Geneva, Nov 14 (SocialNews.XYZ) United Nations experts urged the government of Thailand to refrain from forcibly extraditing five Uyghur men to China, warning that they face a real risk of serious and irreparable harm if returned.
According to the experts, two of the five men have already been transferred to immigration detention after completing their prison sentences and are now awaiting extradition.
"The mistreatment of the Uyghur minority in China is well-documented by UN human rights mechanisms, for example, in the OHCHR Assessment in August 2022, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and torture based on ethnicity, culture, religion and national security," the experts said.
"International law prohibits transferring a person to a country where there is a real risk of serious human rights violations, including arbitrary deprivation of life, torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, enforced disappearance, and persecution," they added.
The UN experts have also previously raised concerns over China's counter terrorism and violent extremism measures, citing mass arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, mass surveillance, compulsory re-education, forced labour, restrictions on minority rights, and deaths in custody.
Raising alarm, the experts said that the five men now at risk are part of a larger group of over 350 Uyghurs who fled China and were detained near the Thai border in 2014. In 2015, Thailand deported 109 of them to China.
Back in January 2025, they said China requested the return of 45 Uyghurs from Thailand, including the five men now at risk, allegedly for illegally crossing borders.
"International law guarantees the right of every person to leave their own country," the experts said.
Despite their objections, the experts said that subsequently, in February 2025, Thai authorities returned 40 of them to China against their consent, with their fate and whereabouts remaining unknown.
They noted that five Uyghur men facing extradition have been largely held in de facto incommunicado detention for many years in Thailand, in poor conditions, and with limited access to lawyers, family members, civil society or UN officials.
"We call on Thailand and other States to cooperate to resettle the men in a safe country," they added.
Source: IANS
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