Eleven years of terror: the Uyghurs imprisoned in Thailand and then deported to China

Translated by Irene Cecchi

WHO ARE THE UYGHURS?

The Uyghurs—whose name means “those who are united”—are a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority residing in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwestern China.

Xinjiang Uygur is one of the autonomous regions of China and it borders Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia, India, Tibet, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and the Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Gansu.

According to traditional views in China, only citizens of Han ethnicity (who make up about 90% of the population) are considered truly Chinese. Nevertheless, China has officially recognized 56 ethnic groups, including the Uyghurs of Xinjiang. The region transitioned from the Guomindang (the “Nationalist Party of China”) to communist factions during the 1949 civil war and was granted autonomous status in 1955.

WHY ARE THE UYGHURS CONSIDERED A THREAT TO CHINA?

The Uyghur issue largely stems from the Chinese government's fear of a potential resurgence of secessionist movements within the Uyghur minority. These concerns intensified after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of independent republics in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Uyghurs in these countries began to establish commercial ties with their counterparts in Xinjiang, which reignited the pan-Turkic movement and fueled a renewed cycle of separatist movements in the region.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has labeled this separatism, along with Uyghur religious extremism, as a “global terrorist threat.” As a result, countering these movements became a priority in Central Asian cooperation, leading to the creation of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Furthermore, Xinjiang is a crucial transit point for the Belt and Road Initiative—China’s strategic plan to enhance trade connections with Eurasia. This further complicates any official recognition by the Chinese government of human rights violations against the Muslim minority.

The repression of the Uyghurs began in the 1990s, intensified after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, escalated further following the 2014 pro-independence uprisings and culminated in the 2017 “Regulation on De-Radicalization,” which classifies simple Islamic practices—such as fasting and daily prayers—as extremist behaviors.

According to a UN report, more than one million Uyghurs are currently held in what the Chinese government calls “vocational training centers”. In reality, these facilities are forced labor camps aimed at sinicizing the Muslim minority that means erasing its religious and cultural identity to assimilate it into Chinese culture.

China employs various methods of persecution, including:

• Demographic replacement policies through birth control measures, mandatory abortions, and severe punishments for violating child planning regulations.
• Ethnic-based facial recognition systems that use surveillance cameras across the country to track Uyghur movements.
• “Health checks” aiming to collect DNA and fingerprints by Chinese authorities.

The European Parliament has condemned this mass internment and than claimed that it could amount to genocide.

THE DEPORTATION OF 40 UYGHURS FROM THAILAND

On February 27, the Thai government confirmed the deportation and repatriation of approximately 40 Uyghur asylum seekers to China.

These individuals entered Thailand illegally in 2014 while attempting to reach Turkey and were subsequently imprisoned in Thai detention facilities for eleven years. They were part of a larger group of Uyghurs, many of whom did not survive the inhumane conditions of Thai prisons, which are notoriously overcrowded with low sanitary conditions.

ACTIVISTS’ CONDEMNATION

Human rights activists unanimously condemn the deportation as an unacceptable violation of fundamental rights. Elaine Pearson, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, described the incident as a blatant violation of Thailand’s obligations under international law, since that Uyghurs face a high risk of torture and detention back in China.

UN CONDEMNATION

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk declared that Thailand's forced repatriation violated the principle of non-refoulement. In fact, the article 3 of the Convention Against Torture prohibits the return of individuals to countries where they risk persecution or torture. This safeguard is also enshrined in the article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Additionally, this action contradicts Thailand’s domestic laws, as Article 13 of Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act upholds the right to seek asylum and prohibits refoulement. The Thai administration justified its decision by arguing that the detainees had been held for too long and that China had assured their safety upon deportation.

Türk urged the Thai government to halt further deportations and protect those Uyghurs still under its jurisdiction. He also called on Chinese authorities to disclose the location and well-being of the repatriated Uyghurs.

The UNHCR also condemned the forced deportations, claiming that its repeated requests to halt the expulsions had been ignored.

THAILAND’S POSITIONING ON THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-REFOULEMENT

The principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the expulsion or return of refugees to a country where they may face harm, is a fundamental norm of customary international law explicitly stated in Article 33(1) of the 1951 Geneva Convention. However, Thailand has never recognized this principle since it is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention or its 1967 Protocol, which protects refugee rights. To address this gap, the European Parliament, in a 2023 non-legislative resolution, urged Thailand to sign these treaties as soon as possible.

Despite this, Thailand signed the EU-Thailand Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in 2022, which commits the country to upholding human rights.

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