US Condemns Thailand’s Deportation Of 40 Uyghurs To China

By Kunnawut Boonreak for BenarNews and Pimuk Rakkanam for RFA

The United States condemned longtime ally Thailand for deporting 40 ethnic Uyghurs to China on Thursday, warning that the men risk facing torture when they return to the northeastern region of Xinjiang, which they fled more than 10 years ago.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the decision violated international agreements and ran counter to Thailand’s own commitment to protect human rights. Thailand also faced a barrage of criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups.

The men had been held in Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Center since 2014 after attempting to escape Beijing’s persecution through Thailand. 

Uyghurs in China’s vast Xinjiang region have been subjected to widespread human rights abuses, including detention in massive concentration camps. Beijing denies that.

Thailand also has strong ties with Beijing, the region’s dominant economic player. China is among the top trading partners and foreign investors in Thailand, and its leading source of foreign tourist arrivals.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms Thailand’s forced return of at least 40 Uyghurs to China, where they lack due process rights and where Uyghurs have faced persecution, forced labor, and torture,” Rubio said in a statement on Thursday.

“As Thailand’s longstanding ally, we are alarmed by this action, which risks running afoul of its international obligations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture and the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,” he said. 

“This act runs counter to the Thai people’s longstanding tradition of protection for the most vulnerable and is inconsistent with Thailand’s commitment to protect human rights,” Rubio said. 

It’s unusual for the U.S. to condemn the actions of a treaty ally like Thailand is such strong terms. Ties between the two nations date back more than 200 years. 

At his Jan. 15 confirmation hearing to become the top U.S. diplomat, Rubio had directly called on Thailand not to deport the Uyghurs.

U.N. Human Rights chief Volker Türk said the deportation is a clear violation of international human rights laws and standards.

“This violates the principle of non-refoulement for which there is a complete prohibition in cases where there is a real risk of torture, ill-treatment, or other irreparable harm upon their return,” Türk said in a statement.

UN failed to protect them

The Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, or WUC, said Thailand has lost credibility internationally must be held accountable for what it said was a violation of human rights.

The group also blamed the U.N. refugee agency, saying it had “failed in its mission to protect a vulnerable group exposed to great danger and to transnational repression.”

WUC president Turgunjan Alawdun said the fate of the men was unclear and that “they could be subjected to the worst possible punishment.”

Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates called the deportation a “massive human rights violation.” 

“As each minute passes, it becomes clearer that the Thai government has finally done the unthinkable by forcing at least 40 Uyghurs asylum seekers back to China to face torture in custody, long prison terms, and likely death,” he said in a statement. 

“What’s also clear is Thai officials involved in this forced return, using blacked-out trucks and a barrage of lying denials, have the blood of these Uyghur men on their hands,” Robertson said.

Lin Jian, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Affairs, told a regular press conference in Beijing on Thursday that the repatriation was carried out in accordance with the laws of China and Thailand, international law and common practices. 

“It is a step taken by the two sides to jointly combat human smuggling and other cross-border crimes,” he said. “The lawful rights and interests of individuals concerned are fully protected.”

Lin went on to say that Uyghurs in Xinjiang enjoy economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. 

“Some political forces and institutions fabricate and spread Xinjiang-related lies for no other reason than destabilizing Xinjiang,” he said. 

Reversal

A rights group said in early January that reports from the men indicated that Thai authorities were preparing to deport them, but Thailand repeatedly dismissed the concerns and said there was no plan to do so.

But early on Thursday, human rights activists and a Thai media outlet reported that several trucks, some with windows blocked with sheets of black plastic, left Bangkok’s main Immigration Detention Center after 2 a.m. and headed north towards the city’s Don Mueang airport.

An elevated highway to the airport was blocked off to other traffic as the trucks passed, a human right activist said.

Media later cited a flight tracker app as showing a chartered China Southern Airlines flight left Don Mueang at 4.48 a.m. The app did not give the flight’s destination but it later showed it had landed in Xinjiang. 

China later reported that 40 “illegal immigrants” had been sent from Thailand but it did not identify them as Uyghurs.

On Thursday afternoon, Thai police chief Kitrat Penphet confirmed that the 40 Uyghurs had been deported. He said Chinese authorities wrote to the Thai government to assure it the men would be taken care of.

“They promised to ensure their safety and conduct health examinations when they arrive in Xinjiang,” he said.

“After the government received the letter, we considered it according to human rights principles,” Penphet said. “Then the government held a meeting through the National Security Council, which subsequently resolved to repatriate the Uyghurs.”

Kitrat said “the extradition of illegal immigrants” was normal.

“It’s no different with the Uyghurs. How many more years should we detain them? They should be able to return home,” he said.

Thailand has been holding a total of 48 Uyghurs, and the Turk said he believed eight remained in detention.

Questions for government

Thai opposition lawmaker Kannavee Suebsang said the government had questions to answer.

“What is the Thai government doing? The prime minister must answer to the people urgently,” Kannavee said in a post on Facebook. “They were jailed for 11 years. We violated their human rights for too long. There must be a better way out.”

A Thai court has been considering a petition filed by a Thai lawyer for the men to be freed. It said last week it saw merit in the petition and had asked for more information from authorities and scheduled the next hearing for March 27.

“Thailand has laws preventing people from being sent back to face danger,” said Sunai Phasuk, a senior Thailand researcher at Human Rights Watch, referring to a 2022 law on the prevention of torture that contained a provision on non-refoulement.

“It means the government is not only violating international law but also its own domestic laws,” he said.

The 48 were part of a cohort of more than 350 Uyghur men, women and children, who left China in the hope of finding resettlement abroad and were stopped in Thailand.

Turkey did accept 172 of them while Thailand sent 109 of them back to China in 2015, triggering a storm of international criticism for the decision.

• Nontarat Phaicharoen and Jon Preechawong in Bangkok contributed to this report.