The government of Malaysia should ensure that 11 detained migrants are not forcibly deported to China, Human Rights Watch said today.
The migrants should have urgent access to refugee status determination proceedings by the United Nations refugee agency.
The detainees appear to be among a group of 20 people who escaped from immigration detention in Thailand in November 2017. China claims that they are Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim, Turkic minority that originates from western China. After group members were initially detained in Thailand, they identified themselves as Turkish citizens and asked to be sent to Turkey.
“Uyghurs forcibly returned to China face credible threats of imprisonment and torture, so it’s critical that Malaysia does not forcibly expel to China anyone the Chinese claim is a Uyghur,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“Malaysian authorities should allow these individuals access to a fair process to determine their refugee claims, not ship them to China based on Beijing’s demands.”
- Sign up for Aliran's free daily email updates or weekly newsletters or both
- Make a one-off donation to Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara, CIMB a/c 8004240948
- Make a pledge or schedule an auto donation to Aliran every month or every quarter
- Become an Aliran member
Under customary international law, Malaysia is obliged to ensure that no one in its custody is forcibly sent to a place where they would risk being subjected to persecution, torture, or other serious human rights violations.
The 11 people in Malaysian custody were part of a group of more than 200 detained in Thailand in 2014. Thailand forcibly returned more than 100 of the group to China in July 2015 in a move that brought international condemnation. The whereabouts and wellbeing of those who were returned is unknown.
Malaysia is one of several countries that in recent years has forcibly returned Uyghurs to China in violation of international law.
In September 2017, Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Zahid Hamidi, said Malaysia had arrested 29 Uyghur “militants” involved with the Islamic State (also known as Isis) since it began sharing biometric data with China in 2011.
On 31 December 2012, Malaysia deported six Uyghur men to China. The six had been detained earlier in 2012, allegedly for attempting to leave Malaysia on fake passports.
While in detention, the men were registered by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Although all six had refugee status determinations under review, on 31 December, Malaysian police transferred the men to the custody of Chinese authorities, who escorted them from Malaysia to China on a chartered flight.
Human Rights Watch has been unable to obtain any further information from Malaysian or Chinese government sources as to the six men’s whereabouts or wellbeing.
Radio Free Asia reported in December 2012 that friends and a relative of 11 Uyghurs deported to China from Malaysia in August 2011 said that they were subsequently imprisoned for “separatism”.
Pervasive ethnic discrimination, severe religious repression, and increasing cultural suppression – justified by the Chinese government in the name of the “fight against separatism, religious extremism, and terrorism” – fuel rising tensions in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
On 7 March 2014, Xinjiang Governor Nur Bekri announced a “severe crackdown” on “separatist activities,” which he blamed on foreign forces “who don’t want to see a united, strong China led by socialism and by the party”.
Nine months later, Ilham Tohti, a well-regarded ethnic Uyghur economist and peaceful critic of the Chinese government, was sentenced to life in prison for “separatism” after a grossly unfair trial.
The Chinese government routinely places restrictions on observing the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, and some Uyghurs are being required to give DNA samples and other biodata to obtain passports.
China’s state media reports selectively on counter-terrorism operations, but does not provide information on the number of deaths of local residents in such raids or the treatment of those detained in the operations, among other information. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Uyghurs have fled the country in recent years.
“Past cases have shown that Uyghurs returned to China are almost always at risk of persecution,” Adams said. “Malaysia needs to ensure that these 11 people are protected and not sent into harm’s way.”
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
fake news
Let their own government take care of them. Malaysia has its hands full with human rights problems and issues; it cannot effectively grapple with more. The world has changed. We have no place for more detained illegal migrants. Who will take responsibility for them? Who will fund them? Who will be responsible for the religious, social, economic, legal and other issues pertaining to their presence? Problems like that may never be solved even in one generation. So Malaysia will be wiser to give it a pass. It needs to focus on its own poor, impoverished, neglected people. No need to complicate the people problem. We know organizations like HRW and UNHCR are run by people with globalist views. But how about thinking of nations like Malaysia first? It is already groaning with an enormous influx of illegal migrants and UNHCR refugees and attendant problems? We also have a deteriorating economy along with massive corruption in so many levels in government sucking the strained resources contributed by the national tax payers. No nation can conscientiously provide for the needs of such people at the expense of its… Read more »