The majority of China's Uighur population are Muslim. File picture: Pete Niesen/Shutterstock.com
The government of Thailand should ensure that 112 newly detained people believed to be ethnic Uighurs are not forcibly returned to China, Human Rights Watch said today. Thai authorities detained the group in Sa Kaew province near the Thai-Cambodia border and brought them to the central Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok. A senior Thai Immigration Bureau official said that Chinese officials with access to the group identified at least 30 as Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim and Turkic minority that originates from western China.
“Past cases have shown that Uighurs returned to China are always at risk of persecution,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “Thailand needs to act quickly to ensure that these people are protected and not sent into harm’s way.”
Uighurs forcibly returned to China typically face severe persecution, including the threat of arrest and torture. Members of the group should be allowed unhindered access to officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the right to seek asylum and undergo refugee status determination.
Thai authorities discovered an earlier group of 220 people, alleged by some sources to be Uighurs, in a jungle camp in Thailand’s Songkhla province, on March 13, 2014. The group claims to be Turkish and has asked to be repatriated to Turkey.
Under customary international law and as a party to the Convention against Torture, Thailand is obliged to ensure that no one in its custody is forcibly sent to a place where they would risk being subjected to persecution, torture, or other serious human rights violations.
In recent years there have been multiple incidents of Uighurs being forcibly returned to China in violation of international law, particularly from Southeast Asia, a common route for people fleeing China. In December 2009, Cambodia forcibly returned 20 Uighurs despite the fact that the UNHCR office had already issued “persons of concern” letters to all members of the group. Subsequent media reports, which could not be independently verified, stated that some members of that group were tried and sentenced to death, while others were sentenced to prison.
Full Story: Thailand: Don’t Forcibly Return Uighurs to China
Source:Human Rights Watch