Police chief Pol Gen Kitrat Panphet confirmed today (27 February) that the Thai authorities have returned 40 Uyghur refugees held in the Immigration Detention Centre to China on a request from the Chinese government. Meanwhile, several human rights organizations condemned the deportation as a violation of Thailand's international obligations as the refugees are at risk of human rights abuses if returned to China. Some also said that the forced return undermine Thailand's credibility as a member of the UN Human Rights Council.

A detention truck with blacked-out window leaving the Immigration Detention Center last night (26 February).

In a press conference, Pol Gen Kitrat said that the Chinese authorities requested the return of 40 out of 48 Uyghur men who have been detained at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok for around 11 years. He claimed that the Chinese authorities has assured the Thai government that they will take care of the men and ensure their safety.

The men were transferred from the Immigration Detention Center in the early hours of 27 February in detention trucks with blacked-out windows. Pol Gen Kitrat said that the transfer method was approved by Phumtham Wechayachai, deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, as well as the National Security Council (NSC). He also claimed that the men understood why they were being moved and that the transfer took place without incident. The return is a matter of human right, he said, because the men have been detained for a long time, noting that officials were following national and international laws.

Senior Thai officials will go to Xinjiang, Pol Gen Kitrat said, including NSC secretary-general Chatchai Bangchuad. The officers will be seeing whether the men are returned to their families and whether they receive a health checkup. He insisted that the Thai police followed the law and that the Chinese authorities upheld their end of the agreement, giving the men a checkup and return them to their families.

A photo posted by the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok includes NSC secretary-general Chatchai Bangchuad (right, standing). 

Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok posted on Facebook that 40 “illegal immigrants” were returned from Thailand in a collaboration between the two countries to combat illegal illegall immigration. It also said that the return was conducted in line with the law of both countries and international guideline.

According to Amnesty International, the 40 Uyghur men deported today (27 february) are among around 300 Uyghur people apprehended by the Thai authorities on 13 March 2014 after they came to Thailand fleeing prosecution and discrimination in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. 109 people from the group were deported to China in July 2015.

Amnesty International has documented massive and systematic abuses by the Chinese government against Uyghurs in Xinjiang – including in internment camps, where over a million people have been arbitrarily detained.

Rights groups condemn deportation

Following reports that the Thai authorities have forcibly returned the refugees to China, human rights organizations condemned the transfer, as the refugees are at risk of human rights abuses if returned to China.

Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director, said that the Thai autorities’ action “constitutes a blatant violation of Thailand’s obligations under domestic and international laws.” She noted that the refugees now face a risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and long-term imprisonment in China, and that senior Thai officials have made multiple public assurances that the men would not be deported.

Person said that the deportation is “a shocking reprise of the cruel and illegal conduct of the Thai military junta ten years ago,” when over a hundred Uyghur refugees were forcibly returned to China, and that it undermines Thailand’s credibility as a member of the UN Human Rights Council (UNCHR). She called on “concerned governments” to demand that the Chinese government allow independent observers and UN mechanisms to access the detainees.

Amnesty International’s China Director Sarah Brooks called the forced deportation of the refugees “unimaginably cruel.”

“The Thai government should have protected these men, but instead it has wilfully exposed them to these grave risks,” she said. “In doing so it has ignored pleas from Amnesty International and United Nations (UN) experts who urged it not to violate the internationally and domestically recognized principle of non-refoulement. And this just as Thailand has been elected to the UN Human Rights Council.”

Brooks called on Thailand and China to disclose the whereabouts of the refugees and ensure that their rights are respected if they remain in custody, including their right to be free from torture and ill treatment. She also demanded that the refugees be given medical care as many are in poor health due to prolonged detention, and that they are allowed to safely rejoin their families.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said that the deportation of the refugees is a violation of international human rights laws and standards. It goes against the principle of non-refoulement, which is contained in several international conventions, as well as Thailand’s own anti-torture and enforced disappearance act.

“My Office has urged, repeatedly, the Thai authorities to respect their obligations under international law in relation to these individuals in need of international protection,” said Türk. “It is deeply regrettable that they have been forcibly returned.

“It is now important for the Chinese authorities to disclose their whereabouts, and to ensure that they are treated in accordance with international human rights standards.”

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member organizations Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) and Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) issued a statement condemning the forced return of the 40 Uyghur men as a breach of the non-derogable principle of non-refoulement and Thailand’s obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which it is a state party.

FIDH, TLHR, and UCL urge the Thai government to ensure protection of refugees and asylum seekers in the country without discrimination, in compliance with its international human rights obligations and the 2023 Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act.

The three organizations also urge the government to ratify the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol to afford refugees and asylum seekers legal recognition and protection.