U.N. experts on Tuesday urged Thailand to halt the deportation of 48 Uyghurs held on immigration charges to China, where they would likely face torture, and treat nearly half of the group’s members for “serious health conditions.”
The four dozen Uyghurs have been detained at Thailand’s Immigration Detention Center since 2014 after attempting to use the Southeast Asian nation to escape persecution in China.
“The treatment of the Uyghur minority in China is well-documented,” said the experts, collectively known as the Special Procedures of the U.N.‘s Human Rights Council. “We are concerned they are at risk of suffering irreparable harm, in violation of the international prohibition on refoulement to torture.”
The prohibition on refoulement prevents returning detainees to a country “where there is real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Uyghurs in northwestern China’s vast Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have been subjected to widespread human rights abuses, including detention in massive concentration camps.
The experts also called on Thailand to provide access to asylum procedures and medical care for the group of Uyghurs “without delay.”
“We are informed that 23 of the 48 individuals suffer from serious health conditions, including diabetes, kidney dysfunction, paralysis of the lower body, skin diseases, gastrointestinal illnesses, and heart and lung conditions,” they said. “It is essential they be provided with the necessary and appropriate medical care.”
Call for probe
The group of refugees is part of an originally larger cohort of over 350 Uyghur men, women and children, 172 of whom were resettled in Turkey, 109 deported back to China, and five who died because of inadequate medical conditions.
In 2015, Thailand, Washington’s longest-standing treaty ally in Asia, faced stiff international criticism for those it did deport back to China.
Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, and therefore does not recognize refugees.
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The U.N. experts noted that inadequate conditions of detention, including lack of access to medical care, can contribute to deaths and serious injury.
“Loss of life occurring in custody creates a presumption of arbitrary deprivation of life by State authorities, which can only be rebutted through proper investigation, which complies with international standards,” the experts said, calling on authorities to launch a probe into the circumstances of the group’s arrest and detention.
“Should it be found that they are being arbitrarily deprived of liberty, or in a manner inconsistent with international human rights standards, they should be released without delay,” they said.
Still undecided
The experts’ statement comes less than a week after Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said he would lobby Thailand against deporting the 48 Uyghurs to China during a hearing on his nomination for the post of U.S. secretary of state, which he was confirmed for on Monday.
But there were also signs this week that Thailand was listening to the human rights concerns.
Turgunjan Alawdun, president of the World Uyghur Congress, or WUC, told RFA that it “received news” from a Thai official that the Uyghurs were no longer at immediate risk of being returned.
The WUC, a group established to represent Uyghurs around the globe, said that because of the confidential nature of their communication, the Thai official cannot be identified.
The WUC’s claim appeared to have been corroborated by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, which told RFA last week that, after hearing unconfirmed reports the Uyghurs were to be deported, it checked with Thai authorities, who assured the agency to the contrary.
Thailand has not officially indicated whether the Uyghurs will be protected from deportation and the WUC’s claim could not be independently confirmed.
Police Col. Kathatorn Kaomteang, Thailand’s deputy commander of Immigration Division 3 and spokesperson for the country’s Immigration Bureau, said last week that the matter was still undecided.
Edited by Malcolm Foster.