According to sources, the United States, Canada, and Australia had offered to resettle the Uyghurs before Thailand deported them to China. However, Thailand has disregarded these offers for fear of upsetting China.
Canada, the US, and Australia offered to resettle 48 ethnic Uyghurs held in detention in Thailand over the past decade, sources said. However, Bangkok took no action for fear of upsetting China, to which most of them were secretly deported last week.
Thailand’s Defense Against Criticism
Thailand has defended the deportation, which occurred despite calls from United Nations human rights experts. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Monday that no country made any concrete offer to resettle the 48 Uyghurs. “We waited for more than 10 years, and I have spoken to many major countries, but no one gave me a definitive answer,” he told reporters.
US, Canada and Australia had offered to resettle
The US offered to resettle the 48 Uyghurs, an official from the US State Department said. “The United States has worked with Thailand for years to avoid this deportation situation, including by consistently and repeatedly offering to resettle the Uyghurs in other countries, including, at one point, the United States,” the US official said, requesting anonymity.
Canada also offered asylum to the detained Uyghurs, according to four sources, including diplomats and people with direct knowledge. Two of these sources said that Australia also made an offer.
Impact of China-Thailand Relations on the Decision
These proposals, which were reportedly not pursued by Thailand due to concerns about damaging its relationship with China, have not been previously reported.
Pisan Manawapat, a former Thai ambassador to Canada and the US between 2013 and 2017 and a senator before retiring in 2024, said that at least three countries had approached Thailand with proposals to resettle the Uyghurs but declined to name them. “We didn’t want to upset China,” Pisan said, without providing further details. “So we did not make the decision at the political level to proceed with this.” China is Thailand’s biggest trade partner, and the two countries have close business ties.
Condemnation from the UN and Human Rights Groups
Human rights groups accuse China of widespread abuses against Uyghurs. UN human rights experts had warned that the group would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment, and “irreparable harm” if returned to China, and their deportation has drawn widespread condemnation.
Following the deportation, the UN’s refugee agency said in a statement that it was repeatedly denied access to the group by Thai authorities. A source said that the UN refugee agency’s lack of access to the Uyghurs meant they could not be processed as asylum seekers, stalling their potential resettlement and leaving them stuck in detention.
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