Following the forcible return of 109 Uyghurs from Thailand to China on July, 9, 2015, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of Subcommittee on Human Rights at the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), expressed concern that the deported Uyghurs will be subject to torture and arbitrary detention in China.

In addition, the Chairman strongly urged Thai authorities not to return to China the nearly 70 Uyghurs who remain in Thai custody.

“Chinese officials convinced the Thai government to deport Uyghur asylum-seekers, who return to an uncertain fate,” Smith said. “Many Uyghurs who were forcibly deported from other countries recently have either disappeared or been subjected to long prison sentences, often in secret trials.  I urge Thai officials to make public the evidence given them by China to justify their deportations.  I also ask that Uyghurs who remain in Thai custody not be forcibly deported.” 

International law prohibits returning any person to a country where she or he faces risk of torture. Thailand acceded to the Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 2007. As documented by the State Department’s 2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Conditions, torture and abuse in custody remain prevalent throughout China, particularly for the Uyghur ethnic minority.

Uyghur refugees have increasingly fled to Southeast Asian nations in recent years, in hopes of later finding refuge in Turkey, because they share similar ethnic roots and religious traditions with the Turkish people. This migration has come amid a period of security crackdowns and harsh restrictions on Uyghur Muslims’ religious practice and movement. Beginning in March 2014, Thai authorities intercepted and held more than 400 Uyghur migrants, including large numbers of women and children. In July 2015, a group of 173 Uyghurs, made up of mostly women and children, arrived in Turkey after being held in Thai immigration detention for more than a year.

Cambodian authorities forcibly returned 20 asylum seekers to China in December 2009, and unofficial sources reported in 2012 on long prison terms and life sentences for 16 of the asylum seekers. Previous instances of the refoulement (wrongful expulsion of refugees) of Uyghurs to China from other countries included the 2011 deportation of Uyghurs from Pakistan and Malaysia. 

“The Chinese government has long waged a harsh campaign of suppression in Xinjiang that goes way beyond efforts to combat the violent acts of a few Uyghur extremists,” Smith said. “They have instituted expansive restrictions on peaceful Uyghur religious practice, culture, language and movement in the name of national security. China appears to have convinced its neighbors to help carry out its oppressive policies.” 

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