Vietnamese in Thailand hope stern US response on Uyghurs might deter deportations

Read a version of this story in Vietnamese

Campaigners for the rights of Vietnamese who fled from repression in their country to Thailand say they hope U.S. sanctions against Thai officials for deporting Uyghur people to China may deter Thailand from sending other asylum seekers home to an uncertain future.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions on March 14 against unidentified Thai government officials involved in sending 40 ethnic Uyghur men to China on Feb. 27 despite U.S. and U.N. warnings they could face torture and a call from Rubio not to send them back.

Asylum seekers from Vietnam in Thailand, including ethnic minority Christians from Vietnam’s Central Highlands, are hoping the stern U.S. response to the deportation of the Uyghurs might save them from the same fate at the hands of Thai officials, campaigners and refugees say.

“I believe that Thailand will pause and review its policy instead of obeying or complying with the requests of China and Vietnam,” Nguyen Dinh Thang, the director of the refugee rights group Boat People SOS, told Radio Free Asia.

He said while Thailand does not suppress religious freedom, it assists neighboring countries in doing that by arresting asylum seekers from places like Vietnam, China, Laos, and Myanmar and deporting them.

Thailand says it has a long record of helping people displaced from neighboring countries and it follows the law when it comes to handling immigration cases.

Among the approximately 1,500 Vietnamese seeking asylum in Thailand and awaiting resettlement in a third country, are many Montagnards, or Dega, from the Central Highlands and Hmong people from the mountainous northwest.

Both groups are mainly Protestant Christians who fled Vietnam after being pressured by authorities to renounce their faith. Vietnam denies persecuting people because of their religion.

One prominent case in recent months has been that of Y Quynh Bdap, the co-founder of Montagnards Stand for Justice, which campaigns for the rights of indigenous people in the Central Highlands. He fled from Vietnam to Thailand in 2018.

Despite being granted U.N. refugee status and involved in a process to resettle in Canada, he was arrested by Thai police in the middle of last year after Vietnam requested his extradition.

A court in Vietnam had sentenced him earlier in the year to 10 years in prison for “terrorism” in connection with attacks on two government offices in Dak Lak province, in which nine people were killed. Y Quynh Bdap was in Thailand at the time and he said he had nothing to do with organizing the attacks.

Late last year, a Bangkok court ruled that Y Quynh Bdap could be deported despite calls from the U.N. and rights organizations for his release and for him to be allowed to resettle in a third country.

An appeal against the ruling is making its way through the Thai courts.

Last month, Thai police arrested more than 60 Montagnards at a ceremony to mourn the death of Y Quynh Bdap’s mother-in-law who died in Vietnam. About 43 are still being held at a detention center in Bangkok.

‘Not safe’

According to Boat People SOS – labeled a terrorist organization by Vietnam last month – Thai authorities allowed Vietnamese police and embassy officials to meet the Montagnards in detention to ask them to “volunteer” to return home. The Vietnamese authorities threatened to send police to Thailand to arrest all Montagnard refugees and repatriate them, the group said.

Thailand adopted a similar tactic with the Uyghurs, who were also in detention, according to rights group Justice for All. Weeks before the deportation of the men, the group said Thai authorities had pressed them to agree to go home. Thai officials denied that.

“Refugees here are not safe, not just the Uyghurs,” said Montagnard Thoan Siu, who fled Vietnam due to religious persecution and land confiscation.

“If the United States does not condemn them, they will treat Vietnamese refugees the same way in the future,” he said, referring to Thai authorities.

“If the international community does not care and does not speak up, the Thai government will arrest people and possibly deport them back to Vietnam.”

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Rahlan Su, a protestant member of a Vietnamese ethnic minority who brought his wife and three children to Thailand in 2019, said U.S. sanctions on Thai officials could force Thai police to think twice.

Nevertheless, he said he still worried as his family had yet to be granted U.N. refugee status, which offers some protection.

Nguyen Dinh Thang, executive director of Boat People SOS, said Thailand had to consider its international standing.

“Thailand also has to find a balance because it does not want to be condemned by the free world, that would affect not only its diplomatic relations but also geopolitical and trade issues,” Thang said.

Thang said his organization, which has been advocating for religious freedom for ethnic minority communities in Vietnam for decades, would continue to lobby the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and U.N. human rights institutions to pressure the Thai government over cases such as that of Y Quynh Bdap.

On Tuesday, Y Quynh Bdap’s lawyer told RFA the Court of Appeal had accepted her appeal against her client’s deportation. A date has not been set for the appeal court’s ruling.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Pimuk Rakkanam in Bangkok contributed to this report.