SW News: According to Thai officials, more than 60 people who belonged to a Chinese Church will be deported next week to a third country. This announcement came on Wednesday and it was made by Deputy National Police Chief Surachate Hakparn. The self-exiled Christians have received UN refugee status.

The 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church were taken to court in Pattaya last Friday. Now, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry and Immigration Bureau are holding discussions with the UN Refugee Agency and the American embassy regarding the fate of the Chinese Christians.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Surachate said, "Within the next week, they will definitely be deported. What we don’t know is which country they will be deported to.” The members of the Holy Reformed Church were given refugee status by the UN agency after they landed in Thailand in 2022. They cited mounting harassment as the reason behind leaving their home country.
Before reaching Thailand, they escaped to South Korea’s Jeju Island in October 2019 and remained there for three years. But when it became evident that prospects for refugees were dim in the country, they left South Korea for the shores of Thailand.

The 63 believers were arrested and penalized last week for overstaying their visas. They were taken from Pattaya to a detention center in the capital Bangkok for official formalities. According to Surachate, the mothers and their children in the group were sent to the Immigration Bureau’s care facility in northern Bangkok while the rest are being kept in the main detention center in central Bangkok.

In a statement issued last Saturday, Human Rights Watch requested the government not to deport the believers because of “the grave dangers facing Christians back in China”.

According to Surachate, the members of the Church overstayed their visas by six months at the time when police found them. He added that the arrests were made because of the crackdown on crimes involving Chinese nationals. The Thai government does not allow people seeking refuge to reside in the country. Bangkok has also not ratified the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.