The following are two statements made by the SMHRIC Director Enghebatu Togochog before the 16th Session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues on November 30 and December 1, 2023 respectively, and the Chinese government delegation's response:

SMHRIC statement made on November 30, 2023:

Thank you, madam Chair! My name is Enghebatu Togochog. I represent the Mongolian people in China. I would like to bring to your attention two major issues faced by the Mongolians.

The first is China’s new language policy that aims at the total eradication of Mongolian language. Despite the region-wide mass protest, the Central Government of China forcibly implemented the policy and imposed a total ban of Mongolian language this September. Let me repeat it again: Mongolian language is completely banned in the so-called “Autonomous Region” and neighboring Mongolian areas within the borders of the People’s Republic of China. “Speak Chinese and become a civilized person” is an official slogan, publicly advocating “Chinese supremacy”. Textbooks are completely converted to Chinese in all schools. Ignoring its own constitution, the Chinese Government announced that Chinese is the only official language in China; Mongolian books and publications are banned; Mongolian scripts, signs and sculptures are taken down from streets, parks and buildings; even extracurricular learning and teaching of Mongolian is outlawed; Without making any formal amendment to the constitution, the Chinese National Congress announced that “education in minority language is unconstitutional”.

Secondly, a region-wide mass training program has been launched by the Chinese Government, targeting the entire Mongolian population. During the training, Mongolians are condemned for expressing their national feeling, for singing Mongolian songs, wearing Mongolian clothes; Mongolians are condemned for not having enough Chinese friends, not being affectionate enough to the Chinese; Mongolian students and teachers are banned from speaking Mongolian among themselves, and rural Mongolian herders are forced to speak Chinese at home; Mongolians are forced to embrace the “Chinese culture, Chinese language and Chinese tradition” as a “superior” one.

Madam chair, this is nothing but a cultural genocide, a form of genocide aiming that the total eradication of the Mongolian population and their distinct language, culture and identity. Thanks you, Madam chair!

SMHRIC statement made on December 1, 2023:

Thank you madam Chair! My name is Enghebatu Togochog. I represent the Mongolian community in China. Madam Chair, today Mongolian people in China are facing a systematic denial of their political, economic, cultural and linguistic rights.

Hundreds of thousands of Mongolians were purged and persecuted in the so-called “Anti-National Rightist Movement” in the 1950s; From the 1960s through the 1970s, more than 100,000 Mongolians were tortured to death as national separatists. Half million were imprisoned and sent to labor camps.

Following this textbook example of genocide campaign, the Government of China has implemented a systematic erasure of Mongolian traditional way of life. Two sets of policies were particularly hostile toward the nomadic way of life. They are the policies of “Ecological Migration” and “Livestock Grazing Ban”. Mongolian nomads are blamed for the environmental degradation and forced to move off their land and resettle in urban and agricultural areas to give up their traditional way of life.

According to the Chinese State Council, by the end of 2015, China had already resettled her remaining 1.2 million nomads. This means, 8 years ago, China had officially put to an end to the millennia-old nomadic civilization within its borders.

“National autonomy” was never materialized; political rights were taken away; traditional way of life is wiped out. What is being targeted now is the language: the last defense of Mongolian national identity. This September, the Government of China officially banned Mongolian language in all schools and public life.

Madam Chair, this is a systematic destruction of a people; this is a genocide par excellence. China must respects international human rights conventions and its own constitution.

Thank you, Madam Chair!

Response from the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations (2023-12-01):

Original version in Chinese: