contains extraterritorial provisions authorizing Chinese authorities to pursue  legal responsibility  for individuals and organizations outside China, which includes United States citizens who  undermine ethnic unity  or challenge the Chinese Communist Party’s official historical narratives;
Whereas officials in Taiwan have warned the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law could be used by the Government of the People’s Republic of China to assert extraterritorial jurisdiction over Taiwanese individuals by characterizing expressions of Taiwanese identity, history, or self‑governance as violations of the law;
Whereas the United States has charged multiple individuals acting on behalf of the People’s Republic of China with operating illegal overseas police stations, conducting transnational repression, harassing dissidents, and attempting to limit freedom of expression and other human rights of individuals outside of China;
Whereas, on March 16, 2026, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law risks entrenching assimilationist policies, restricting education in languages other than Mandarin, and limiting the free practice of religion and culture;
Whereas, on April 30, 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning China’s new  ethnic unity and progress  law and warning that it poses grave risks to the rights and cultural preservation of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, and others;
Whereas the United States has long affirmed its commitment to defending religious freedom and the rights of ethnic minorities through bipartisan measures such as the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 ( 22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq. ), the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 (subtitle E of title III of division FF of  Public Law 116–260 ), and the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 ( Public Law 116–145 );
Whereas the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law expands state authority over religious institutions in ways that threaten the ability of Tibetan Buddhist leaders to determine matters of religious tradition, including the succession of the Dalai Lama; and
Whereas the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law represents a grave escalation in the campaign of the People's Republic of China to suppress ethnic, religious, cultural, and linguistic diversity and, when combined with the Chinese Government’s expanding campaigns of transnational repression, illegal overseas police operations, and extraterritorial claims of authority, poses a growing threat to the United States and its allies: Now, therefore, be it
That the Senate—
(1)
condemns the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law for institutionalizing coercive assimilation, cultural erasure, and ideological control over ethnic and religious minorities in the People’s Republic of China;
(2)
reaffirms support for the fundamental rights and freedoms of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Hui Muslims, Christians, and other ethnic and religious communities in the People’s Republic of China;
(3)
reaffirms the 2021 determination of the United States Department of State that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim Turkic peoples;
(4)
calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to repeal the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law;
(5)
urges the United States Department of State to work with allies and partners, including the European Union, Canada, Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom, to monitor and report on the impacts of the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law and ongoing transnational repression carried out by the People's Republic of China;
(6)
calls on the President to evaluate and consider targeted sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act ( 22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq. ) against individuals and entities responsible for, complicit in, or directly benefiting from gross human rights violations that result from implementing the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law and related laws and policies;
(7)
recognizes the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration for their longstanding commitment to nonviolence and dialogue and reaffirms that, in light of the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law’s expansion of state authority over religious institutions, decisions regarding the reincarnation or succession of the Dalai Lama are solely the prerogative of Tibetan Buddhist leaders and the Tibetan people, free from interference by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, as outlined in the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020; and
(8)
calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives in order to hold substantive discussions aimed at resolution of the Sino-Tibetan disputes at an early date, without preconditions.