In the Sights

Thailand deported dozens of Uyghur refugees it had kept in detention for more than a decade to China this week, despite widespread warnings from human rights groups about the risks the returnees faced, including torture and death, the BBC reported.

Thai media reported trucks with plastic-covered windows leaving Bangkok’s main immigration center in the early hours of Thursday morning. The Thai and Chinese governments confirmed the transfer of refugees Thursday.

Data shows that 43 Uyghurs were in Thai detention centers, though 40 were confirmed as having been deported. China declined to confirm that the deportees were Uyghurs but said they would be looked after properly.

UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, described the deportation as “a clear violation of international human rights laws and standards.”

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said that the treatment and deportation of the Uyghur asylum seekers followed Thai and international laws and that China will take care of them because “they are their people,” Reuters reported.

Sources told the BBC that the deportations followed a meeting between the new Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group who are mainly Muslims, are native to China’s Xinjiang region. After years of tension with Beijing over alleged discrimination and the suppression of their cultural identity, the Chinese government initiated a campaign of persecution against the minority group, labeling them jihadists. Some Western governments, however, have labeled the Chinese crackdown on the group a genocide.

In 2014, more than 300 Uyghurs escaping from China were detained in Thailand. Some were sent to China against their will, some were sent to Turkey, and some remained in Thai immigration centers seeking asylum, the Associated Press reported.

For more than a decade, Thailand has found itself caught in a diplomatic dilemma over the asylum seekers, balancing its relationship with China, its primary trading partner, and the United States, its traditional military ally.

Western governments, including the US, have consistently raised concerns about Thailand’s deportation of the Uyghurs, warning that they could face persecution, imprisonment, or even death upon returning to China.

To avoid backlash, Thailand had avoided deporting any Uyghurs in the past decade – until now.