TNR Watch: Target Groups

While headlines tend to focus on the assassination of high-profile dissidents living in exile, the targeting of groups of diaspora members is no less troubling. In Thailand, the deportation of over 100 Uyghurs and the ongoing detention of nearly 50 more demonstrate the need to strengthen resettlement programs.

Trapped in Thailand: A November 2024 story in The New York Times Magazine highlighted the plight of hundreds of Uyghurs who have become trapped in Thailand after fleeing their homeland. While many incidents of transnational repression target a single individual, the Chinese government’s cross-border pursuit of Uyghurs is indiscriminate, rendering all susceptible to harassment, detention, and deportation. In 2015, Thai authorities deported at least 109 Uyghurs to China at Beijing’s request, accepting dubious assurances from Chinese officials that the individuals they deported would be safe. Today, around 50 Uyghur asylum seekers remain in limbo in Thailand, languishing in a cramped and unsanitary Bangkok immigration detention center as they confront a possible return to a country that persecutes them.

Mass incidents: Mass incidents of transnational repression are often enabled by cooperation between perpetrator governments and host-country officials. In 2017, Chinese and Egyptian officials reportedly sent dozens of Uyghurs from Egypt to China. In December 2023 and February 2024, Thai law enforcement cooperated with the Cambodian government and detained 10 Cambodian activists and some of their relatives. Similarly, the Turkish government has abetted the Turkmenistani government’s extraterritorial targeting of activists, as shown by the 2021 detention of 10 Turkmenistani nationals in Istanbul.

In addition to detention and deportation, groups of politically active diaspora members also face attacks and renditions. At the 2015 Summit of the Americas in Panama City, representatives from the Cuban embassy assaulted a contingent of Cuban demonstrators. In 2020, eight Burundian refugees were forcibly disappeared from refugee camps in Tanzania, resurfacing in Burundi, where they faced criminal charges.

Solutions: These mass incidents often take place in countries like Thailand, and Turkey, which all host considerable refugee and asylum-seeker populations. In these countries, members of diaspora groups are regularly confined in detention centers and refugee camps, where they are vulnerable to transnational repression campaigns. To address this problem, the UN Refugee Agency must be proactive as it helps to resettle at-risk populations. In addition, countries should grant prima facie refugee status to asylum seekers from states that persecute sizable communities both within their borders and in exile.