Thailand’s Wrongs on Human Rights

Emily Ming April, 2025

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In January, Thailand rejoined the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).[1] After working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Thailand is no stranger to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). However, its return to the UNHRC term coincided with the tenth anniversary of a refugee crisis within its own borders that has drawn international condemnation—the imprisonment of Uyghur refugees who had fled ethnic persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). After a decade of inaction, Thailand’s judiciary and foreign relations ministry suddenly scrambled to resolve the situation, abruptly deciding to return the Uyghurs to the PRC. The appalling lack of judicial transparency, and literal concealment of the refugees during their detention and deportation, revealed an unconscionable disappearing act on human rights. Thailand began this UNHRC term showing apparent disregard rather than advocacy for human rights. This forebodes a perfunctory future role on the UNHRC or a bewildering ability to denounce human rights atrocities in other countries despite its cruelty regarding the Uyghur refugee plight. However, Thailand has another opportunity under new leadership to uphold the UDHR and UN treaties meant to safeguard individuals and groups like the Uyghurs against persecution and violence.

In 2014, Thailand apprehended more than 300 Uyghurs at its border with Malaysia.[2] The Uyghurs had fled the PRC’s Xinjiang region amid the CCP’s campaign of re-education and forced labor—measures condemned as efforts to eradicate the Uyghur identity, heritage and semi-autonomous existence.[3] The CCP denies these accusations, claiming that re-education programs were necessary to counter domestic threats of Islamic extremism and terrorism.[4]

Thailand had an inconsistent and legally problematic initial response to the Uyghur refugee situation. It facilitated the resettlement of 181 refugees to Turkey, an allegedly safe haven. However, 109 refugees were forcibly returned to China in a clear act of refoulment, to face the same fate as their compatriots. The remaining Uyghur refugees were confined for ten years in Bangkok’s notorious Immigration Detention Center (IDC) without access to legal representation, family contact, and human rights organizations.[5]

Thailand is not a party to either the 1951 Refugee Convention or 1967 Protocol, cornerstone legal documents of international refugee protection.[6] Thailand has ratified other key human rights instruments, including the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the UDHR.[7] Under Article 3 of the CAT and as recognized domestically, Thailand is still bound by the principle of non-refoulement. [8] Non-refoulement prohibits the return or transfer of persons to “another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that [they] would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”[9]

Similarly, Article 7 of the ICCPR forbids “torture or . . . cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”[10] Article 10 further establishes that “all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity,”[11] requiring that non-criminal detainees be accommodated separately and in appropriate conditions to their legal status.[12]

In A.E. and Others v. Italy, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that the detention and attempted forced removal of two Sudanese nationals from Italy back to Sudan violated Articles 3 and 5 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR).[13] This ruling is relevant to Thailand’s treatment of the Uyghurs, whose prolonged confinement at the IDC raised similar concerns under international human rights law. The ECtHR also took action in R.A. v. Poland, finding that 32 Afghan nationals endured “deplorable humanitarian and sanitary conditions,”[14] which led to intervention by the International Court of Justice, ruling that such treatment and conditions violated Articles 3 and 5 of the ECHR.[15] Although Thailand is not bound by the ECHR, it is obliged to follow these principles under customary international law. In particular, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners provide instructions for the humane treatment of prisoners.[16] Thailand held Uyghur refugees for a decade in a penitentiary where at least 5 detainees, reportedly including children, died.[17]

The global spotlight on the plight of the detained Uyghur refugees finally led to a court hearing this January to consider their fate.[18] The Thai court received a petition filed by an attorney on behalf of the detained refugees. Following an additional hearing, the court ruled that it “finds merit in the petition and orders the Immigration Bureau Commissioner or representative to appear in court on March 27.”[19] However, any positive momentum from the court hearings ended abruptly with Thailand’s decision to deport the Uyghur detainees immediately to the PRC on February 27th.[20] The refugees were transported in vehicles and airplanes with blacked-out windows, vanishing into CCP custody.

The recent deportation of Uyghur refugees to the PRC coincided with several milestones in Thailand: 1) ten years of imprisonment after being apprehended, 2) a decade-long gap following Thailand’s term on the UNHRC until it was re-elected for a second-term, 3) a decade following a military coup ousting Thailand’s first female prime minister until last year’s election of her niece as the newest prime minister, and 4) 50 years of Thailand-PRC diplomatic relations. The new prime minister’s first official trip was to the PRC.

There was an immediate outcry and condemnation of Thailand when it deported the Uyghur detainees back to the PRC. For example, it has recently been reported that countries such as Canada, Australia and the U.S. had made multiple offers to resettle the refugees.[21] However, the Thai Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Russ Jalichandra claimed there had been no serious offers to take the refugees, and “if a third country was really committed to take them, it should also have negotiated with China to welcome Thailand sending them to that third country.”[22] His statement was rebuked by the U.S. State Department, which asserted that permission from the PRC was not needed for the discussions and actions between Thailand and other countries.[23] In order for Thailand to have a productive UNHRC term and to develop global standing as a champion of human rights guided by UN principles in such treaties as the UDHR, CAT, and ICCPR, it needs to confront governments that perpetuate human rights atrocities. Thai and CCP press recently reported that Thai officials met with Uyghur refugees who were returned to the PRC, to show Thailand’s concern for their well-being. Thailand may yet become a true champion of human rights.

  1. Thailand elected to UN Human Rights Council, Bangkok Post (Oct. 10, 2024), https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2881418/thailand-elected-to-un-human-rights-council.↑

  2. Thailand: Don’t Send Uyghurs to China, Human Rights Watch (Jan. 17, 2025), https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/01/17/thailand-dont-send-uyghurs-china.↑

  3. Id.↑

  4. Who are the Uyghurs and why is China being accused of genocide?, BBC (May 24, 2022), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037.↑

  5. Suzan Fraser, 173 Uighur refugees arrive in Turkey from Thailand, Associated Press (Jul. 2, 2015), https://apnews.com/general-news-e6775c95a90e47e292cf5f094a512b1e.↑

  6. The 1951 Refugee Convention, UNHCR, https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/overview/1951-refugee-convention.↑

  7. Status of Ratification Interactive Dashboard, UNHCR, https://indicators.ohchr.org/.↑

  8. Thailand: ‘Deportation’ of Uyghurs to China ‘unimaginably cruel’, Amnesty Int’l (Feb. 27, 2025), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/02/thailand-deportation-of-uyghurs-to-china-unimaginably-cruel/.↑

  9. G.A. Res. 39/46, at 2 (Dec. 10, 1984).↑

  10. G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), at 5 (Dec. 16, 1966).↑

  11. Id. at 7-8.↑

  12. Amnesty Int’l, supra note 8.↑

  13. A.E. and Others v. Italy, App. No. 18911/17 (Nov. 16, 2023), https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-228836%22]}.↑

  14. ECtHR: ICJ and partners intervene in two cases regarding pushbacks and collective expulsions of asylum seekers at EU-Belarus borders, ICJ (Oct. 11, 2024), https://www.icj.org/ecthr-icj-and-partners-intervene-in-two-cases-regarding-pushbacks-and-collective-expulsions-of-asylum-seekers-at-eu-belarus-borders/↑

  15. Id.↑

  16. G.A. Res. 70/175, U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Dec. 17, 2015).↑

  17. Elise Anderson, After a Long Decade in Detention, Uyghur Men in Thailand Face Transnational Repression, Freedom House (Feb. 13, 2025), https://freedomhouse.org/article/after-long-decade-detention-uyghur-men-thailand-face-transnational-repression↑

  18. Joshua Lipes and RFA Uyghur, Rubio to lobby Thailand not to deport detained Uyghurs to China, Radio Free Asia (Jan. 15, 2025), https://www.rfa.org/english/uyghur/2025/01/15/us-thailand-detainees/.↑

  19. Id.↑

  20. Press Release, OHCHR, UN Human Rights Chief deeply troubled by Thailand’s deportation of Uyghurs to China, (Feb. 27, 2025).↑

  21. Id.↑

  22. Id.↑

  23. David Rising, US says multiple offers were made to resettle Uyghurs before Thailand deported them back to China, Associated Press (Mar. 7, 2025), https://apnews.com/article/uyghur-china-deportation-thailand-xinjiang-human-rights-us-state-department-e2ebc26a87e27fafb70c756df83ce630.↑