Chinese mining giants including Shenhua Coal and Chang Qing Oil, as well as thousands of private miners, have rushed to Southern Mongolia chasing their fortune. Herders’ grazing lands have been illegally occupied and opened up for mines. Herders have forcibly been removed from their land without adequate compensation or proper resettlement. In response to this unprecedented level of destruction of their grazing lands, Mongolian herders are standing up to defend their right to pursue their livelihood and traditional way of life. Hundreds of herders have been beaten, arrested, and detained in clashes with the Chinese on an almost daily basis. In 2011, the brutal killing of a Mongolian herder named Mergen by a Chinese mining truck sparked a large-scale, region-wide protest by Mongolian herders and students. Chinese authorities mobilized the People’s Liberation Army and large number of police forces to crackdown on the protest. Since 2010, at least six Mongolian herders have lost their lives during violent clashes with Chinese miners and settlers in order to defend their legal rights and grazing lands. In a recent case, just two weeks ago, a Mongolian herder named Ayungaa and his horse were brutally run over by a mining truck in western Southern Mongolia’s Abag Banner. Arbitrary arrest and extrajudicial detention of Mongolian dissidents, activists and herders have become commonplace in Southern Mongolia. Mr. Hada, founder of the Southern Mongolian Democratic Alliance, who initiated efforts to preserve Mongolian culture and tradition and demanded a “genuine” autonomy for the Mongols as guaranteed by the Chinese constitution and the Minority Region Autonomy Law is still being held in a “black jail” after completing his 15-year-long jail term in 2010. His wife, Ms. Xinna, and their son, Uiles, were arrested and placed under extrajudicial detention for an extended period of time before they were placed under house arrest. Ms. Huuchinhuu, a Mongolian dissident writer is still under house arrest and is suffering from breast cancer and nearly total loss of eyesight. Her request for medical parole is denied. Many other dissidents and human right activists have also been arrested, detained, sent to jail, or put under house arrest under similar circumstances. Mr. Batzangaa, who was deported back to China from the independent country of Mongolia when he was seeking asylum with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office at Ulaanbaatar, is still being imprisoned in Inner Mongolia Jail No. 4 in Ulaanhad City. Mr. Tsengelt, a herders’ leader of eastern Southern Mongolia’s Zaruud Banner is still being held at a local detention center without any legal justification. Hundreds other Mongolian herders have arbitrarily been arrested and placed under extrajudicial detention for defending their right to grazing land. We urge the Chinese authorities to put an immediate halt to land grabbing, arbitrary arrest, and extrajudicial detention of the Mongolian people in Southern Mongolia. In addition, we urge the authorities to respect their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms as guaranteed by the Universal Human Rights Declaration and other international human rights conventions.