Warn un-experts: Thailand should not deport Uyghuren to China

Warn un-experts: Thailand should not deport Uyghuren to China

The international pressure on Thailand is growing, including the new US administration, with regard to the fate of dozens of Uighurs that have been detained for over a decade. Against the background of reports, this happens that the Thai government is planning to deport this group to china.

appeal of the UN experts

On Tuesday, UN experts Thailand asked to stop the possible transfer of men immediately. They warned that the affected people "real risk of torture or other cruel, inhumane or humiliating treatment or punishment should be returned." The concern about the well-being of the 48 men, who have been recorded in Bangkok since 2014, increases after a Uige activist shared a voice message of one of the prisoners. In this news, the prisoner reported that the men have entered a hunger strike since January 10th to protest their impending deportation.

conditions in custody

Arslan Hidayat, an activist who works with the "Justice for All’s Save Uyghur" campaign, informed CNN that the men are still on hunger strike. "We are desperately asking for help from the people in the free world," said the prisoner in a voice message published by Hidayat on Instagram. "You know everyone that blooms when we are sent back to China. This is our call for help from your 48 brothers in Thailand."

The 48 men were arrested 11 years ago by the Thai authorities after crossing the border to Thailand to escape the persecution in China. They belonged to a larger group of around 350 people, some of whom were minors, in accordance with previous reports from un-experts and human rights groups.

The fears that 48 people would soon be transferred to Chinese custody were created on January 8, as Thai authorities reported to the prisoners for "voluntary return" for signature, So the Save Uyghur-Kampagne . Inmates reported that their photos were taken and that they were exposed to increasing threats to a deportation by civil servants in the immigration center center.

Thai officials contested reports on the plans to deport the Uighuries, it was said in local media. CNN asked the Thai police and the Minister of Defense to comment.

history of persecution

The predominantly Muslim Uigures are an ethnic minority from Xinjiang, a huge, nominal autonomous region in the distant west of China. The suppression of the Uigurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang was referred to by the United States and other countries as "genocide", with widespread and credible reports on arbitrary detention, mass monitoring , forced work and restrictions on movement-accusations that China energetically contested.

an Belonging report of the UN-HOCH Commissioner from the year 2022 came to the end, that China committed "serious human rights violations" against the Uighurs and documented what as arbitrary and discriminatory detention by members of Uigurisches and other mostly Muslim groups is described.

urgent call for intervention

At the time, it was estimated that more than 1 million Uighers and other Muslim minorities were recorded in extrajudicial “re -education camps”. The descriptions of the detention were characterized by patterns of the

china has energetically denied . It previously declared that they have set up such institutions to combat "extremism" in the region, and has explained since then that the facilities were closed.

In a letter dated January 10, the 48 prisoners appealed: "We urgently ask all international organizations and countries who work for human rights to keep immediate intervention to protect us from this tragic fate before it is too late." Human Rights Watch that they "let go of the risks of the forced, Long -term care, torture and other severe ill -treatment are exposed to if they are deported.

In the meantime, John Moolenarr, chairman of House Select Committee on China, wrote a letter to the Thai ambassador in the USA and expressed his concern about the reports. He asked the government to release the men to a third country.

The UN experts also asked Thailand to respect his obligations from international law. "The prohibition of the refoulement prohibits the return or transfer in any form to a country in which there is a real risk of torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment," they said.

The Southeast Asian kingdom is not a member of the 1951 refugee agreement and does not recognize the concept of the asylum. Thailand has a story to push back refugees across its borders and deport dissidents. In 2015, Thailand moved 100 Uiguren to China, which triggered international outrage. The fate and the whereabouts of the return are unknown, according to the UN experts in one Report last year.

In the same measure, more than 170 Uiguren and children voluntarily brought to Turkey. Many families were separated, including the relatives of the men who were still imprisoned in Thailand.

"We are calling for a prompt, effective investigation and evaluation of all circumstances of the arrest and continued deprivation of liberty of this group of people," said the UN experts on Tuesday.

This reporting is supported by CNNS Kocha Olarn from Bangkok, Thailand.