International organizations on Friday joined calls for China not to deport a group of North Korean defectors who were caught on the Vietnamese border and face brutal punishment on return.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch, wrote in a statement, "Beijing should abide by its international obligations and allow the nine refugees to resettle in a safe third country."

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the organization is concerned that the nine defectors are being repatriated or have already been sent back. Shamdasani urged Chinese and Vietnamese authorities to say where the defectors are and added they must not send th em back to North Korea.

The North Koreans were arrested near the Chinese border in northern Vietnam late last month. Vietnamese authorities sent them back to China and Chinese security took them to Jilin on the North Korean border last week. It is unclear what has happened to them.

The group reportedly includes an 11-month-old baby and a teenager.