I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION H. R. 10537 
To support and promote the human rights of Southern Mongolians in the 
People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 19, 2024 
Mr. MCGOVERN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Ju-
diciary, Financial Services, and House Administration, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To support and promote the human rights of Southern Mon-
golians in the People’s Republic of China, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Southern Mongolian 
Human Rights Policy Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) According to the China Statistical Yearbook 
for 2021, more than 6,000,000 ethnic Mongolians 
live in the People’s Republic of China, of which some 
two-thirds live in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous 
Region, and many others in three prefectures and 
eight counties designated as autonomous for Mongo-
lians by the Government of the People’s Republic of 
China. 
(2) Over the centuries, successive central Chi-
nese governments have promoted the migration of 
Chinese people into the area currently administered 
as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and 
today only about 18 percent of the population of the 
Region is counted as ethnically Mongolian. 
(3) The Constitution and 1984 Regional Ethnic 
Autonomy Law of the People’s Republic of China 
guarantee numerous rights to Mongolian and other 
designated minorities, including autonomous govern-
ment, protection for religions and cultures, control 
over local economic development, and management 
of local natural resources, and the right ‘‘to use and 
develop their own spoken and written languages and 
their freedom to preserve or reform their own folk-
ways and customs,’’ including to ‘‘use textbooks in 
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their own languages and use these languages as the 
media of instruction’’. 
(4) In 2020, officials in the Inner Mongolia Au-
tonomous Region announced a new policy to effec-
tively replace Mongolian as the principal language of 
instruction with Chinese, in the subjects of history, 
politics, and literature, and shut down Bainu, the 
only Mongolian-language-based social media website 
based in the country. Beginning in September 2023, 
schools across the region largely removed Mongolian- 
language instruction from elementary and secondary 
schools throughout the region. Reports indicate that 
high school and college entrance exams will be con-
ducted in Chinese exclusively starting in 2025 and 
2028, respectively. The People’s Republic of China 
authorities have banned Mongolian language books 
from bookstores and removed signs in the unique, 
vertically-written Mongolian script from schools, 
buildings, streets, and parks. 
(5) The People’s Republic of China officials 
launched ‘‘patriotic education’’ campaigns at schools 
and universities throughout the Inner Mongolia Au-
tonomous Region, designed to suppress manifesta-
tions of Mongolian identity in favor of the common 
Chinese national identity’’ and encourage ‘‘all ethnic 
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groups to accept the great mother country, Chinese 
nationality, Chinese culture, [and the] Chinese Com-
munist Party.’’ In response to the new education 
policy, tens of thousands of Southern Mongolians in 
the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region launched 
protests, in which some 300,000 Southern Mongo-
lian students boycotted school and teachers went on 
strike, and some individuals reportedly committed 
suicide in protest. Security authorities responded 
harshly by arresting, beating, detaining, jailing, and 
placing under home confinement some estimated 
8,000 to 10,000 Southern Mongolians. 
(6) Chinese authorities now fully control all ac-
tivities of the Chinggis Khan Mausoleum in the 
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, including the 
schedule, scale, and ticketing of ritual ceremonies 
and approval and monitoring of gatherings, denying 
Southern Mongolians the ability to carry out tradi-
tional rituals and observances free of government in-
terference and profiteering. This has broken an 
eight-century-long memorial tradition at the site, 
which has served as an historical and cultural rep-
resentation of the Mongolian identity. 
(7) The People’s Republic of China policies 
have undermined the religious heritage of Southern 
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Mongolians, many of whom follow Tibetan Bud-
dhism, including through the destruction of mon-
asteries and temples during the Cultural Revolution, 
and interference in the ability to choose their own 
religious leaders. Restrictions on travel and freedom 
of religion or belief inhibit the ability of Southern 
Mongolians to affiliate, engage, and communicate 
with Mongol communities around the world, espe-
cially those with cultural, linguistic and religious 
links to people in the country of Mongolia and the 
Buryatia, Kamykia, and Tuvan regions of the Rus-
sian Federation, resulting in a diminution of their 
common cultural heritage. 
(8) The People’s Republic of China policies 
have effectively ended the traditional Southern Mon-
golian economic livelihood of pastoralism, a key 
marker of Mongol identity, by forcibly resettling 
more than 246,000 nomadic households to urban 
and agricultural areas where Mandarin language 
and Chinese cultural elements dominate. These poli-
cies have cut off Southern Mongolians from their an-
cestral lands and increased their economic depend-
ence on the state, eroding their social cohesion. This 
has led to severe social and psychological impacts, 
including mental illness and economic deprivation. 
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(9) The environment of the Inner Mongolia Au-
tonomous Region has degraded under the People’s 
Republic of China policies that have removed no-
mads, ending traditional stewardship of grazing 
lands, and exploited natural resources through min-
ing and heavy industry without sufficient stake-
holder input from local inhabitants, resulting in air 
and water pollution and severe health problems 
among local Southern Mongolians. Bayan Obo, the 
largest rare earth mine in the world, is the source 
of toxic waste, including radioactive thorium that 
has been seeping into groundwater. 
(10) Southern Mongolian dissidents, activists, 
writers, bloggers, lawyers, and their family members 
who have attempted to exercise their freedom of ex-
pression and defend their legal rights have been de-
tained, arrested, imprisoned, and placed under home 
confinement by the People’s Republic of China au-
thorities. Activist Yanjindulam remains under home 
confinement after being released from prison, artist 
Ashidaa is still under home confinement, lawyer 
Huhbulag has been detained multiple times, and dis-
sident Almaz has been frequently harassed and de-
tained by the authorities. 
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(11) Authorities detained rights activist Hada, 
who promoted self-determination and democracy for 
Southern Mongolians, in 1995 and sentenced him to 
15 years in 1996. He was held without legal basis 
for an additional four years following the expiration 
of his sentence. Hada was subsequently placed under 
home confinement until his disappearance in Sep-
tember 2020. In 2011, Hada’s wife Xinna, an out-
spoken critic of human rights violations in Southern 
Mongolia, was arrested before being sentenced to 
three years in prison, suspended for five years. Their 
son Uiles was sentenced at the age of 17 to two 
years in prison on the basis of multiple fabricated 
charges. The family’s welfare and whereabouts have 
been unknown since September 2020. 
(12) Chinese authorities have subjected South-
ern Mongolians to transnational repression. Since 
2009, at least five Southern Mongolian dissidents in 
exile have been forcibly returned to China, including 
from Mongolia. On May 3, 2023, Chinese police offi-
cers detained Lhamjab Borjigin, a long-time dis-
sident writer and historian, in Ulaanbaatar, Mon-
golia, and forcibly returned him to China on the 
same day. Lhamjab Borjigin had escaped from home 
confinement on March 6, 2023, after he was sen-
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tenced to one year in prison, suspended for two 
years, for writing a book entitled ‘‘China’s Cultural 
Revolution’’. 
(13) The Congressional-Executive Commission 
on China reported that ‘‘[d]uring the Commission’s 
2023 reporting year, Chinese Communist Party and 
government authorities implemented policies that 
limited the freedom of ethnic minority groups to ex-
press their cultural and religious identities in con-
travention of the PRC Regional Ethnic Autonomy 
Law and international human rights treaties, includ-
ing the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights’’. 
(14) The Government of the People’s Republic 
of China’s policies have undermined the ability of 
Southern Mongolians to exercise their rights under 
the People’s Republic of China’s constitution and 
law, and under international law, to safeguard and 
develop their own language, culture, religion or be-
lief, and economic livelihoods, as part of a deliberate 
effort to erase their distinct Mongolian culture and 
Sinicize the Southern Mongolian people, which some 
observers have called a form of cultural genocide. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
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(1) to support and promote human rights of 
Southern Mongolians in the People’s Republic of 
China, including the fundamental freedoms of ex-
pression, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief 
and rights related to arbitrary detention, discrimina-
tion and other abuses; 
(2) to support the aspirations of the Southern 
Mongolian people to safeguard their cultural and lin-
guistic heritage, including the ability to use and pro-
mote their own spoken and written language, and 
protect their traditional pastoralist way of life that 
they have maintained for thousands of years; and 
(3) to press the Government of the People’s Re-
public of China to allow the Southern Mongolian 
people the ability to enjoy the autonomy guaranteed 
to them by the Constitution and 1984 Regional Eth-
nic Autonomy Law, including in education. 
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the United States supports the legitimate 
aspirations of the Southern Mongolian people to 
safeguard their cultural and linguistic heritage and 
practice their traditional way of life without threat 
of forced assimilation policies of the Government of 
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the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese 
Communist Party; 
(2) the President should— 
(A) condemn human rights abuses against 
Southern Mongolians by authorities of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China; and 
(B) call on such authorities to allow South-
ern Mongolians the ability to exercise the au-
tonomy guaranteed under the constitution and 
law of the People’s Republic of China, including 
to conduct their affairs and receive education in 
their own spoken and written language; 
(3) the Secretary of State should— 
(A) work with United States allies and 
partners and through multilateral institutions 
to advocate for the human rights of Southern 
Mongolians; 
(B) urge the United Nations Human 
Rights Council to prioritize assessment of the 
human rights of Southern Mongolians in its re-
views of the People’s Republic of China compli-
ance with international human rights law, in-
cluding through the Universal Periodic Review 
process, and to request travel by United Na-
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tions officials to assess conditions of Southern 
Mongolians in the People’s Republic of China; 
(C) promote the right of Southern Mongo-
lians to protect their spoken and written lan-
guage; 
(D) promote the freedom of religion or be-
lief Southern Mongolians; 
(E) work with the United Nations Edu-
cational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 
(UNESCO) to identify and protect world herit-
age sites in areas of traditional Mongolian cul-
ture in the People’s Republic of China; and 
(F) coordinate closely with the inter-
national community on targeted sanctions and 
visa restrictions; 
(4) the United States companies and individ-
uals operating in areas designated as autonomous 
for Mongolians in the People’s Republic of China 
should take steps to ensure that their commercial 
activities do not contribute to human rights viola-
tions, undermine the autonomous rights of Southern 
Mongolians, or contribute to the environmental deg-
radation or resettlement of nomads in those areas, 
and are consistent with the United Nations Guiding 
Principles on Business and Human Rights; and 
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(5) the United States Ambassador to the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China should expeditiously seek to 
meet with Hada and his family members, as well as 
other Southern Mongolian dissidents, activists, writ-
ers, and lawyers who are either in prison or under 
detention or home confinement. 
SEC. 5. DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR MATTERS. 
(a) INNER MONGOLIA SECTION IN UNITED STATES 
EMBASSY IN BEIJING, CHINA.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary of State 
should consider establishing an Inner Mongolian 
team within the United States Embassy in Beijing, 
China, to follow political, economic, and social devel-
opments in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 
and other areas designated by the People’s Republic 
of China as autonomous for Mongolians, with due 
consideration given to hiring Southern Mongolians 
as Locally Employed Staff. 
(2) DUTIES.—The responsibilities of the team 
described in paragraph (1) should include reporting 
on human rights issues and access to areas des-
ignated as autonomous for Mongolians by United 
States Government officials, journalists, nongovern-
mental organizations, and the Southern Mongolian 
diaspora. 
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(3) LANGUAGE
REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec-
retary of State should ensure that the Department 
has sufficient proficiency in Mongolian language in 
order to carry out paragraph (1), and that the 
United States Embassy in Beijing, China, has suffi-
cient resources to hire Local Employed Staff pro-
ficient in the Mongolian language, as appropriate. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall 
submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen-
ate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 
of Representatives a report on staffing described in sub-
section (a). 
SEC. 6. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. 
(a) HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS.—The Ambassador at 
Large for International Religious Freedom shall, con-
sistent with the duties under sections 101(c) and 102(a) 
of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 
U.S.C. 6411(c), 6412(a)), assist the Secretary of State to 
assess the impact of the restrictions on Tibetan Buddhism 
by the Government of the People’s Republic of China on 
the religious freedom of— 
(1) practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism in the 
People’s Republic of China who are not Tibetan; and 
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(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an-
nually thereafter, the President shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report that 
identifies each foreign person, including any official 
of the Government of the People’s Republic of 
China, that the President determines is responsible 
for any of the following with respect to Southern 
Mongolians in the People’s Republic of China: 
(A) Torture. 
(B) Cruel, inhuman, or degrading treat-
ment or punishment. 
(C) Prolonged or arbitrary detention with-
out charges and trial. 
(D) Causing the disappearance of persons 
by the abduction and clandestine detention of 
those persons. 
(E) Other flagrant denial of the right to 
life, liberty, or the security of persons. 
(F) Other gross violations of human rights 
committed against Southern Mongolians. 
(2) FORM.—The report required by paragraph 
(1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 
include a classified annex. 
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