December 18, 2024
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra
Office of the Prime Minister, Royal Thai Government
Government House
1 Phitsanulok Road
Dusit District, Bangkok 10300, Thailand
Dear Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra,
We write to you today to voice our grave concern and dismay at the forced deportation of seven refugees – six adults, including four women, and one 5-year-old child – from Thailand to Cambodia on November 25, 2024. The seven Cambodian refugees, all of whom are registered with UNHCR, have been identified as Soeung Khunthea, Vorn Chanratchana, Pen Chansangkream, Yin Chanthou, Mean Chan Thon, and Hong An and her 5-year-old grandson, Sean Thavorakanan.
Reports indicate that approximately 20 Thai police officers from various units, including the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s investigative division, arrested these refugees at their residence in the afternoon of November 24, 2024. Following their arrest, the refugees were handed over to the custody of the PathumThani Immigration and subsequently transported to Aranyaprathet for immediate deportation to Cambodia at the opening of the border crossing in the morning.
Upon their return to Cambodia, Cambodian authorities brought them to court in Phnom Penh the same day. The child was handed over to relatives, while the adults were detained, charged with treason, and detained in prison, as reported in international media.1 The information we have received states that Cambodian officials arranged special transportation to receive them at the Thailand-Cambodia border, with strict security measures throughout the journey. Cambodian media described the arrests and deportations as a collaboration between the Thai and Cambodian governments).2 The undersigned organizations are concerned that the targeting of Cambodian refugees on Thai soil by their home government constitutes the use of Transnational Repression (TNR), an act which undermines national sovereignty, democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
While detained in Thailand, the refugees were not permitted to contact family members or legal counsel. Their relatives reported that their phone calls were abruptly cut off by police during the arrests, after which no further communication with the refugees was possible. The officers who made the arrests were informed that each of the refugees held valid UNHCR-issued identification cards, signifying that they were registered by UNHCR and would face persecution if they were forced to return to their home country. Despite the officers’ knowledge that these refugees were registered with UNHCR, and that they did not wish to return to Cambodia, the deportation proceeded swiftly, with the group being transported to the border overnight. The refugees were given no opportunity to seek legal counsel or appeal the immigration department’s deportation order.
The deportation of these individuals clearly violates Section 13 of the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, B.E. 2565 (2022), which prohibits government agencies and officials from expelling, deporting, or extraditing a person to a state where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, or enforced disappearance. Further, the deportation violates Thailand’s obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT)3 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which prohibit the refoulement4 of people to a country where they would face a real risk of torture, other ill-treatment or other irreparable harm. Due to their UNHCR status, there were substantial grounds for the Thai authorities to believe these refugees would be subject to torture and cruel and degrading treatment if they were returned to Cambodia.
Their immediate detention upon return to Cambodia and the risk of lengthy prison terms based on politically motivated charges further demonstrate the unlawfulness of their deportation. The Immigration Department’s deportation of refugees and other vulnerable people without judicial review or the ability of detainees to contact family members and legal counsel highlights serious shortcomings in respecting the law. This situation underscores the need for urgent revisions to the standard operating procedures of both the Royal Thai Police and the Immigration Bureau to align with national laws, including the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, B.E. 2565 (2022) and the Regulation of the Office of the Prime Minister On the Screening of Aliens who Enter into the Kingdom and are Unable to Return to the Country of Origin, B.E. 2562 (2019). Specifically, Article 15 of the Regulation states that “during the process under the Immigration Act or these regulations, if officers encounter foreigners claiming reasonable grounds for protection, deportation should be postponed unless it affects national security.”
Finally, we would like to draw particular attention to Sean Thavorakanan, the 5-year-old child who was deported to Cambodia. Not only was he subject to detention in the custody of Thai authorities, but he was also transported in the middle of the night to the border in what was undoubtedly a traumatic and harrowing experience. The deportation is particularly troubling in light of the government’s recent withdrawal of its reservation to Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which mandates that state parties ensure that refugee children “receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance.” We ask that the Thai government reflect on how this unconscionable treatment of a vulnerable child has affected its reputation in the international community and its own moral standing.
Thailand’s decision to deport these refugees despite explicit legal prohibitions, especially after recently being elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2025– 2027 term, undermines the country’s commitment to promoting and protecting human rights. This reflects the government’s lack of seriousness in fulfilling its domestic and international obligations.
We urge you, as the Prime Minister and head of the government, to order a full review of this blatant failure to respect refugee rights, and publicly disclose all the details of why UNHCR- registered refugees were forcibly deported, how this operation was planned, and which officials are directly responsible. We also urge you to review whether such actions violated national laws, particularly, the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, which among other things, mandates continuous video recording of detainees in custody and prohibits deportation where there are substantial grounds to believe a person will be subject to torture or cruel and degrading treatment upon return to their home country.
We also request that as Prime Minister, you issue orders to review and amend internal policies to ensure that the Royal Thai Police fully comply with the law and Thailand’s stated policy commitment to advance human rights inside the country and on the global stage as well as apply rigorous vetting procedures to arrest and deportation requests from countries with a record of engaging in Transnational Repression.
Sincerely yours,
- ALTSEAN-Burma
- ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR)
- Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA)
- Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN)
- Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
- Asylum Access Thailand (AAT)
- Boat People SOS (BPSOS)
- CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
- Coalition for the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CRSP)
- Community Resource Centre (CRC)
- Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)
- ENLAWTHAI Foundation (EnLAW)
- FIDH International Federation for Human Rights
- Fortify Rights
- Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF)
- Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA)
- ILaw
- International Detention Coalition (IDC)
- Manushya Foundation
- Migrant Working Group (MWG)
- People’s Empowerment Foundation (PEF)
- Peace Rights Foundation (PRF)
- People Serving People Foundation
- Solidarity Center
- Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)
- Thailand Migration Reform Consortium (TMR)
- Viet Tan Individuals
- Adisorn Kerdmongkol
- Siwawong Sooktawee
- Yuhanee Jehka
- Chatchai Amornlerdwattana
- Chanya Kahintapong
- Phobtham Sitthirat
- Chawaratt Chawarangkul
- Assistant Professor Dr. Darunee Paisanpanichkul, Faculty of Law, Chiang Mai University
- Nuchnalin Leerasantana
- Dr. Sriprapha Petcharamesree, Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University and Former Thailand Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)
2 https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501599836/six-activists-jailed-for-plotting-against-govt/
3 Article 3.1 “No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”
4 https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/CAT/GCArticle3/CAT-C-GC-1.pdf