Author: rsbtws

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“By 1980, he was home again”

SB & Woman-005bSombath Somphone’s early life took place amidst uncertainty and turbulence as Laos was swept into the Indochina War. He eventually escaped this by winning a scholarship to the University of Hawaii, where he earned degrees in education and agriculture. By 1980, he was home again. That same year Sombath helped launch the Rice-Based Integrated Farm System Project, to help Laotian farmers achieve food security. The ensuing years exposed him intimately to the world of rural Laos and to the complex obstacles awaiting development workers in its remote scattered villages.

From citation for the 2005 Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

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Lao Government Muted Representatives to ASEAN People’s Forum

Radio Free Asia: 09 August 2016

Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith (C) delivers the opening speech at the planary session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) 49th annual ministerial meeting in Vientiane, July 24, 2016.
Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith (C) delivers the opening speech at the planary session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) 49th annual ministerial meeting in Vientiane, July 24, 2016.

Laos’ representatives attending a meeting of civil society organizations that is held each year during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit said little about human rights issues inside their own authoritarian country because they were selected by the government in Vientiane, sources tell RFA.

While the ASEAN People’s Forum is designed to highlight human-rights issues in the 10 countries that make up ASEAN, the Lao government made sure that rights criticisms of that country were kept to a minimum by hand-picking the Lao civil society representatives attending the forum, according to the sources. Continue reading “Lao Government Muted Representatives to ASEAN People’s Forum”

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Sombath, Humanity & Nature at ASCS/APF

Dili-APF-2016-03“Humanity & Nature,” a workshop on traditional and alternative perspectives about humanity’s relationship with the environment was held on August 4th at the ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) in Dili, Timor Leste.

Topics discussed included Sombath’s work and philosophy, holistic education, gross national happiness, traditional wisdom, and agro-ecology. A video from an earlier workshop on these issues was also shared.

Government-appointed CSO representatives from the Lao PDR also briefly attended, apparently to monitor who was participating. Others stood for a picture of solidarity just after the event.

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Limited Freedom of Expression

ACSC-APF 2016 LogoThe ACSC/APF 2016 will not take place in Lao PDR, due to concerns over possible restrictions and limited freedom of expression on key issues of concerns of ASEAN which are inconsistent with the agreed ACSC/APF’s modality of engagement.

From the CSO Statement of the 2016 ACSC/APF recently held in Timor Leste. Ironically, the forum’s Regional Steering Committee imposed their own restrictions and limitations by releasing the statement before participants at the forum could voice their concerns on its contents.

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Urgent Action: Three Lao Activists Held Incommunicado

Amnesty International: 03 August 2016

Amnesty InternationalThree Lao human rights activists have been arrested on 5 and 22 March in circumstances that may constitute enforced disappearances. They remain in incommunicado detention since they appeared on national television on 25 May in a report that confirmed that they had been arrested for threatening national security through social media postings.

Soukan Chaithad (32), Lodkham Thammavong (30), and Somphone Phimmasone (29) are Lao nationals who had been working in Thailand until February 2016, when they returned to Laos to obtain documentation to continue working there. The three had participated in a peaceful demonstration of around 30 people outside the Lao embassy in Bangkok on 2 December 2015, Lao national day, and had posted a number of messages on Facebook criticising the Laos government for corruption, deforestation and human rights violations. Continue reading “Urgent Action: Three Lao Activists Held Incommunicado”

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Workshop on Sombath at ACSC/APF

ACSC-APF-2016-Humanity & NatureLao civil society representatives made it clear that Sombath’s name, among other issues, would not be welcome at a ACSC/APF event held in Laos. For this and other reasons, the event was moved to Timor-Leste.

“Humanity and Nature” will be held from 16:15-18:15 PM on August 4th in room two of the Alola Foundation.

Speakers include:

  • Ng Shui Meng, Spouse of Sombath Somphone
  • Genito Santana, Kdadalak Sulimutuk Instititute
  • Cheek Sophea, Focus on the Global South
  • Myrna Dominguez, Integrated Rural Development Foundation
  • Sam Zarifi, International Commission of Jurists
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Upcoming Asean forum must listen to Lao civil society

Bangkok Post: 02 August 2016

Sombath Somphone was disappeared at a police checkpoint near Vientiane more than three years ago, and the Laos government refuses to discuss his case. (File photo by Chanat Katanyu) 

The Asean Civil Society Conference/Asean Peoples’ Forum (ACSC/APF) which is to take place today in Dili, Timor-Leste appears to be clouded by uncertainty and fears.

Concerns have emerged as there have been no indications that the three-day meeting, as stated during preparatory events in March and May, can provide a safe space for Laos’ progressive and independent civil society organisations (CSOs) — a space where they can offer critiques, raise concerns and voice dissenting opinions on various issues, including human rights violations, forced disappearances and the negative impact of infrastructure development projects on ordinary peoples’ lives.

By safe, I mean that even in the presence of government-sponsored NGO representatives, the voices of members of independent CSOs shall be heard. That they shall be allowed to organise and conduct their own panels and don’t feel threatened or intimidated. Continue reading “Upcoming Asean forum must listen to Lao civil society”

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L’activiste Sombath Somphone, spectre gênant pour le régime laotien

Libération: 2 août 2016

Sombath-Magsaysay
Sombath Somphone en 2005. Il avait fondé l’ONG Padetc.

Le défenseur des petits paysans a été enlevé fin 2012 dans des conditions troubles. Au Timor oriental, une conférence citoyenne se penche sur sa disparition.

Il est l’un des disparus les plus célèbres d’Asie du Sud-Est. Et pour les autorités du Laos, Sombath Somphone est devenu un nom à taire, sinon une vie à occulter. Car dans la petite république démocratique populaire coincée entre le Vietnam et la Thaïlande et dans l’orbite de la très gourmande Chine, ce fondateur d’une ONG de soutien aux paysans, 64 ans, est un proscrit. Son histoire, emblématique de la situation des droits de l’homme en Asie, doit être évoquée à la conférence sur la société civile de l’Association des nations de l’Asie du Sud-Est (Asean) qui se tient à Dili, au Timor oriental, jusqu’au 5 août. Continue reading “L’activiste Sombath Somphone, spectre gênant pour le régime laotien”

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ASEAN’s shame: Where is Sombath Somphone?

ASEAN Today: 26 July 2016

sb-training-002
Photo: The Sombath Initiative/Facebook

By Sarah Caroline Bell

The sun had set on a warm Saturday evening in Vientiane. For most, December 15 2012 was just another weekend, but for Sombath Somphone, it marked the last time he was seen.

Shortly after 6pm, security camera footage captured the police stopping his vehicle a short distance away from the Australian Embassy Recreation Club. It is hard to see, but the footage shows Sombath being escorted into the Thadeua Police Post. His jeep is taken away by a motorcyclist, a truck appears outside the police post and Sombath is taken away. That was his last reported sighting.

In 2015, fresh new evidence was unearthed by the family which shows Sombath’s jeep being driven south. The government of Laos has stalled at every possible opportunity to investigate the disappearance and deny any knowledge of it. How can that be possible when his last contact was with multiple members of authority; the police? Continue reading “ASEAN’s shame: Where is Sombath Somphone?”

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Dear Sombath…from a former Green Ant volunteer

Dear Uncle Sombath,

sombath_fishing_skillsI have not written to you in a long time, since you disappeared. That hit me inside, in my heart. It made me wonder what I should do about my work, because you were always my role model, ever since I was a PADETC volunteer while in secondary school.

The first time I saw you was when you explained your work to a group of youth volunteers from Vientiane. At that time, Pui Duangkhae was the team leader mobilising volunteers who were interested in learning about the environment in Phu Khao Khwai. We met at the bamboo garden, and you and Uncle Outhin briefed us before we went to the park. Your words at that time greatly impressed me. You said we needed the forest, but the forest did not need us. Those words made me think that we must preserve and care for the forest, and it was the beginning of my journey as an environmental volunteer. We started by removing garbage from the steams in the Phu Khao Khwai Protected area in 1996. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from a former Green Ant volunteer”