The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) condemned Thailand’s deportation of 40 Uyghur asylum seekers to China on Thursday. The group stated that repeated requests to access the detained Uyghurs and secure assurances against forced returns were ignored, violating domestic and international human rights laws.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk described the deportations as “a clear violation of international human rights.” He called upon the Thai authorities to fulfil the responsibility under international law to protect asylum seekers and ensure their safe resettlement.

Additionally, organizations including the Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) and Justice For All’s Save Uyghur Campaign urged Thailand to halt further deportations and protect the remaining detainees. The US Congress’s House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party also called on the Thai government to allow the Uyghurs to resettle in countries where they would be free from persecution.

Thailand had jailed the deported asylum seekers since 2014, when they fled from China and were arrested at the country’s border for allegedly violating its immigration laws.

The deportation of the Uyghurs violates the international principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning individuals to countries where they face persecution, torture, or ill-treatment. This principle is enshrined in global legal frameworks, including Article 3 of the Convention against Torture, Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thailand’s legal framework includes similar protections under Article 13 of the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, and Article 16 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration.

In response to the deportation, the Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson said, “Despite public assurances, Thailand has flagrantly violated its domestic and international legal obligations by transferring detained Uyghurs to China, putting them at high risk of forced disappearance and long-term imprisonment after being sent to China.” The China director at Amnesty International, Sarah Brooks added:

We urge the government of Thailand to clarify their status. Their ordeal is already chilling: they fled repression in China, only to find themselves arbitrarily detained in Thailand for more than a decade. The fact that they now may be forcibly returned to a country where Uyghur and other non-Han ethnic groups in Xinjiang have faced torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance is unimaginably cruel.

UN experts and advocacy groups previously warned that the deported individuals face a credible risk of imprisonment, torture, or death upon return to China. Even though the Chinese government described the report as slanders and interference with its internal affairs, the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner concluded in 2022 that China committed serious human rights violations against the Uyghur population in the country.