One reason Uyghurs fear the Chinese authorities knowing so much about their whereabouts overseas is awareness that other governments have been pressured by China to repatriate Uyghurs who have left China. In 2015, for example, Thailand returned more than 100 Uyghurs who had sought refuge in the country. Egypt deported 16 students at the behest of the Chinese authorities in 2017, including Yiliyasijiang Reheman. Chinese Uyghurs living abroad fear that, if they were to be returned, they would inevitably end up detained in Xinjiang’s “re-education” camps. For those awaiting asylum status in the countries where they are staying, deportation is a source of tremendous stress and concern, especially when they are also afraid of being spied on by others in their communities.

This fear is compounded when Uyghurs living overseas are told by Chinese diplomatic offices in their countries of residence that they can only renew their Chinese passports by returning to Xinjiang. These fears are not unfounded. According to one of the recently leaked documents, “Bulletin No. 2”, Chinese embassies and consulates subject Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups to individualized screening if they apply to renew their Chinese passports or obtain a visa to return to China. Their particulars are checked by authorities in Xinjiang against an “integrated platform” of data obtained through sweeping programme of mass surveillance. If the authorities decide on the basis of this screening that “suspected terrorism cannot be ruled out”, then these individuals are likely to be arrested or sent for “re-education”.

States have an obligation under international law to comply with the principle of non-refoulement by ensuring that people are not returned, either directly or indirectly, to a country where there is a real risk of serious human rights violations or abuses.

Since 2018, Germany and Sweden have officially made commitments not to deport to China Uyghurs or members of other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups from Xinjiang.

A strong resolution by the European Parliament (2019/2945[RSP]) on the situation of the Uyghurs in China passed by an overwhelming majority on 19 December 2019. The European Parliament expressed deep concern over reports of harassment of Uyghurs abroad by the Chinese authorities in order to force them to act as informants against other Uyghurs, return to Xinjiang or remain silent about the situation there, sometimes by detaining their family members. The resolution calls on the EU to step up its efforts to protect Uyghur residents and EU citizens in member states from harassment and intimidation by the Chinese authorities. The resolution also calls on the Chinese authorities to end the ongoing crackdown involving detention, judicial harassment and intimidation.

Chinese government intimidation of Uyghurs and Chinese nationals in the United States was an issue also cited in the amended legislative proposal for the UIGHUR Act of 2019, a bill that passed in the US House of Representatives by a vote of 407-1 on 3 December 2019.

It is now vital that all countries hosting members of the Uyghur diaspora take measures to protect them from the threat of deportation to China, where they would be at risk of being sent to an internment camp in Xinjiang.