Muslim groups demand explanation from government
MUSLIM GROUPS in Thailand demanded yesterday that the more than 50 Uighur migrants still in the country must not be sent back to face persecution in China, while urging the government to clarify the legal basis for its earlier deportation of about 100 Uig
Eighteen Muslim organisations said in a statement that the government had done the right thing in sending 172 Uighur women and children to Turkey late last month. However, they said it had failed on humanitarian grounds when some 100 male Uighurs were deported to China on Thursday, prompting an international backlash.
Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, said the Thai government should have resorted to the extradition process if these Uighurs had violated China’s laws, as it claimed.
Thailand yesterday faced further criticisms from Turkey’s Foreign Ministry and the US State Department, who issued statements urging Thailand to adhere to international obligations under the Convention against Torture, which requires countries to refrain from refoulement (forced return to states accused of persecution).
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the international community would continue to closely follow the fate of more than 100 Uighurs handed over to China from Thai custody while the US said the deportees could face harsh treatment and a lack of due process in China.
Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, responding to the issue, said at a press conference in Beijing yesterday that China’s policies on illegal immigrants were clear and consistent.
“Those charged with serious criminal offences will be brought to justice, while those not charged with criminal offences or only with minor offences will be properly settled,” the spokesperson said.
Other migrant and non-government organisations in Thailand called on the government to strictly follow United Nations conventions on human rights and related affairs in dealing with the Uighur migrants, while there ought to be an investigation into the latest controversial deportation case.
The government should also allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to be involved with handling of the remaining Uighurs here, while the fate of those sent back to China should be closely followed.
They urged the Chinese government to allow UN officials to support the rebuilding of peace in areas of conflict in of China involving Muslim citizens.
Human Rights Watch in China says the risks for Uighurs forcibly returned to China are grim and well established, so it was urgent to protect anyone people in Thailand who the Chinese claim is a Uighur against forced expulsion or return.
On Thursday, Thai authorities transferred approximately 100 Uighurs – an ethnically Turkic-speaking, predominantly Muslim minority in China – from several immigration detention centres in Bangkok to the Don Mueang military airport, HRW China said, adding that credible sources said they were put in two airplanes, which then departed, presumably to China. Their current whereabouts and well-being is not known.
Those deported were among several groups of people of Turkic ethnicity who had arrived in Thailand in 2014 who have been held in immigration detention ever since. Some claimed to be Turkish and asked to be sent to Turkey.
On at least two occasions, Thai authorities allowed Chinese officials access to the groups – in violation of international law on the protection of asylum seekers, despite the groups’ unwillingness to speak with those |officials.
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