Thailand urged not to deport 48 Uyghurs to China

[ad_1] BANGKOK - A human rights group has urged Thailand to not deport to China 48 Uyghurs who've languished for greater than a decade in detention, saying their security and human rights have to be the precedence.

The Uyghur males have been held at Thailand’s Immigration Detention Heart since 2014, after trying to flee persecution in China by Thailand.

The rights group Justice for All mentioned latest reviews from the detained Uyghurs indicated that Thai authorities had been coercing them to fill out varieties in preparation for his or her deportation.

“This determination would endanger these people’ lives and contravenes worldwide human rights requirements,” the group mentioned.

An Immigration Bureau spokesperson mentioned no determination had been made concerning the Uyghurs, members of the principally Muslim minority who fled from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Area in 2014.

“The matter continues to be into account, and no deportations have taken place. As soon as we attain a conclusion, we are going to maintain a press convention,”

Police Col. Kathatorn Kaomteang, deputy commander of Immigration Division 3, informed Radio Free Asia affiliate BenarNews

In 2015, Thailand forcibly returned practically 100 Uyghurs to China regardless of rights teams' fears they'd face ill-treatment.

The US condemned the 2015 deportations and requested Thailand to cease them, whereas the U.N. refugee company mentioned it was alarmed and shocked by what it thought-about a “flagrant violation of worldwide legislation.”

On the time, the prime minister of Thailand’s navy authorities, which was in search of to bolster ties with China following Western criticism of a 2014 coup, dismissed the criticism saying it was not Thailand’s fault if these despatched again suffered issues.

“Historical past should not repeat itself,” mentioned the president of Justice For All, Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid.

He mentioned the 48 asylum seekers detained in Thailand needed to be protected underneath the non-refoulement precept, which prohibits returning people to locations the place they're susceptible to severe human rights violations.