The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution that condemned Thailand for its lese-majeste law and the deportation of Uyghurs to China.
The resolution highlighted that Thai authorities have breached international law by deporting at least 40 Uyghur refugees to China, despite other countries offering them safe resettlement.
The deportees now face the threat of arbitrary detention, torture, and severe human rights abuses.
Prior to their deportation, these individuals had been held in Thai immigration centers for more than ten years, with reports of at least five Uyghurs, including minors, dying under harsh conditions.
The European Parliament also criticized Thailand’s lese-majeste law, under Section 112 of its Criminal Code, for not aligning with the kingdom’s commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The resolution put forth by the European legislative body includes demands and recommendations:
1. Condemns the deportation of Uyghur refugees to China; calls on the Thai authorities to immediately halt any further forced returns of refugees, asylum seekers and political dissidents to countries where their lives are at risk.
2. Urges the Thai government to grant the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) unrestricted access to all detained Uyghur asylum seekers and provide transparent information on their status.
3. Calls on China to respect the fundamental rights of the deported Uyghurs, ensure transparency about their whereabouts, grant the UNHCR access to them and release those detained
4. Calls on Thailand to ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol thereto and to implement a transparent, fair and humane asylum system.
5. Stresses that Thailand is an important EU partner; encourages Thailand to strengthen its institutions in line with democratic principles and international human rights standards; calls on the government to amend or repeal Section 112 and other repressive laws to guarantee the right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and political participation.
6. Demands that amnesty be granted to all MPs and activists prosecuted or imprisoned under lese-majesty provisions and other repressive laws.
7. Calls on the Commission to leverage free trade area (FTA) negotiations to press Thailand to reform repressive laws, particularly the lese-majesty law, release political prisoners, halt the deportation of Uyghur refugees and ratify all core International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions; calls on the Member States to suspend extradition treaties with the PRC.
8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Thai and Chinese authorities.
