Over 100 Global Rights Groups Call for the Immediate Release of Mongolian writer and activist Munkhbayar Chuluundorj
Comments Off on Over 100 Global Rights Groups Call for the Immediate Release of Mongolian writer and activist Munkhbayar ChuluundorjWorld leaders urged to jointly press for all charges against him to be dropped and for him to be freed
We urge the Mongolian government to immediately release Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj who was arbitrarily arrested in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, by the General Intelligence Agency (GIA) of Mongolia on February 17, 2022. (1)
Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj is an award-winning Mongolian journalist, poet, and human rights activist known for defending the linguistic, cultural, and historical identities of Southern Mongolians.
Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj was detained in Ulaanbaatar on politically motivated charges related to his public criticism of the Mongolian government’s close ties with China and the shrinking rights in Southern Mongolia [CH: Inner Mongolia], which China has occupied since 1949. (2) His arrest and sentencing took place amid China’s increasingly severe policies in Southern Mongolia that aim to remove learning in the Mongolian language for several key subjects. These restrictive policies are similar to those rolled out by Chinese authorities in Tibet and East Turkistan [CH: Xinjiang], and recent moves to replace Cantonese education in Hong Kong with Mandarin. (3)
Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj was sentenced to 10 years in prison on June 28, 2022, for “collaborating with a foreign intelligence agency” against the People’s Republic of China. On December 21, 2022, the Supreme Court of Mongolia heard his appeal and upheld the lower court’s original decision. There is no evidence linking Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj to the charge and his lawyer, Ms. Baasan Geleg, has dismissed the national security charge against him as entirely baseless. (4)
In September 2022 two handwritten letters from Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj – penned in the detention center in June 2022 – were received by the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center. In the letters, he pleaded his innocence and detailed how he believed the evidence against him had been fabricated in relation to his work to better the conditions of Mongolians. (5)
Land-locked Mongolia is highly dependent on China for imports (6) and there has been an increase in economic influence, including vast loans via Xi Jinping’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, in recent years that have pushed Mongolia into major indebtedness to China. (7) These debts are further exacerbated by a program of cultural propaganda such as the establishment of Confucius Institutes, television and radio broadcasts, and cultural centers.
Growing concern about the Mongolian state’s harassment, intimidation, and reprisals against human rights defenders is growing. In October 2022, the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights raised the issue of human rights defenders and recommended Mongolia put in place protection safeguards and ‘urgently investigate cases in which human rights defenders are criminalized’. (8) Later in the same month, the Japanese “Parliamentary Support Group for
Southern Mongolia” (9) published a statement regarding the sentence of Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj.
Rights groups are calling on like-minded governments – both jointly and bi-laterally – and the UN Human Rights Council to call for the immediate release of Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj.
SIGNED BY:
Togochog Enghebatu, President, Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center Hidetoshi Ishii, Senior Advisor, Free Tibet Fukuoka
Elbegdorj Tsakhyiagiin, President World Mongol Federation and former President of Mongolia Dolkun Isa, President, World Uyghur Congress
Anna Kwok, Executive Director, Hong Kong Democracy Council Mandie McKeown, Executive Director, International Tibet Network Talita Pessoa, Program Director, PEN America
Dr. Sanj Altan, President, Mongol American Cultural Association Dr. Yang Jianli, President, Citizen Power Initiatives for China
Merce Monje Cano, Executive Director, Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization On behalf of the following global rights groups:
| Afghanistan Cinema Club Afghanistan Hazara Culture and Solidarity Assoication (AHCSA) Alaska Tibet Committee Altanseseg Band Asociación Cultural Tibetano-Costarricense Association France Tibet Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association Bath District Tibet Support Group Bayanmongol NGO (USA) Bolaq Analysts Network USA Buriat House Buryaat Mongol United Association CADAL Campaign For Uyghurs Captive Nations Coalition Casa del Tibet Centre for Himalayan Asia Studies and Engagement (CHASE) China Against the Death Penalty China Alarm China Change Chinggis Khan Memorial Foundation Comité de Apoyo al Tíbet – CAT Committee on the Present Danger: China Foundation for Non-violent Alternatives Fredrik Larsson Free Tibet Free Tibet Fukuoka FREE TIBET ITALY Fundacion Casa del Tibet Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete-Portugal Hazara Committee in UK Hazara Community in Ireland Hazara Community of Washington Hazara Organization for Peace and Equality (HOPE) Hazara Research Center Hong Kong Committee in Norway India – Tibet Friendship Society India Tibet Friendship Society NAGPUR Initiatives for China (GongMinLiLiang) Inner Mongolia People’s Party Institute for China’s Democratic Transition InterMongol Network International PEN Uyghur Center International Society for Human Rights – Sweden International Society for Human Rights, Munich chapter Kalmyk Project Kalmyk Youth Coalition Keep Taiwan Free | La Federacion of Cantonia Latvia for Tibet Law and Society Alliance (LSA) LUNGTA – Actief voor Tibet Mongol Heritage Foundation Mongolian 4-H NGO (USA) National Democratic Party of Tibet New Yorkers Supporting Hong Kong Nutug Chuulgan Objectif Tibet RangZen Brazil Regional Tibetan Youth Congress NYNJ Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet Save the Mongolian Language NGO Students for a Free Tibet Students for a Free Tibet – Japan Students for a Free Tibet – Taiwan Students For a Free Tibet- India Swedish Mongolian Committee (Svenska Mongol Kommitten) Swedish Tibet Committee Swiss Tibetan Friendship Association Terrorism Victims Protection Organization (TVPO) The Norwegian Tibet Committee The Tibet Support Committee, Denmark Tibet Justice Center Tibet Solidarity Tibet Support Association Sambhala Tibet Center Tibet Support Groep Nederland Tibet Support Group Ireland TIBET WATCH Tibetan Community in Britain Tibetan Community in Switzerland and Liechtenstein Tibetans of Mixed Heritage Tso Pema Non-Profit TSSA UK Mongolian Community UNPO – Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation USTC US Tibet Committee Uyghur American Association Uyghur Human Rights Project Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement Voice of Southern Mongolia World Hazara Council World Mongol Federation Europe World Mongol Federation USA Youth Liberation Front of Tibet, East-Turkistan, Manchuria & Inner-Mongolia ( YLFTM ) New-Delhi, Zerd Band |
NOTES:
- Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center, Mongolian journalist handed 10 years; attorney says “independent country of Mongolia became a province of China”
- UNPO: Southern Mongolia
- Mongolian: PEN America, New Mongolia Education Policy Threatens to Degrade Language Rights – PEN America
Tibetan: Human Rights Watch, China: Tibetan Children Denied Mother-Tongue Classes | Human Rights Watch Uyghur: Uyghur Human Rights Project, Assault on the Uyghur Language in East Turkestan
Hong Kong: Australia Broadcasting Corporation, Fears for the future of Cantonese as China urges Hong Kong to legally recognise Mandarin
4. Mongolian journalist handed 10 years; attorney says “independent country of Mongolia became a province of China”
5. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj’s open letter: Wake up, Mongolians, if you don’t want to be wiped out!
6. The Financial Times, 2016, Mongolia: Living from loan to loan | Financial Times
7. South China Morning Post, August 2022,
8.https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=E%2fC.12%2fMNG%2fC O%2f5&Lang=en
9. Japan’s ‘Southern Mongolia Parliamentary Alliance’ is Historically Significant | JAPAN Forward