For Sweden-based independent Uyghur researcher Nyrola Elima, Feb. 27, 2025, stands as a day of deep sorrow.
After years of relentless work to help resettle more than 40 Uyghurs held in Thailand’s immigration facilities since 2014, her efforts came to a devastating close Thursday when all of them were loaded onto buses and put on a flight to the city of Kashgar in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang, home to 12 million Uyghurs.
“I don’t want to speak right now,” Elima said in a trembling voice message to VOA. “I’ve talked to them so much over the past two-and-a-half years. Now, I feel like someone who’s lost loved ones and somehow survived. This pain – it’s more than I can bear.”
Just two weeks ago, Elima testified before a judge in Thailand on behalf of the 43 Uyghur men detained in a Thai prison. A glimmer of hope emerged for them when the court set a March 27 date to hear from the Thai Immigration Bureau on why the Uyghurs were detained for nearly 11 years. The Thai government’s decision to deport the Uyghurs before that hearing has sent shockwaves through communities of Uyghurs overseas and rights advocates.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the deportation and said in a statement, “we are alarmed by this action,” and added, “We call on Chinese authorities to provide full access to verify the well-being of the returned Uyghurs on a regular basis. The Thai government must insist and fully verify continuously that Chinese authorities protect the Uyghurs’ human rights.”
‘Complex factors’
“On February 27th, 40 Chinese nationals who had illegally entered Thailand were repatriated to Xinjiang, China on a chartered flight of China Civil Aviation Company [Southern Airlines],” posted the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok on Facebook.
The embassy’s post continued, “a concrete measure between China and Thailand in collaboratively tackling immigration crimes and protecting the rights and interest of Chinese nationals in accordance with the two countries' laws and international protocols,” blaming the group’s decade-long detention on “complex factors in international relations.”
Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai defended the move Thursday, telling reporters that successive Thai governments had sought third-country resettlement, informing the U.S. and EU of stalled efforts.
“This is a beautiful, nice ending for them, for their families. And Thailand is no longer burdened,” he declared. “Thailand should even get praises for handling this issue decisively for the best interest of humanity and them [the Uyghurs]. It is a cause for happiness as they are free from detention and reunite with their parents, brothers and sisters and children and wives.”
At a Thursday press conference, Thai officials showcased photos and videos of a few Uyghurs reuniting with their families when they arrived in China.
Elima, responded to the images with a post on X, saying, “So far, only these 3 men and their families have been used as propaganda material. I don’t believe all 40 men's families were summoned to Kashgar – some have relatives who are deceased or imprisoned,” the post said. “The whereabouts of the remaining 37 individuals and their families remain unknown,” casting doubt on the legitimacy of the reunion.
Julie Millsap, a U.S.-based activist who has urged Washington to intervene, posted on X, “...can't explain how painful it is to watch them be used for propaganda, knowing how terrified they must be. Our brave men. Brave enough to seek a new life. How we’ve let you down.”
Until this week, 48 Uyghurs were detained in Thailand and languished in legal limbo despite their pleas for asylum. They were among more than 350 men, women, and children intercepted by Thai police in 2014 after being smuggled from China’s Yunnan province by human traffickers.
A year later, Bangkok and Ankara agreed to resettle more than 170 Uyghurs – mostly women and children – in Turkey. Yet weeks later, Thailand deported 109 mostly male asylum seekers to China.
In interviews with VOA, one resettled Uyghur who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions to his family in China, described the escape from Xinjiang’s tightening repression.
“We had to put our lives in harm’s way,” citing China’s refusal to issue passports as a reason of their flight without documents in 2013 and 2014.
Their stories echo findings from the U.N. Human Rights Office and groups like Amnesty International, which estimates that since 2017, more than one million people – mostly Uyghurs – have been confined in Xinjiang’s internment camps. China has described these facilities as “Vocational and Skills Training Centers” to counter extremism, but a 2022 U.N. report cited “credible” evidence of torture, forced labor, and inhumane conditions, based on survivor accounts – allegations Beijing has repeatedly rejected as fabrications.
Since 2014, of the 53 remaining Uyghur detainees in Thailand, five received prison sentences for attempting to escape. Five others, including two minors, died in custody. Chinese state media reported Thursday that forty Uyghurs were just deported to China, leaving the whereabouts of eight Uyghurs detained in Thailand unknown.
“Even when other countries offered resettlement, Thailand refused to release them,” Elima told VOA.
“They applied for UNHCR [U.N. refugee agency] protection, but UNHCR has no access to them. They are barred from seeing their families, lawyers, [and] UNHCR. They are not even allowed to be bailed,” which VOA confirmed with UNHCR.
“This is a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement and the Royal Thai Government’s obligations under international law,” said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Ruvendrini Menikdiwela.
Non-refoulement, a cornerstone of international law, bars returning people to persecution—a duty Thailand holds under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, despite not signing the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Sophie Richardson, former China director at Human Rights Watch, blasted the U.N.’s response on X as “inexcusably weak or non-existent,” arguing it enabled “China and Thailand govts’ blatant violations of human rights law.”
Rattaphol Onsanit, Yiamyut Sutthichaya and Nike Ching contributed to this report.
