BANGKOK — The U.S. State Department stated on Friday that the United States and other nations repeatedly offered Thailand opportunities to resettle over thirty Uyghur men before their deportation to China. Rights groups fear they could be subjected to torture and other abuses upon their return.
Last week, the 40 Uyghurs, who had been held in Thai custody since 2014 after fleeing state repression in China’s Xinjiang region, were secretly transported from a detention center in Bangkok.
The State Department, responding to inquiries from The Associated Press, said, “We have been working with Thailand for years to prevent this situation, including making consistent and repeated offers to resettle the Uyghurs in other countries, including, at times, the United States.”
Earlier in the week, Thailand’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Russ Jalichandra, stated that there had been no substantial offers to accept the men.
He told reporters, “If a third country was genuinely committed to taking them, it should have also negotiated with China to allow Thailand to send them to that third country.”
The State Department condemned Thailand’s decision as a violation of its commitment to the United Nations Convention Against Torture. It also asserted that the U.S. and other countries did not need Beijing’s approval to offer the Uyghurs asylum.
The State Department stated, “The obligation to ensure that individuals at risk of persecution or torture are not refouled is not subject to negotiation with the persecutor country,” using the term for the forced return of asylum seekers to a country where they are likely to face persecution.
It added that a “number of allies and partners” had been involved in the resettlement plans over the years but declined to provide further details.
Russ suggested that Thailand agreed to return the Uyghurs to China partly out of concern that Beijing would retaliate if they were allowed asylum elsewhere.
He said, “The impact that Thailand would face from sending them to a third country would be huge. It was unrealistic.”
According to U.S. officials and human rights organizations, China has imprisoned over 1 million people, including Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, in an extensive network of indoctrination camps.
Individuals have been subjected to torture, sterilization, and political indoctrination, as well as forced labor, as part of an assimilation campaign in a region whose inhabitants are ethnically and culturally distinct from the Han Chinese majority.
China has refuted all allegations, asserting that its policies in Xinjiang are aimed solely at promoting economic and social development in the region and combating radicalism. It also rejects criticism of what it deems its internal affairs.
In 2014, Thai police apprehended over 200 Uyghurs in southern Thailand near the Malaysian border and charged them with immigration violations. Smaller groups were also detained elsewhere around the same time.
In 2015, approximately 170 Uyghur women and children were released to Turkey, while over 100 Uyghur men were deported to China, sparking international condemnation.
The remaining individuals remained in Thai detention until February 27, when, shortly after 2 a.m., most were secretly transported in trucks with blacked-out windows and flown to Xinjiang. Eight are believed to remain in Thailand, and their status is uncertain.
Human Rights Watch and other NGOs denounced the deportations as a violation of domestic and international law, stating that “these men are now at grave risk of being tortured, forcibly disappeared and detained for long periods by the Chinese government.”
United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk also stated that Thailand had violated international human rights laws and standards, and called on the country to ensure the remaining Uyghurs are not returned to China.
He called on China to disclose their whereabouts and to “ensure they are treated in accordance with international human rights standards.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian retorted that Türk should “refrain from interfering in national judicial sovereignty” and denied that China or Thailand had violated any laws.
He said this week, “China is always committed to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens.”
“The repatriated individuals, who had been detained abroad for a long time, have had their legal rights fully protected according to the law and have returned to normal life.”
—AP writer Jintamas Saksornchai contributed to this story.
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