<div>Press Statement</div> <div>John Kirby&nbsp;</div> <div>Department Spokesperson</div> <div>Washington, DC</div> <div>July 9, 2015</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>We condemn Thailand’s forced deportation on July 9 of over 100 ethnic Uighurs to China, where they could face harsh treatment and a lack of due process. This action runs counter to Thailand’s international obligations as well as its long-standing practice of providing safe haven to vulnerable persons. </div>

<div>Thailand and Myanmar’s regulations systematically deny the rights to movement, health, and culture of the nomadic sea gypsy ethnic Moken people, according to a Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2015/06/25/stateless-sea">report </a>released this week.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The Moken people are one of the last hunter-gatherer groups in Southeast Asia. Approximately 3,000 Moken live in the Mergui Archipelago off the coast of Myanmar, while 800 live in Thailand, mainly in Ranong and surrounding islands. </div>

<div>JAKARTA, 27 May 2015 – The Myanmar government’s passage of a controversial new “population control” law is yet another in a long line of restrictive and illegal measures as part of a policy of persecution and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population, ASEAN lawmakers said today.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Rooted in Myanmar’s rising Buddhist-nationalist extremism, the Population Control Act will likely &nbsp;be used to enforce targeted reproductive restrictions against vulnerable minorities. </div>