On June 9, 2018, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC), a New York based human rights organization dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights of the Chinese-occupied Southern Mongolia, held a one-day conference entitled the “Continuing Human Rights Violation of the Mongolians in China: A Case Study of Bayangol” in New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Co-sponsors of the conference include the Mongol-American Cultural Association, Chinggis Khaan Memorial Foundation, The Mongolian Cultural Center, InterMongol Network, Mongol Heritage Foundation, Kalmyk Brotherhood Society, Buryat Association Inc., and Kalmyk Project New York.

Representatives of Southern Mongolia, Tibet, East Turkistan, and China, as well as human rights activists, scholars, and writers from Japan, Mongolia, Sweden, Canada, and the United States attended the conference. Panelists representing Buryat, Kalmyk, and Hazara Mongolian communities were also invited to speak on human rights conditions in their respective nations and territories.  

“The reason why we chose the case of Bayangol is that Bayangol is a Mongolian area in China’s so-called ‘Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,’ where a few months ago the last Mongolian school was removed and the Mongolian students were forced to learn in Chinese,” Enghebatu Togochog, Director of SMHRIC said in his opening remarks.

“As part of China’s assimilation policy, systematic elimination of Mongolian schools and Mongolian language institutions have long been practiced by the Chinese authorities in Southern Mongolia since the very beginning of the colonial regime,” Enghebatu noted.

The keynote speech was given by His Eminent Venerable Arjia Lobsang Thubten Rinpoche, Director of the Indiana-based Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center. Highlighting the importance of preserving native languages, unique cultures, and distinctive traditions of occupied nations Southern Mongolia, Tibet, and East Turkistan, Arjia Rinpoche urged the Chinese government to respect all kind of rights of these so-called “ethnic minorities” in accordance with Chinese laws and international human rights standards.

The conference consisted of four panels. The first was “The Last Lesson of Bayangol” which specifically discussed China’s elimination of Mongolian schools in Mongolian areas, in particular Bayangol region.

The second panel was “The Broader Context of Human Rights Violation in Southern Mongolia.” Writers, activists, and scholars from Japan, Mongolia, and Sweden presented an in-depth analysis on various human rights issues in Southern Mongolia and Chinese policies in general.

The third panel was “United We Stand, Voice of Oppressed Peoples and Nations.” Concerns and voices from representatives of Tibet, East Turkistan, Southern Mongolia, China, and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization were raised in regards to China’s gross human rights violations, including political repression, cultural assimilation, economic exploitation, social marginalization, and environmental destruction.

The last panel was “Oppression Without Borders, Voice of Solidarity.” In this panel, representatives from the independent country of Mongolia, Buryat, Kalmyk, and Hazara Mongolian communities in New York and New Jersey area shared the issues and concerns of their nations and peoples in the face of repression by oppressive regimes, and they expressed their solidarity with Southern Mongolians for their movement for human rights, freedom and self-determination.