Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and immediate past chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), issued the following statement in response to reports that Uyghur refugees in Thailand were in imminent danger of forced repatriation to the People’s Republic of China:

   “It appears that Communist China is applying pressure upon the Thai government to force the repatriation of long-time Uyghur refugees and send them into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party to be incarcerated, tortured and cast away in forced labor camps as the U.S. implements its transition to a new government.  If Thailand acquiesces to this pressure, it would not only be violating its own obligations under the Convention Against Torture, which Thailand ratified, but such action would be viewed unfavorably by the incoming Trump Administration and Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, himself a former chairman of the CECC and with whom I have worked closely on Uyghur human rights issues. 

   "Forced rendition of refugees would also cast a pall on Thailand’s efforts to improve its own anti-trafficking record, given the prospect that Uyghurs will be sent to one of the Chinese Communist Party’s forced labor camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.  Thailand needs to abide by its obligations under the Convention Against Torture and it should immediately provide the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees access to the refugees. 

   "It is my hope to discuss such matters as soon as possible with Thailand’s ambassador to the United States before these vulnerable people are handed over for torture.”