The Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF), human rights advocates, and a refugee network are seeking an investigation into the alleged disappearance and forced repatriation of Dương Văn Thái, a Vietnamese refugee living in Thailand.

CrCF said that Thái has taken refuge in Thailand since 2018. In April 2023, he was allegedly forcibly disappeared. In July 2023, Vietnamese authorities told his family that Thái was detained in Vietnam and had been charged for “conducting propaganda against the state.” He was sentenced in October 2024 by a court in Hanoi to 12 years in prison.

Between 14-16 October 2025, representatives of CrCF and other advocates filed complaints with the Office of the Attorney General’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Center; the House Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights; the Ministry of Justice’s Rights and Liberties Protection Department; and the National Human Rights Commission.

They have demanded an investigation into Thái’s abduction and forced return to Vietnam. Grace Thu Trang Thi Bui, a human rights advocate and a representative of the Vietnamese refugee network, called on the Thai government to ensure that Thailand is safe and hold Vietnamese officials to account, asserting that the Vietnamese authorities should not be able to come to Thailand and abduct whoever they want.

Meanwhile, CrCF deputy director Prakaidao Pruksakasemsuk said that Thái’s disappearance might constitute a forced disappearance and repatriation, crimes under Thailand’s anti-torture and enforced disappearance law.

She reports that Thái was last seen in Thailand being pushed into a car by four men, and later reappeared in Vietnam. She said that both Thai and Vietnamese authorities appear to have been involved in the operation. CrCF is seeking an investigation as this would constitute a violation of Thailand international obligation regarding non-refoulement.

People’s Party MP Chonticha Jangrew noted that the House Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights has received several complaints about similar incidents. She said that the Committee found that Thai authorities have been assisting officials in neighbouring countries conducting operations on Thai soil which violated human rights.

The committee is taking the matter seriously, she said, because such violations have a negative impact on Thailand’s reputation overseas.

Thái is a Vietnamese activist, independent journalist, blogger, and human rights defender known for his advocacy on environmental rights, democracy, human rights and and criticisms of corruption and politics in Vietnam. According to CrCF, Thái was recognised as a refugee by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2019 and was undergoing resettlement interviews for relocation to a third country.