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Voice of America
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Fate of 8 Uyghurs in Thailand in limbo after 40 deported to China
Human rights advocates say at least some of the eight ethnic minority Uyghurs who remain in Thailand's custody since authorities deported 40 others to China last month are at risk of the same fate. After weeks of denying it was planning to repatriate any of the 48 Chinese Uyghurs it had held since arresting them for illegal entry in 2014, Thailand abruptly turned 40 of them over to China on Feb. 27. The United States, United Nations and international rights groups strongly condemned Thailand for sending Uyghurs back to China. They say it violates Thailand's international treaty obligations and, as of 2023, its own domestic law against deporting people to countries where they face a good chance of being abused or tortured. The United States and others have accused Beijing of genocide over its treatment of the Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Uyghurs in China's western Xinjiang province. The United Nations says their treatment may amount to crimes against humanity. Beijing denies the allegations. The Thai and Chinese governments have said nothing about the eight Uyghurs who were not sent back to China last month. The two governments have ignored VOA requests for comment. But rights groups tell VOA they have confirmed that all eight remain in Thai custody — three in immigration detention without charge, with the other five serving prison sentences since 2020 for robbery and attempted escape from a detention center. They say the five in prison face the greatest risk of being deported once their prison terms end. 'After they complete their sentence, they have to come back to the immigration detention centers. That is … worrisome, because if there [is] the push from the Chinese again, these five people might be the most vulnerable group of people that will be deported again,' Kannavee Suebsang, an opposition lawmaker and deputy chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice and Human Rights, told VOA. He said their sentences are due to end in 2029. Rights groups, though, say the five could face a forced return to China much earlier than that if they are added to the lists of prisoners pardoned by Thailand's king on royal holidays each year. 'We are very concerned' In a statement addressing the Feb. 27 deportations posted online the day after, the Thai government said China had in fact asked for the return of 45 'Chinese nationals,' referring to the Uyghurs. Krittaporn Semsantad, program director for the Peace Rights Foundation, a Thai rights group, says that number appears to include the five Uyghurs still in prison in Thailand — a sign, she believes, that China wants them returned as well. 'So, yes, we are very … concerned,' she told VOA. 'It could be very high risk and very high chance that these five will be sent back after they finish their sentence.' For the eight Uyghurs still in Thai custody, 'the danger is not passed yet,' agreed Polat Sayim, an ethnic Uyghur living in Australia and the executive committee vice chair of the World Uyghur Congress. Chalida Tajaroensuk, who heads Thailand's People's Empowerment Foundation, another local rights group, echoed their concerns. She told VOA she visited the five Uyghurs in prison the day after the 40 were deported and said they were terrified of being forced back to China as well. 'They are afraid, and they also cried. They don't want to go back,' she said. 'We need to closely monitor' The rights groups told VOA that their sources in the Thai government and inside its detained centers have told them the other three Uyghurs also remain in Thailand, in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration. Neither China nor Thailand has explained why they were not deported along with the 40 last month. Unlike the five Uyghurs in prison, Kannavee and the rights groups say these three, who also hail from China, claimed to have come from other countries when they were first caught in Thailand, which may have helped to spare them from being sent back. 'But still we need to also closely monitor about the situation of the three, because they [have] already been disclosed, I mean their information has been disclosed that they are [from] the same group of the Uyghurs,' said Kannavee, who previously worked for the U.N.'s refugee agency in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand. He was referring to the more than 300 Uyghurs Thailand caught entering the country illegally in 2014 as they sought to make their way to Turkey, where some had relatives, and other countries. Of that group, Thailand deported 173 mostly women and children to Turkey in 2015 but sent 109, most of them men, back to China days later. Those sent back to China have not been heard from since. Following the rebukes over last month's deportations, the Thai government said Beijing had assured it that the Uyghurs would be treated well and that Bangkok could send envoys to check up on them regularly. Rights groups and opposition lawmakers such as Kannavee, though, say they take little comfort in Beijing's promises and still hope to persuade the Thai government to let the eight Uyghurs who remain in its custody settle elsewhere. 'We don't have a country' Thai officials initially claimed that no other country had offered to take in the Uyghurs but later acknowledged that some had, without naming them, and that Thailand turned them down for fear that China might retaliate. The Reuters news agency has reported that Australia, Canada and the United States all offered to resettle the Uyghurs. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told VOA on Sunday it had been working with Thailand for years to avoid their return to China, 'including by consistently and repeatedly offering to resettle the Uyghurs in other countries, including, at times, the United States.' Sayim, of the World Uyghur Congress, said those countries should keep their offers open for the eight Uyghurs Thailand still holds, and continue putting pressure on the Thai government to accept. 'We don't have [a] country. That's why we have to ask European countries if they can help. … Always we asking [the] U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Australia if they could make a decision and take them,' he said. 'The Thai government shouldn't give these people back to China. They know it's not good when they go back.'
Japan Times
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Thailand sends 40 Uyghurs back to China after decade in detention
BANGKOK – China has assured Thailand that 40 Chinese Uyghurs it returned on Thursday would be looked after, Thailand's defense minister said, confirming a secretive predawn deportation that the United Nations and human rights groups condemned. The move came despite urging by United Nations human rights experts not to send back the Uyghurs Thailand has held in detention for a decade, warning they were at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm" if returned. The Uyghurs were sent back in accordance with international standards, Phumtham Wechayachai said, in Thailand's first confirmation of the deportation, its second in the past decade.
The Guardian
27-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Thailand deports dozens of Uyghurs to China despite torture fears
Dozens of Uyghurs have been deported from Thailand to China in the face of warnings from human rights experts that they will face a high risk of torture, enforced disappearance and imprisonment. Local media reported that several trucks with their windows covered were seen in the early hours of Thursday leaving the Bangkok immigration centre where 48 Uyghurs had been held during their more than 10 years in Thai detention. A few hours later, at 4.48am, an unscheduled China Southern Airlines flight took off from Bangkok's Don Mueang airport, and it landed in Kashgar, in China's Xinjiang region, about six hours later, according to Flightradar24. A video posted online showed a number of handcuffed men being escorted off a China Southern Airlines plane. The Thai deputy premier Phumtham Wechayachai confirmed the deportation, telling Reuters that China had assured Thailand the 40 Chinese Uyghurs it returned on Thursday would be looked after. 'It was done in accordance with Thai law and international principles. There are no problems. They will be looked after well because they are their people,' Phumtham said. 'There are undergoing health checks. After that, they will be sent home. Their relatives have received them.' China's government had earlier announced that a group of 40 'illegal immigrants' had been repatriated from Thailand. China's public security ministry said it attached 'great importance' to their return and the 'repatriation' was 'in line with the laws' of China and Thailand and international practice. The security official did not mention that the group were Uyghurs, and many commenters on social media appeared to presume they were linked to scam farms. At a separate press conference, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian rejected criticisms from 'so-called human rights advocates' and said all ethnic groups in China enjoyed rights and freedoms as Chinese citizens. 'Certain political forces have been spreading lies concerning Xinjiang in order to disrupt the order in Xinjiang. We are firmly opposed to such interference,' he said. The Thai prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, said only that 'the law, international process and human rights' must be followed. The 48 detainees were among hundreds of Uyghurs who fled China in late 2013 and early 2014, travelling to south-east Asia with the help of people smugglers. Many had been told that if they could make it as far as Malaysia they could be resettled to Turkey. The groups were arrested in Thailand in 2014 and the following year 109 were sent back to China, prompting global outcry. Photographs at the time showed some of them hooded, handcuffed and guarded by Chinese police. Others were sent to Turkey. The rest have remained in Thai custody for a decade. Five detainees died during that period, including a newborn and a three-year-old. The detained were part of an exodus of Uyghurs fleeing Xinjiang, where China is accused of committing human rights abuses, including the incarceration of about 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. Some governments have labelled the crackdown as a genocide and the UN found it to have possibly amounted to crimes against humanity. China denies the accusations. Elaine Pearson, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch said she feared the returned group now faced 'a high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and long-term imprisonment in China', having already enduring a decade in immigration detention in Thailand. 'Thailand's actions constitute a blatant violation of Thailand's obligations under domestic and international laws,' Pearson said. She said that until Wednesday, senior Thai officials had made multiple public assurances that these men would not be transferred, including to allies and UN official. Last month UN human rights experts urged Thailand to halt the deportation, warning the detainees were at risk of 'irreparable harm' if returned. Officials from the Chinese public security ministry claimed relatives of the group had asked for their return. 'They and their families have suffered great harm. Their relatives have repeatedly requested the Chinese government to provide assistance so that they can return to the embrace of the motherland as soon as possible and reunite with their loved ones. Promoting repatriation is a reflection of the Chinese police's effective protection of the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens,' an official said. Many relatives of the Uyghurs had pleaded with authorities not to return them to China. 'The Chinese government doesn't want the world to hear their stories,' the brother of one detainee told the Guardian in January. 'The Chinese government is always paranoid about Uyghurs going to a safe country in large numbers and living together,' said the man, who left China in 2016. 'They always believe that's a threat … that is the reason why the Chinese government wants them back.' Earlier this month Paetongtarn made an official visit to China and met Xi Jinping in Beijing. The two countries are marking 50 years of diplomatic relations. Peter Irwin, and associate director for research and advocacy at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said past experience suggested the 40 would be jailed. 'I would imagine they will be in prison for the rest of their lives,' he said. 'We know this because this has been the case for people who have been deported previously – you just don't hear from them. The Chinese government treats people who try to flee the country as criminals … There is absolutely no way, from my perspective, that these people will be treated fairly.'
