Anutin faces Uyghur test - Bangkok Post
The case of the Chinese Uyghurs -- the fate of more than 300 refugees who entered Thailand in 2014 -- has been a litmus test of successive Thai governments' commitment to the international human rights principle of non-refoulement.
Both the junta in 2015 and the elected civilian administration in 2025 failed that test.
Lest we forget, more than 300 members of this Muslim minority group were detained in Thailand in 2014 after fleeing their country.
Around 170 women and children were sent to Turkey in 2015, while two other groups were deported to China in 2015 and 2025 after the Prayut and Paetongtarn governments yielded to Beijing's requests, despite international condemnation. Five remain in Thai detention.
Last week, two Chinese Uyghur men detained in Thailand received royal pardons and are now awaiting deportation. It remains unclear whether they will go to a third country, as the 170 sent to Turkey did, or be deported to China, the country they fled.
These controversial repatriations put the spotlight on non-refoulement, a principle already enshrined in Thailand's Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act 2022, known as the anti-torture law. The principle is also reflected in the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Thailand is a party.
The principle seeks to prevent people, including refugees, political activists and dissidents, from being returned to countries where they might face persecution or other human rights risks. Section 13 of the anti-torture law prohibits government agencies and public officials from expelling, deporting or extraditing a person to another state where there are substantial grounds for believing they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or enforced disappearance.
In 2015, Uyghurs were placed in black hoods with their hands tied and herded onto a plane that carried them back to China. The 2025 repatriation looked a tad better, as a Thai delegation led by then deputy prime minister and interior minister Phumtham Wechayachai took a media entourage on a two-day trip to Xinjiang to visit a few repatriated Uyghurs.
The Uyghur case now puts Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to the test again. His government must decide the fate of the two men, who were transferred from prison to the Immigration Bureau's Suan Phlu detention centre on Oct 21.
The Anutin administration can do better by asking the national committee overseeing implementation of the anti-torture law to review the case and ensure any deportation complies with the principle of non-refoulement. The National Human Rights Commission should also be involved to ensure the two men have access to their lawyers and can contact relatives and human rights officials if they wish to seek resettlement in a third country.
Over the years, governments have acted as if Section 13 did not exist. They have sent political activists and asylum seekers back to their countries despite concerns by human rights bodies over the risks they may face. Some of those deported even received UNHCR asylum-seeker certificates and were due to be resettled in third countries. Thai governments have treated these deportations of political activists and journalists as diplomatic concessions. Mr Anutin can use this case to uphold non-refoulement -- instead of conducting diplomacy on bended knee.
