尊重少数民族风俗习惯，保障各民族保持或者改革本民族风俗习惯的自由。2004年，自治区制定《新疆维吾尔自治区清真食品管理条例》，依法保障有清真饮食习惯民族的饮食习俗，规定县级以上人民政府民族事务主管部门负责本行政区域内清真食品的监督管理工作。扶持和保证少数民族特需用品的生产和供应。在有土葬习俗的少数民族中，不推行火葬，并采取划拨专用土地、建立公墓等措施予以保障。少数民族重大节日成为新疆法定公众假期。自治区提倡各民族相互尊重风俗习惯，倡导少数民族在衣食住行、婚丧嫁娶、礼仪风俗各方面奉行科学、文明、健康的新习俗。

　　选拔、培养、使用少数民族干部和专业技术人才。自治区通过培训学习、基层锻炼、异地交流、岗位轮换等多种形式，培养了大批各领域少数民族行政和专业技术干部。1955年，新疆有少数民族干部4.6万人，2014年增至41.7万人，占自治区干部总数的51.4%。自治区在公开选拔领导干部、录用国家工作人员时，对少数民族适当放宽条件，通过划定比例、定向招考、适当加分等政策，确保一定数量的少数民族进入公务员队伍。2009—2014年，自治区招录少数民族公务员占招录总数的比例从29.9%提高到48.3%。少数民族专业技术人才培养得到特别支持。1992年开始，国家实施新疆少数民族科技骨干特殊培养工作，采取培训、研修、交流、锻炼等多种方式，至2014年共培养了3917名新疆急需的中高层次少数民族专业技术人才。自2000年起，自治区设立“少数民族科技人才特殊培养计划科研专项资金”，支持少数民族科技骨干实施科技项目。新疆少数民族专业技术人员由1985年的12.43万人增长到2014年的29.44万人，占全区专业技术人员总数的比例由34.43%增长到58.37%，仅高级职称少数民族专业技术人才就达2.11万人。

The customs of ethnic minorities are respected and the freedom of each ethnic group to maintain or reform its own customs is protected. In 2004, the region formulated the Halal Food Regulations of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to protect the halal dietary customs of the relevant ethnic groups, which stipulated that departments in charge of ethnic affairs of the people's governments at/above the county level are vested with the responsibility of supervising and exercising control over the production and supply of halal food within areas under their jurisdiction. The region also renders support to and guarantees the production and supply of special supplies to ethnic minorities. Ethnic minorities which have the tradition of inhumation (ground burial) are exempt from the government requirement for cremation, and are allotted special plots for cemeteries. Major festivals of the ethnic minorities are also made official public holidays in Xinjiang. The region encourages all ethnic groups to respect one another's customs while encourages following more scientific, civilized and healthy customs in relation to food, clothing, shelter, transportation, weddings, funerals and etiquettes.

Candidates of ethnic minority origins are selected and cultivated as officials and professionals. A large number of administrative officials and technical professionals from ethnic minority groups have been fostered through training courses and working at the grassroots level, or through work exchanges or job rotation. In 1955, the number of ethnic minority officials in Xinjiang was 46,000, which increased to 417,000 in 2014, accounting for 51.4 percent of the total officials in the region. When selecting leading officials and recruiting civil servants, the autonomous region implements more flexible policies such as setting a recruitment ratio and offering directional recruitment and bonus points in favor of ethnic minorities, so as to make sure that a certain number of ethnic minorities join the civil service. The proportion of ethnic minority civil servants in the total recruitment increased from 29.9 percent in 2009 to 48.3 percent in 2014.

Special support has been given to professional personnel of ethnic minority origins. Since 1992, the state has put in place a special program to train professionals of ethnic minority origins in key areas of science and technology by way of holding training courses, advanced studies, exchanges and being placed on more challenging posts, etc. and by the end of 2014 the region had trained in total 3,917 middle- and high-caliber professionals of ethnic minority origins badly needed in Xinjiang.

In key areas of science and technology, Xinjiang has established and implemented a fund for special training of science and technology talents of ethnic minority origins since 2000. The number of ethnic minority technical professionals in Xinjiang increased from 124,300 in 1985 to 294,400 in 2014, and the proportion rose from 34.43 percent to 58.37 percent of the total number of such people in the region. The number of ethnic minority professionals with academic titles equivalent to professor and associate professor reached 21,100 in 2014.