SEEKING A PLACE TO BREATHE FREELY

VI. International Refugee and Asylum Law
The act of forcibly repatriating individuals or groups who make it clear that they wish not to be returned
from the state which they originated is a clear infringement of well-established international law. The
principle of non-refoulement, the cornerstone of International Refugee Law and spelled out clearly in the
1951 Refugee Convention, requires that states do not allow for the forcible return of refugees or asylumseekes
to teitoies hee thei life o feedo ould e theateed o aout of ae, eligio,
nationality, member of a particular social group, or politial opiio. 88
The Convention is the most comprehensive treaty dealing with issues relating to refugees and asylum
seekers, to which China is a state party. Thailand, however, has not yet ratified the Convention, though
the principle of non-refoulement is now considered a norm of Customary International Law. States who
have not yet ratified the Convention remain legally bound by this principle in particular as a result.
Thus far, the illegality of the actions taken by Thailand (and a whole host of other states for that matter)
in July 2015 is clear, however the real problem lies in implementation and accountability. Although the
international community expressed deep outrage following the extradition of the 109 Uyghurs from
detention facilities in Bangkok, including condemnatory statements from the United Nations, the United
States and other human rights organizations, no legal action has been taken. This fact underscores the
sometimes futile nature of international law, even law that reaches the standard of jus cogens.
Consequences of forcible returns in the past have included arbitrary arrest and detention, abuse, and
typically involves dubious criminal charges levelled against those who are returned—something the
Convention explicitly aims to prohibit. The Chinese government has repeatedly labelled Uyghurs in this
context as criminals and those who have been returned have been treated in such a manner. 89
The Refugee Convention remains the only major international human rights treaty that does not
establish an interstate supervisory body to hold states accountable if they fail to meet their protection
obligations. Although Article 38 to the Convention does allow for the International Court of Justice to
step in to settle disputes relating to the interpretation or application of the Convention, no states have
yet taken advantage of this provision in practice. The other supervisory role spelled out in the
Convention also allows for the UNHCR to play a facilitative role for states, though this does not reach the
threshold whereby it holds any real coercive power over the state in question. 90
The result is that although the Convention is officially binding on states, there remains no effective
system in which the provisions of the treaty may be enforced. Members of the Uyghur community have
fallen victim again and again to this sad fact, as Uyghurs have consistently been forcibly returned from
numerous states within China's vicinity, but no substantive action has ever been taken beyond
condemnatory statements from states and civil society.
In one particularly blatant case of denying the efficacy of the Convention and international legal norms
generally, the Cambodian government forcibly returned a group of 20 Uyghur asylum seekers in
December 2009. Amazingly, members of the group were already in the process of applying for asylum
status with the UNHCR in Phnom Penh when Cambodian authorities announced that they would be
returned to China, likely as a result of pressure from the Chinese side. Only days following the
extradition, China and Cambodia signed 14 trade deals worth around 1 billion USD. The group of Uyghurs
were likely a hitch that they Cambodian government cared not to carry into final negotiations of these
deals and submitted to Chinese pressure. 91
All told, whether or not many of these forced returns in the past violated international law is not in
dispute. The real problem lies in the implementation of the Convention and the strength of the
accountability mechanisms undergirding it. There have been strong calls from academics and other
experts in the field pressing the UNHCR to adopt new measures to improve compliance, including the
20 World Uyghur Congress | June 2016