Dharamshala, April 23 -- A group of UN Special Rapporteurs from the United Nations (UN) have raised serious concerns about China's newly adopted ethnic unity law, warning that it may undermine fundamental human rights, especially for ethnic minorities, with Tibetan exile community in Dharamshala also expressing its opposition. The law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, passed on March 12, by the China's 14th National People's Congress, is set to take effect from July 1. "The law, in its national application, could transform temporary or experimental regional measures into binding nationwide obligations, which could have serious implications for the linguistic, cultural, and religious autonomy of ethnic communities, including Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongols," the Rapporteurs said in their recent communication to Chinese government. The Dharamshala-based Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile in March passed a resolution rejecting the law, terming it as legally illegitimate and morally invalid under international and constitutional standards. Spokesperson of Tibetan government-in-exile, Tenzin Lekshay, said, "UN experts have questioned the legitimacy of China's Law on Ethnic Unity, expressing concern that it functions as a tool to systematically annihilate, suppress and sinicize the unique Tibetan identity, culture, and livelihood by enforced cultural homogenisation. The implementation of this law represents a clear divergence from China's commitments under international law and undermines the foundations of the rules-based international system." The Article 15 of the law requires the State to "fully promote the spread of the nation's common language and script," and the schools and other educational institutions are to use the nation's common language and script as the basic language and script for education and teaching. "The requirement in the newly adopted law that minority languages be subordinate to Mandarin "in position, order, and so forth" in public settings reinforces linguistic hierarchy," the communication further read. They have also observed that law could restrict the right to freedom of religion and belief. "Article 46 requires religion and belief groups, religious schools and religious activity sites to "persist in the direction of Sinicization of [China's] religions" while guiding "religions to adapt to socialist society,", they stated. The UN experts argue the law may conflict with China's obligations under treaties such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protect cultural participation, education rights, and non-discrimination. The communication was jointly signed by Special Rapporteurs Nicolas Levrat (minority issues), Alexandra Xanthaki (cultural rights), Surya Deva (right to development), and Farida Shaheed (right to education). It was also signed by Irene Khan (freedom of opinion and expression), Gina Romero (freedom of peaceful assembly and association), Balakrishnan Rajagopal (adequate housing and non-discrimination), and Nazila Ghanea (freedom of religion or belief)....