CT Chairman Richard Gere in 2024; Photo: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0

Parliamentarians from the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have called for Europe-wide condemnation of China’s “Law on Ethnic Unity and Progress” at a conference. The law comes into force on July 1, 2026. Human rights organizations such as the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) are convinced that it enshrines the forced assimilation of Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongolians, among others. Dutch MEP Jan Paternotte and German Bundestag member and Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Brand supported the appeal, as did US actor Richard Gere in his capacity as chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). The European Parliament had already condemned the law on April 30, 2026. Furthermore, conference participants urged stronger EU coordination on Tibet policy, including the establishment of an EU Special Representative for Tibet. Michael Brand expressed his support for “initiatives that denounce and oppose this racist Chinese regime as a global threat to stability, peace, and human rights.” (Source: International Campaign for Tibet)