UN help sought to protect Uighurs found in Songkhla
Panya Punpheog,
Phuchis Piroonlaong
The Nation



BANGKOK: -- The United Nations and rights organisations are set to take care of a group of 220 people smuggled to Songkhla on Wednesday, who have been found to be Uighurs who fled Xinjiang, the mainly Muslim region in western China, Human Rights Watch adviser Sunai Phasuk said yesterday.

The group were on their way to Turkey through Malaysia, he said. Efforts were under way to try to verify reports that their passports were seized by smugglers based in Malaysia.

Police and Thai officials were initially unsure what the nationality of the group was. They were first thought to be Turks, or Kurds or Arabs.

The Chinese Embassy has coordinated with Immigration Police on obtaining information from the group, which consists of 78 men, 60 women and 82 children.

Sunai said he was concerned about the Uighurs' welfare if or when they were repatriated to Xinjiang, given the insurgency by some of its residents against China's rule.

Deputy Prime Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana spoke after meeting the group at an immigration office where they had been detained. He said the group was not cooperating, and had demanded to meet with officials from the Turkish Embassy.

Human Rights Watch Thailand has contacted the United Nations and its human-rights agency to discuss possible measures to help them out, Sunai said, adding that they would not be repatriated if protected by the UN as asylum seekers.

Immigration Police chief Pol Lt-General Panu Kerdlarppol said verification of the Uighurs' destination and port of entry was under way, and that the 220 would be returned to where they came from.

He said the Uighurs, who possess a large amount of money in US dollars, had been resting in Songkhla awaiting forged passports to be made available to them by smugglers from various countries. The Uighurs were likely to have travelled to Thailand via car in smaller groups before they gathered in Songkhla. They were later found by Thai people and arrested.

Smugglers demand money

An Immigration Police source said this group of Uighurs had been kept longer in Songkhla by smugglers who demanded another US$10,000 to $20,000 (Bt323,000-Bt646,000) from each of them, while smugglers usually only keep them briefly in Thailand. He said a group of smugglers dealing with Uighurs were a multinational criminal ring based in Malaysia. They charge around $40,000 for each Uighur wishing to travel to Turkey, a Muslim country.

Along the smuggling routes in Thailand, smugglers transport them in vans or pickup trucks to residences near a shopping mall in northern Bangkok and Pathum Thani, before heading to Songkhla in the far South.

Smugglers have links with local politicians based in areas connected to smuggling routes.

In Malaysia, The Star daily newspaper reported that a bid by 62 illegal immigrants from Turkey to enter Malaysia from Thailand had been foiled by the General Operations Force (GOF).

Deputy Superintendent S Sivam, Bidor 3rd GOF Battalion assistant commanding officer, said the illegal immigrants' movements were detected by GOF personnel at about 5.30am on Thursday.

The 62 were detained while trying to cross through the Malaysia-Thailand border fence.

"GOF personnel, who became suspicious [of] human movement early in the morning, surrounded the illegal immigrants," he said.

He said all the Turkish nationals, comprising 23 men aged from 19 to 23, 15 women aged from 25 and 40, 15 boys aged from nine months to 11 years, plus nine girls aged from five months to eight years, were believed to have come from Ankara, the Turkish capital.


-- The Nation 2014-03-15

US urges Thailand to protect Uighur asylum seekers

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2014 (AFP) - The United States on Friday urged Thailand to protect about 200 asylum seekers from China's Uighur minority, with activists fearing that Beijing will pressure the kingdom to deport them.

Thai police said Thursday that they discovered the families in a raid in the kingdom's deep south. The asylum seekers, who appeared to be preparing to head elsewhere, presented themselves as Turkish rather than Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking, predominantly Muslim group from China's northwestern Xinjiang region.

"We are urging the Thai government to provide full protection to the victims (and) to ensure that their humanitarian needs are met," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters.

The latest annual US human rights report said that China carries out "severe official repression" of Uighurs in Xinjiang, including over their freedom of speech and religion.

Xinjiang is periodically hit by violent clashes and Chinese officials blamed Uighur separatists for a March 1 mass stabbing at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming that killed 29 people and injured 143 others.

Under pressure from Beijing, countries including Cambodia, Malaysia and Pakistan have all in recent years forcibly returned Uighurs to China. Thailand has a generally cordial relationship with China.

The UN refugee agency criticized Malaysia for its deportation of six Uighurs to China in December, saying that they were sent back to a country where they were at risk even though the group had registered asylum claims.

Human Rights Watch noted that Thailand is part of the UN Convention against Torture, which forbids countries from sending people to places where they would face abuse. The New York-based advocacy group said that the Uighurs in Thailand faced "credible threats of torture" if returned to China.

Thai authorities "need to allow all members of this group access to a fair process to determine their claims based on their merits, not on Beijing's demands," said Human Rights Watch's Asia executive director Brad Adams.

The Uighur American Association, a Washington-based advocacy group, voiced concern over the group, which it described as Uighurs, and urged Thailand to cooperate with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

"This group of Uighurs should not be a test of Thailand's relationship with China, but a test of Thailand's ability to follow international refugee standards," said association president Alim Seytoff.

Radio Free Asia's Uighur service quoted relatives as saying that the asylum seekers pretended to be Turkish for fear that they would be deported to China if the Thai authorities knew they held Chinese citizenship.

Thailand has long been a hub for people trafficking, with thousands of Rohingya boat people from neighboring Myanmar believed to have passed through the kingdom in recent years.

US officials "encourage Thailand to conduct thorough investigations for signs of trafficking, including in cases with alleged government complicity, and to bring trafficking offenders to justice," Harf said.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-03-15

Not very easy to exit Malaysia with a shonky passport.

How does this guy know how long the traffickers normally keep these poor people?

The UN should send troops to Thailand to assure security for human beings trafficked in Thailand. While they are in the Thai south maybe they could look into over 6,000 killings, bombings, tens of thousands of injuries for over ten years.

The UN should send troops to Thailand to assure security for human beings trafficked in Thailand. While they are in the Thai south maybe they could look into over 6,000 killings, bombings, tens of thousands of injuries for over ten years.

Please explain how the UN Security Council would be able to pass a resolution to send security forces (that at a minimum would be vetoed by China) and against the wishes of the Thai Government.

Thanks...

The article says the Uighurs have a large amount of money.

Are these wealthy people? If not where did they get the money? If they have money why not travel via ordinary means? Why does the US not facilitate their asylum in USA?

Sooo....

why does this smuggling route look so much like the missing planes trajectory as the last understood it?

Could it be those 2 guys shown with dodgy passports are Uigars ,

and were trying to get to Turkey in some desperate utterly misguided way?

Or were trying to Steal the Plane to transport these people from a clandestine airfield in Thailand???

I know I know, a little off the rational path, but the course sure looks similar at this point,

and who's to say they can't connect the dots but thought they had?

Sooo....

why does this smuggling route look so much like the missing planes trajectory as the last understood it?

Could it be those 2 guys shown with dodgy passports are Uigars ,

and were trying to get to Turkey in some desperate utterly misguided way?

Or were trying to Steal the Plane to transport these people from a clandestine airfield in Thailand???

I know I know, a little off the rational path, but the course sure looks similar at this point,

and who's to say they can't connect the dots but thought they had?

interesting thought!

Landing in thailand would require high level assistance for a plane that size. you'd need a long enough runway and that would mean military or big jet commercial.

Much to the displeasure of the Chinese authorities Turkey has been offering covert support to Uyghur muslim separatists in Xinjiang, China for some time now. It might seem like an odd partnership but Turkey and the Uyghurs have some things in common including a heavy involvement in the smuggling and supply of Heroin, an activity that has made some Uyghurs very wealthy.

Much to the displeasure of the Chinese authorities Turkey has been offering covert support to Uyghur muslim separatists in Xinjiang, China for some time now. It might seem like an odd partnership but Turkey and the Uyghurs have some things in common including a heavy involvement in the smuggling and supply of Heroin, an activity that has made some Uyghurs very wealthy.

I lived there a few years ago, and it feels very much like an occupied state. The people are just different culturally from chinese.

I understand their plight and the chinese state is not exactly famed for its compassion. These people are tough and resolute. You have to be to survive -40c in winter.

The article says the Uighurs have a large amount of money.

Are these wealthy people? If not where did they get the money? If they have money why not travel via ordinary means? Why does the US not facilitate their asylum in USA?

why have the us got to look after them.send them back.just like the chinese do to north koreans who escape .only to end up shot or in a gulag...

Wonder how the veneral venerable Surapong feels about this matter and a request for U.N. intervention help?

Perhaps not so keen on it as it highlights governmental inefficiency and social responsibility, no political mileage or kudos in that for lap dog Surapong and his master

Much to the displeasure of the Chinese authorities Turkey has been offering covert support to Uyghur muslim separatists in Xinjiang, China for some time now. It might seem like an odd partnership but Turkey and the Uyghurs have some things in common including a heavy involvement in the smuggling and supply of Heroin, an activity that has made some Uyghurs very wealthy.

The Turks and the Uyghurs are both Turkic peoples, and both Muslim; those are the real connections. The Turks are simply the most successful Turkic people, migrating west starting a millennium ago, occupying Asia Minor and then creating a huge Mediterranean and Balkan empire. The Uyghurs are poor cousins who stayed home, as it were. It is hardly surprising that they are drawn to Turkey today; persecuted by Beijing, migrating to Turkey would be a great escape. What is surprsing is the route of migration, quite mind-boggling.

Wonder how the veneral venerable Surapong feels about this matter and a request for U.N. intervention help?

Perhaps not so keen on it as it highlights governmental inefficiency and social responsibility, no political mileage or kudos in that for lap dog Surapong and his master

Is there any subject you will not try and link to this government in a negative way?

Nothing about the fate of the Uighurs or their background, the relationship, or lack of, with China - No, it's how can I use this article to make negative comments about the government or it's Ministers.

Jeez...............

Edited March 15, 201412 yr by fab4