China's minorities suffer widespread abuse -report

BEIJING, Apr 25 (Reuters) China's ethnic minorities suffer from widespread discrimination and abuse, with laws supposed to protect them either lacking or simply not enforced, sowing the seeds of domestic unrest, a report said today.

Minorities found it harder to get jobs, were increasingly denied the chance to educate their children in their mother tongue and benefited far less from the country's rapid economic growth, the report added.

''While many laws, regulations, policies and statements address the importance of equality among Chinese ethnic groups, the PRC (People's Republic of China) is not meeting its international obligations on minority rights for Mongols, Tibetans or Uighurs,'' Human Rights in China and Minority Rights Group International said in a joint report.

''Political inequality is exacerbated by minorities' increasing marginalisation from the benefits of China's rapid economic growth, which has highlighted the unevenness of development.'' Beijing has cracked down especially hard on its Muslim Uighurs, who live in the resource-rich and strategically sensitive far western region of Xinjiang, accusing some dissidents of using violence to foment an Islamic revolution.

China should acknowledge its minorities have genuine issues that need addressing, the report said.

''If the PRC continues to meet protests with denial or violence, grievances could accumulate and result in widespread discontent -- an outcome that would undermine the PRC's stated aim of a peaceful, prosperous nation,'' it said.

''If the situation continues to worsen, and the people become desperate, tensions will increase dramatically.'' China denies discrimination and says all citizens are guaranteed equal rights by law.

Dondrub Wangben, vice-minister of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, told a news conference last month China's minorities generally got along very well, though admitted they lagged in economic development due to the often remote areas they live in.

China officially has 56 ethnic groups, but more than 90 percent of the 1.3 billion population are Han Chinese.

Minorities range from the populous Manchu and Hui, who have largely assimilated into mainstream Chinese society, to the Shamanistic Ewenki people in the northeast and the tiny Lhoba group in Tibet, with only about 2,500 members.

The report quoted an unnamed Tibetan as saying he had been unable to find a job as a driver because of his ethnicity -- the advert had specified only Han Chinese need apply.

Tibet has chaffed under China's choke since being occupied by the People's Liberation Army in 1950, and Tibetans who dare to protest or demand greater freedoms are often imprisoned and may be tortured, according to rights groups.

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