The UN has refused to help Uyghur political asylum seekers in Thailand

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Although the UN Refugee Agency helps millions of refugees and political asylum seekers around the world every year, it is alleged that it has refused to help more than 40 Uyghur political asylum seekers in Thailand.

According to the report, which was quoted from the recently released internal documents of the UNHCR, the Thai government had previously applied for assistance to 48 Uyghur political asylum seekers, who have been detained in Thai camps for the past 10 years in extremely poor conditions under threat of life, but the UNHCR rejected the request. reported to have been met.

However, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that they have been putting the Uyghur issue before the Thai authorities, but the Thai authorities have not cooperated in meeting with the refugees and finding a solution. According to the recent news published by the independent news agency "New Humanity", the Thai government made an unofficial request to the UN Refugee Agency to help solve the Uyghur refugee problem five years ago, from the internal documents of the UN Refugee Agency on the Uighur refugees. , but the UN official has advised against it.

 According to the news of "New Humanity", "UNHCR is worried about angering Beijing and reducing its cooperation with the organization and its donations." John Quinley III, director of the human rights organization Consolidation of Rights, who has read the internal documents of the UNHCR, said that the internal documents of the UNHCR show that it has not been active in solving the indefinite detention of Uyghur refugees.

"I have read and reviewed both internal documents concerning the UN's treatment of Uyghur refugees," says John Kunley. From this we can say that the UN has not been active in solving the indefinite detention of Uyghur refugees. On May 16, John Kunlei said in an exclusive interview that "the documents show that although the Thai authorities requested help from the UNHCR, the UNHCR was determined to respond."

However, in a special written statement given to our radio reporter on May 15th, the UN Refugee Agency said that they have actively raised the issue of Uyghur refugees with the Thai government and will continue to do so, but the Thai government has not allowed them to meet with the refugees. The written statement said: "However, we can say that UNHCR has and will continue to actively raise this issue with the Thai authorities. But despite our requests, we were never allowed to meet with the refugees or participate in the resolution of the case. »

In a statement released on behalf of UNHCR's Asia-Pacific Regional Spokesperson, Babar Baloch, "To think otherwise is to misunderstand what happened. In a statement, the UN refugee agency also refused to disclose the specifics of the Uyghur refugee issue, saying that this was "in order to avoid undermining efforts to resolve a highly sensitive issue, as well as confidential restrictions."

According to John Kunlei, the documents of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) show that Beijing is worried about its decision on the issue of Uyghur refugees. "The documents show that the (Uyghur) refugee issue has been pushed back for political reasons," says John Cunley. There is a fear of Beijing. Because Beijing is trying to soften the issue of Uyghur abductions with the UN Refugee Agency, it is possible that Beijing has avoided pressure. »

Internal UNHCR documents show that the Thai government asked the UNHCR in 2020 to take an active role in resolving the indefinite detention of Uyghurs, but the UNHCR staff advised against it. It turns out that 41 of the 48 Uyghur political asylum seekers at that time are now left. It is known that five political asylum seekers were sentenced to prison for trying to escape from the camp in 2020, and two political asylum seekers died of illness.

Although rejected by the UN Refugee Agency, reports of its stance on Uyghur refugees have been criticized by human rights organizations. Maya Wong, Human Rights Watch's deputy China director, believes the UNHCR's attitude is "disgusting".

"UNHCR has an obligation to protect refugees, including the resettlement of qualified refugees in third countries," says Maya Wang. In my opinion, the incident in this report is disgusting. According to this report, the UN Refugee Agency seems to have decided to continue detaining Uyghurs in refugee camps. Because he seems to be afraid of losing the Chinese donation money.

Maya Wang points out that this incident reveals how China's economic power is influencing the UN system. "I think this incident shows how China's economic power is affecting the UN system, including its professional bodies and UN constituent countries," says Maya Wang. So this is troubling news. According to Maya Wang, "UNHCR should immediately correct its mistakes and take immediate action to redouble its efforts to resettle Uyghur refugees."

However, the Uyghur Human Rights Foundation's deputy director of research and activities, Peter Irwin, said that the arbitrary detention of Uyghur refugees in Thailand for years is "horrific" and "absurd." Peter Irwin said in an interview on May 16: "There are only 40 Uighurs in this case who are currently being detained in Bangkok, Thailand." That in itself is terrifying. Arbitrarily detaining a group or individual without any charge or trial is completely absurd. »

Currently, the living conditions and health conditions of Uyghur refugees in Thai camps are one of the issues that concern human rights organizations. It turns out that in the last two years, two Uyghur refugees died of disease. Peter Irwin warns that more Uyghur refugees could die if they are not released immediately. Peter Irwin says: "Two of the Uyghurs detained in the Thai camps died of disease. Regardless of what the UN experts say, these people should be released, even from a humanitarian and moral point of view. As you know, several of these people died last year due to poor health and conditions of detention. If this case is not solved, more people may die in the coming years. "It's really lucky to have these people die so early."

It turns out that in the UN documents, "the Thai government has increased its demand for the UNHCR to find a solution to this problem since 2019", and that "Thailand may allow the UNHCR to meet with the Uyghur hostages", but the same At the time, it is said that the Thai authorities were suspicious of the recommendation. In a document, it is said that "the UN office believes that Thailand may use the UNHCR as a shield to deflect China's anger" and the UNHCR said in late 2020 that "Thai authorities will take active steps before formal contact with the UNHCR" It is emphasized that he decided to "diamond".

In another document, it is noted that it has warned of the "risk of negative impact on UNHCR's activities in China", as well as China's "funding and support for UNHCR". It turns out that the $7.7 million budget includes 10 jobs and projects for the refugee agency.

John Kunlei, the UNHCR, does not want to offend governments, but insists that there is credible evidence that Uyghurs are being persecuted, so they should be granted asylum. "They don't want to break ties with governments, stop money, offend governments, especially China on the Uyghurs issue, but they should be given refugee status and immediately resettled in a 3rd country," says John Kunlei. »

Internal UNHCR documents were released after UN human rights investigators reported to the Thai government earlier this year that they were concerned about the situation of Uyghur refugees and requested information about their situation. A report by UN human rights investigators in February this year warned that the Thai government's arbitrary detention of refugees for long periods of time amounted to arbitrary detention, and detailed information on the situation of the Uyghur hostages, their families, lawyers and anyone else they wanted to meet. was required to provide