Thailand deports 48 Uighurs to China despite human rights concerns

Despite fierce protests from activists and human rights organizations, Thailand deported at least 40 Uighurs to the country’s Xinjiang region, which they claimed would cause “irreparable harm” if they were returned.

Phumtham Wechayachai, Thailand’s defense minister, stated on Thursday that China had promised to look after the Uighurs returning to Xinjiang, adding that the deportation had been confirmed.

According to images released by domestic media reports, several trucks with windows covered in black tape were seen leaving the 48-Uighur concentration camp in Bangkok on Thursday morning.

According to the flight tracker Flightradar24, an unscheduled China Southern Airlines flight left Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport a few hours later and made its way to Kashgar in the Xinjiang region six hours later.

Rights organizations have been claiming that China has carried out numerous abuses, including the widespread detention of Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority of about 10 million people in the western region of Xinjiang. Beijing rejects those claims.

Last month, UN rights experts had pleaded with the Thai government not to deport 48 Uighurs, warning that they were at risk of persecution. The group of 300 people who fled China and were detained in 2014 included the 48. Some were sent back to China and others to Turkiye, with the rest kept in Thailand. &nbsp, At least two died in custody.

On Thursday, China’s Ministry of Public Security said 40 Chinese “illegal migrants” had been deported from Thailand “in accordance with… international law”.

Asked specifically whether the group included Uighur detainees, Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said only that they had “Chinese nationality”.

“The repatriations… were a concrete measure of cooperation between (China and Thailand) in combating cross-border crimes”, ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular news briefing.

China’s state news agency, Xinhua, also confirmed the deportation, saying 40 Chinese had been “bewitched by criminal organisations” and were stranded in Thailand. According to the report, their families have repeatedly requested assistance from the Chinese government.

Prime Minister of Thailand, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, earlier on Thursday, declined to confirm the news.

“This sort of issue, for any country, one has to follow the law, international process and human rights”, she told reporters, without elaborating.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees later denounced the move, saying it “deeply regrets the deportation” carried out by Thailand’s government.

“This is a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement and the Royal Thai Government’s obligations under international law”, UNHCR’s assistant high commissioner for protection, Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, said in a statement.