Govt under fire for deporting dissidents

The authorities forcibly returned Dong Guangping and Jiang Yefei on the weekend, despite the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informing key government agencies on November 10 that the two had been accepted for refugee resettlement in a third country. “Thailand’s forced return of these two rights activists into harm’s way in China after being explicitly told that they were refugees is cruel as well as unlawful,” said Sophie Richardson, HRW’s China director. 

“These actions blatantly contradict the pledge to uphold rights the prime minister made before the UN General Assembly. It’s deeply alarming, if not surprising, that the junta’s deference to abusive neighbours takes priority over the rule of law.”

Returning the two refugees to China – where they are at risk of persecution, arbitrary detention and possibly torture – constitutes refoulement, which is prohibited under customary international law and violates Thailand’s obligations under Article 3 of the Convention against Torture, the HRW said. 

Thailand should cease any deportation of UNHCR-recognised refugees or persons of concern who are in the official process of pursuing an asylum claim, the HRW said.

Thailand should also ratify the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and urgently reform its immigration laws to recognise refugee status under law.

Thailand should also call on China to reveal the two men’s whereabouts, release them and permit them to travel abroad to reunite with their families, who have resettled in a third country, the HRW added.

“It seems clear that the forced return of these two activists was a deliberate, pre-mediated rights violation by the Thai junta at China’s behest,” Richardson said. “PM Prayut should recognise that Thailand is moving toward the sort of pariah status reserved for the most rights-abusing countries and right these wrongs.”

Thai authorities declined to comment on the protection letter yesterday, but said the men were sent back because they had entered Thailand illegally. “We have taken every step in accordance with Thai laws,” General Thawip Netniyom, secretary-general of the National Security Council, told Reuters. “All we know is that they appear to be dissidents of the Chinese government. We don’t know about their other offences.”

In Washington, US Department of State spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday, “We are deeply concerned that Thailand has sent two UNHCR-registered Chinese refugees back to China where they could face harsh treatment, arbitrary detention, and the lack of due process … We urge Thailand to abide by its international obligations and commitments as well as its long-standing practice of providing safe haven to vulnerable persons.”