WASHINGTON —
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state, is pledging to press Thailand to prevent the deportation of 48 Uyghurs held there since 2014 after fleeing alleged persecution in Xinjiang, in northwest China.
"Thailand is a very strong U.S. partner, a strong historical ally," Rubio said during his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday. "That is an area where I think diplomacy could really achieve results because of how important that relationship is and how close it is."
Describing the Uyghurs' plight in China as "one of the most horrifying things that has ever happened," he said, "These are people who are basically being rounded up because of their ethnicity and religion, and they are being put into camps … stripped of their identity… and into forced labor — literally, slave labor."
Human rights advocates say returning the Uyghurs to China risks torture, long imprisonment, or disappearance.
Rubio, a leading critic of Beijing, co-sponsored the 2021 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which bans imports from Xinjiang unless free of forced labor. His stance for human rights in China has subjected him to Chinese sanctions since 2020.
Both the Biden and previous Trump administrations have classified China's actions in Xinjiang as genocide, while a 2022 United Nations report said Beijing's policies may constitute crimes against humanity. China rejects these accusations, framing its actions as anti-terrorism measures.
The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok claimed on Wednesday that Uyghur detainees in Thailand had terrorist ties.
"A small number of individuals, enticed by external forces, fled abroad and even joined the 'East Turkestan Islamic Movement,' [ETIM] a terrorist organization recognized by the United Nations, becoming terrorists themselves," the embassy stated.
Although ETIM was listed as a terror group in 2002, the U.S. delisted it in 2020, citing no "clear and convincing evidence of ETIM's existence," according to Congressional Research Service.
Julie Millsap, government relations manager at the Washington-based group No Business With Genocide, dismissed China's claims.
There has been "no evidence presented to link these men to terrorism," Millsap told VOA. "The PRC cannot claim concurrently that it has a population of happy, dancing Uyghurs while labeling asylum seekers as extremists."
Arslan Hidayat, team lead of the Save Uyghur campaign by U.S.-based Justice for All, said Uyghur detainees in Thailand recently faced a troubling development.
"Last week, I learned from the detainees that Thai immigration officers attempted to photograph 43 Uyghur detainees and have them sign documents similar to those used in 2015, when more than 100 Uyghurs were forcibly repatriated to China," Hidayat told VOA Friday.
"Fearing a repeat of that mass deportation, the detainees refused and launched a hunger strike, which continues to this day," he said.
In addition to the 43 Uyghurs in Thailand's IDC, five are imprisoned after a failed escape attempt. A U.N. report cited "degrading treatment or even torture" and five deaths, including two children, urging Thai authorities against deportation without due process and individual protection assessments.
Human Rights Watch on Friday urged Thailand to release detained Uyghurs and grant them safe passage to a third country.
"Successive Thai governments have kept the Uyghurs in inhumane detention, while under pressure from the Chinese government to send them to China," said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, calling on Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's government to end this cycle.
VOA contacted the Thai Embassy in Washington and the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry for comment on the Uyghurs' status and the reports of potential repatriation but received no response.
Babar Baloch, global spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told VOA the agency is closely monitoring the situation and has sought assurances from Thai authorities.
"We continue to remind the authorities of their obligations on non-refoulement and to advocate for alternatives to detention," he said Friday.
Zumretay Arkin, vice president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, cited ongoing discussions between China and Thailand about deportations in the context of the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.
"We remain concerned about their fate and continue to increase public pressure," Arkin told VOA, adding that her group had called on partner organizations to organize global protests outside Thai diplomatic missions.