Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Convention, Cambodia was legally obliged to conduct a fair assessment of the Uighurs'
asylum claims and to prevent their “refoulement”—their return to any country where
they were likely to face torture or mistreatment. Faced with a choice between Chinese
demands and its obligations under the Refugee Convention, Ilshat Hassan of the World
Uighur Congress expressed hope that the Cambodian government would do the right
thing, and show the world it was “a responsible, accountable government” that abided by
international law.
2
Officials at UNHCR were equally optimistic. In mid-2008 the agency had signed an
agreement with the government transferring asylum-seeker processing to a new Cambod-
ian Refugee Office under the Ministry of Interior. In a press release marking the agree-
that was necessary for the final handover was the passage of a new refugee subdecree
law, then in its final stages of drafting. After years of training and “capacity building,”
UNHCR was confident that the Cambodians understood their legal obligations—and
would implement them accordingly.
The timing for the Uighurs could hardly have been worse. In mid-December China's
Vice President, Xi Jinping, was due to arrive in Cambodia for a high-profile state visit,
carrying a fat portfolio of grants and loan agreements totaling a record $1.2 billion. The
promise of this economic bonaza gave Beijing huge leverage over the Cambodian gov-
ernment. On December 19, the day before Xi's arrival, the Uighurs were taken to Phnom
Penh International Airport at gunpoint and bundled aboard a charter flight to China. Hu-
man rights activists and Western diplomats voiced their outrage, but the calculation for
the Cambodians was brutally simple: for each asylum seeker that it “refouled,” the gov-
ernment received the equivalent of $60 million.
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Just a few days earlier it looked like the government might resist China's pressure.
Government spokesmen confirmed that immigration officials were working with
UNHCR to process the Uighurs' asylum claims. On December 16, in response to con-
cerns from Western embassies and refugee advocates, police rounded up the Uighurs
from various locations and took them to a single location, supposedly for their protection.
The following day they were installed at the Phnom Penh refugee safe-house, as Interior
Minister Sar Kheng assured US officials that the government was “on the road” to resolv-
ing their asylum claims.
4
Then, suddenly, the Cambodian position shifted. On December 17, Prime Minister Hun
Sen signed Cambodia's long-awaited refugee subdecree. The law, pushed through ahead
of schedule, contained a last-minute addition—a clause giving the Interior Minister the
power to deny, terminate, or remove the protection status granted by UNHCR and send
asylum seekers home.
