This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
More than 50 lawmakers from around the world have called on the United Nations to secure the safety of 48 Uyghurs who have languished for more than a decade in detention in Thailand.
Four dozen Uyghur men have been held at Thailand’s Immigration Detention Center (Suan Phlu) since 2014, after attempting to escape persecution in China through Thailand.
They are among more than 500 Uyghurs who fled China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to Southeast Asian countries, according to Thai officials and humanitarian groups.
They hoped to be resettled in Turkey via Malaysia but only about 100 made their way through the red tape and intransigence of officials.
During the exodus from late 2013 to 2014, Thai immigration authorities arrested more than 350 Uyghurs and detained them in March 2014, according to official figures.
At least 172 women and children were sent to Turkey and 109 or more were forcibly returned to China, where their wellbeing is unknown.
The remaining Uyghurs have been held as illegal immigrants – not refugees – under “poor living conditions” in detention centers, unable to speak with outsiders, according to rights groups, who warn that the Uyghurs could be in danger if repatriated to China.
Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, and therefore does not recognize refugees.
In a Nov. 10 letter addressed to Filippo Grandi, the high commissioner of the U.N. refugee agency, or UNHCR, members of the the Interparliamentary Alliance on China, or IPAC, qualified conditions in the detention center as “threatening to life,” noting that five detainees have already died in detention, including two children.
IPAC said that as Thailand has yet to incorporate the principle of non-refoulement, the Uyghurs are at risk of being deported to China, where it is “highly likely they would face persecution, imprisonment, or worse.”
“This must not be allowed to happen,” wrote the 55 lawmakers from 26 parliaments.
“We understand that there may be foreign governments willing to resettle this group of Uyghur men … We urge you to intervene in this case to secure their safety,” they add.
Risk of angering China
IPAC’s letter came after the New York Times Magazine published a lengthy account of the experience of Hasan Imam, a young Uyghur man who had been among the detainees at Suan Phlu before escaping and making his way to Turkey in 2018.
The article described how Uyghurs held in the facility “are routinely denied access to visitors and legal aid,” in poor health and confined to their crowded cells 24 hours a day.
It also explores how the Uyghurs have become pawns in a game of international diplomacy, as Thailand is neither willing to anger China, which it is increasingly reliant on as a trade partner, by freeing the detainees or the West, which holds countries to a higher standard of human rights protections.
It suggested that the U.N.‘s hands are similarly tied, in that assisting Uyghur asylum seekers could put its operations and projects in China at risk of repercussions from Beijing.
RFA Uyghur reached out to the UNHCR for a response to the letter and was told by a representative that the agency is “deeply concerned” about the Uyghurs’ lengthy detention and lack of a solution.
The representative said that UNHCR is engaged in close discussions with Thai authorities, “continuously advocating for an end” to the situation, but added that he could not provide details due to “confidentiality constraints” and to “avoid undermining efforts to resolve what is a highly sensitive matter.”
Pressure from the West
RFA spoke with Rahima Mahmut, the U.K. project director of the World Uyghur Congress, who noted that while her organization has repeatedly called on the UNHCR to help the detainees, “we have yet to see any practical results.”
She agreed that the reason the Uyghurs remained in detention in Thailand is political, rather than legal.
“The reason the Thai government has not deported them to China, despite its close cooperation with the Chinese government, is the pressure from countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States,” she said.
While Mahmut is thankful that they haven’t been sent home, she believes their current situation is untenable.
“They have endured numerous inhumane treatments over the years,” she said. “Surviving in these detention centers for such an extended period has not been easy for them.”
