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Bound by tragedy, 2 women comforted by UN chief’s remark vs enforced disappearance

InterAksyon: 30 August 2015

Shui Meng & Edita Burgos
Edita Burgos and Shui Meng, wife of missing Ramon Magsaysay laureate and Laotian activist Sombath Somphone, find kinship in tragedy. They draw solace from UN SecGen Ban Ki-Moon’s strong condemnation of enforced disappearance, calling it like rain after a long drought.

MANILA – A Filipino mother and a Laotian wife, who have found solace in each other’s company since an encounter in an international forum on desaparecidos, are these days drawing comfort from the United Nations chief’s statement on the International Day of the Disappeared.

For Edita T. Burgos, widow of the world press freedom icon Jose G. Burgos Jr. and mother of missing farmer-activist Jonas, the past eight years since her son was seized while eating lunch at a mall – by men believed to be military agents – have been very difficult.

Shui Meng, wife of Ramon Magsaysay laureate Sombath Somphone, is in town to show her solidarity with other victims of enforced disappearances. She is a guest of the Asian Federation Against Enforced Disappearances (AFAD), where she and Mrs. Burgos met a few months ago.

Sombath is said to have been abducted by Lao government agents, as seen in a video posted on youtube. He remains missing and Shui Meng is pleading with his captors to release him. She expressed hope that the same tragic fate will not befall their family and loved ones. Continue reading “Bound by tragedy, 2 women comforted by UN chief’s remark vs enforced disappearance”

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Kommaly Chanthavong receives Magsaysay Award

Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation: 29 July 2015

Magsaysay-LogoIn electing Kommaly Chanthavong to receive the 2015 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes her fearless, indomitable spirit to revive and develop the ancient Laotian art of silk weaving, creating livelihoods for thousands of poor, war-displaced Laotians, and thus preserving the dignity of women and her nation’s priceless silken cultural treasure.

Kommaly is the third Lao citizen to receive the prestigious Magsaysay Award, along with Keo Viphakone and Sombath Sompone.

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Sombath Somphone Receives the 2015 Gwangju Special Award for Human Rights

Pressenza: 21 May 2015

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‘I stand before you humble and a little sad that it is I who is here to receive this Special Award for Human Rights’, said Shui Meng Ng, wife of Sombath Somphone upon accepting the 2015 Gwangju Special Award for Human Rights in Gwangju, South Korea last Monday on the 18th May. ‘It would have been such a happy occasion, and such an honour, if Sombath could be here to receive this Award himself. Unfortunately, circumstances do not allow it.’

The Gwangju Prize for Human Rights was established in 2000 to promote the spirit of the May 18 Democratic Uprising. The May 18 Democratic Uprising took place in the city of Gwangju, South Korea from 18-27 May 1980. At the time, Gwangju citizens took up arms after local students, who had been demonstrating peacefully against the Chun Doo-hwan government, were fired upon, killed, and beaten. Estimates suggest up to 606 people died in just a few days. It is deemed one of the turning points in the South Korean democracy movement. Every year, May 18 is commemorated with ceremonies and festivities, including the Gwangju Asia Forum and the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. Continue reading “Sombath Somphone Receives the 2015 Gwangju Special Award for Human Rights”

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광주인권상 ‘솜폰’ 부인 "실종 남편 구출에 동참해달라"

Yonhap News Agency: 18 May 2015

Shumeng-Gwangju
실종된 ‘솜바스 솜폰’ 구출 서명 동참 호소하는 부인 (광주=연합뉴스) 장아름 기자 = 2015 광주인권상 특별상 수상자인 솜바스 솜폰(Sombath Somphone·라오스)의 부인 수이 멩(Shui Meng)여사가 18일 광주 5·18 기념문화센터에서 열린 기자회견에서 실종 상태인 남편을 구출하기 위한 라오스 정부의 조속한 수사를 촉구하는 청원 운동에 보다 많은 한국인이 동참해줄 것을 호소하고 있다. 2015.5.18 [email protected]

(광주=연합뉴스) 장아름 기자 “실종된 남편 솜바스 솜폰 구출을 위한 라오스 정부의 수사를 촉구하는 서명에 더 많이 참여해 주시길 간절히 호소합니다.”

2015 광주인권상 특별상 수상자인 솜바스 솜폰(Sombath Somphone·라오스)의 부인 수이 멩(Shui Meng)여사는 18일 실종 상태인 남편을 구출하기 위한 라오스 정부의 조속한 수사를 촉구하는 청원 운동에 많은 한국인이 동참해줄 것을 호소했다.

이날 광주인권상 시상식을 앞두고 광주 5·18 기념문화센터에서 열린 기자회견에서 수이 멩 여사는 “누가 솜폰의 유괴에 대한 책임이 있는 지는 모른다”며 “다만 라오스 정부는 자국민이 자국에서 유괴된 데 대해, 무사히 돌아오게 하는데 대해 책임을 느끼고 수사에 착수해야 한다”고 말했다.

수이 멩 여사는 “남편은 수십년간 가난한 지역민을 위해 활동을 해왔다”며 “최근 라오스 정부가 외국자본을 투자해 광산이나 댐 등을 개발하는 사업에 관심을 많이 가지면서 외국 자본과 지역민 간 갈등이 커졌고 남편의 활동도 정부와 갈등을 겪기도 했다”고 설명했다. Continue reading “광주인권상 ‘솜폰’ 부인 "실종 남편 구출에 동참해달라"”

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Vietnamese Civil Groups Raise Freedom of Religion, Expression at ASEAN Forum

Ahead of the next APF in 2016, the forum’s organizing committee has not decided whether to hold the meeting in Laos, which will assume chairmanship of the 10-member ASEAN coalition next year, because civil society groups from the region are concerned about the safety of human rights defenders in the country.

Radio Free Asia: 24 April 2015

ACSC:APF-2015
Thida Khus, executive director of Cambodian NGO Silaka, addresses the ASEAN Peoples’ Forum in Malaysia, April 22, 2015. Photo courtesy of Silaka

Freedom of religion and expression topped the areas of discussion for Vietnamese civil groups attending forums on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia Friday, during which they engaged with their counterparts and government officials from the region.

The ASEAN People’s Forum (APF) is being held on April 21-24 to provide civil society groups with a platform to address the organization’s leaders through workshops on various rights issues alongside the ASEAN Summit of Heads of State.

One young Vietnamese presenter, Nguyen Anh Tuan, told RFA that she attended the seminar because she wanted to convey how poor Vietnam’s rights record is compared to other nations in the region and discuss ways to improve it.

“Based on what I know, the human right abuses in Vietnam exceed other countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand,” she said.

“During this session, I will try to prove that the human right abuses in Vietnam are systematic and not limited to some areas. They are everywhere and include freedom of religion, expression, information and association.”

At the People’s Forum on freedom of religion, Vietnamese presenters displayed photos of religious leaders, including Mennonite pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh and Catholic priest Ngo The Binh of Tam Toa church, who have been harassed and beaten. Continue reading “Vietnamese Civil Groups Raise Freedom of Religion, Expression at ASEAN Forum”

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Activists, politicians call for protection of human rights at ASEAN forum

Asian Correspondent: 24 April 2015

By 

Azmin Ali
Malaysian politician Azmin Ali. Pic: AP.

Discussions about human rights and civil society’s role in the ASEAN community took center stage at the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/People’s Forum in Kuala Lumpur this week. More than 1,000 people gathered at the conference, which began Tuesday and ends today.

Former Malaysian Foreign Minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar gave the keynote address on the first day of the conference. He argued for a review of the ASEAN’s stance on non-interference, saying there are limits to its usefulness in international diplomacy, “especially when the serious impacts of a problem goes beyond national boundaries, or when it involves serious international crimes.”

Malaysian politician Azmin Ali also criticized the non-interference policy in a speech to the forum: “[O]n this altar of neutrality, we watch with folded arms, the slaughter of innocent women and children,” he said, referring to incidents in Burma (Myanmar) and Laos among others. “On this platform of non-interference, we turn blind eye to the massacre of ethnic minorities or abandon them as state-less people.” Continue reading “Activists, politicians call for protection of human rights at ASEAN forum”

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Lao Civil Society Pressured to Drop Rights Issues From ASEAN Forum

Radio Free Asia: 22 April 2015

ACSC:APF-2015
Thida Khus, executive director of Cambodian NGO Silaka, addresses the ASEAN Peoples’ Forum in Malaysia, April 22, 2015. Photo courtesy of Silaka

Civil society organizations in Laos are under pressure to omit key concerns from a list of regional human rights issues to be raised on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia this week and “fear for their safety” if they attempt to do so, a CSO official said Wednesday.

The groups dare not raise the concerns during the April 21-24 ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (APF)—intended to provide civil society with a platform to address ASEAN leaders—because they fear retribution for criticizing government policy, the CSO official told RFA’s Lao Service.

“[The CSOs] will talk mostly about gender roles only, but not other issues such as land rights, the impact of hydropower dams … and enforced disappearance, because they are afraid for their safety,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said the majority of authentic CSOs in Laos “do not want to attend the forum,” especially those which focus on human rights issues, but that the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of the Interior had persuaded other “irrelevant” organizations to go in their place. Continue reading “Lao Civil Society Pressured to Drop Rights Issues From ASEAN Forum”

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Civic Activists: ASEAN Ignoring Peoples' Concerns

Voice of America: 02 April 2013

By Steve Herman

This month they are specifically to confront Laos with the issue of the enforced disappearance of prominent activist Sombath Somphone.

APF-KL-2015
Jerald Joseph left speaks at a briefing on the upcoming ASEAN peoples’ forum while Sunsanee Sutthisunsanee, right, listens, April 2, 2015. (Steve Herman/VOA News)

BANGKOK—Civic organizations in Southeast Asia are expressing increasing concern their voices are being ignored by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), even though the current chair, Malaysia, has vowed to realize a “people-centered ASEAN.”

When ASEAN holds its 26th Summit later this month in Kuala Lumpur, the association’s civil society conference and peoples’ forum will jointly issue a stinging rebuke.

They will tell the leaders that recommendations submitted annually since 2005 by civil society “have been neither implemented nor adopted in any meaningful way.”

They say this is because ASEAN “prioritizes corporate interests and elite groups, including state-owned enterprises, over the interests of the people.”

The four-day summit will be held in Malaysia’s capital from April 24. Continue reading “Civic Activists: ASEAN Ignoring Peoples' Concerns”

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ASEAN rights activists demand change ahead of People’s Forum

Asian Correspondent: 26 March 2015

By 

APF-2015
Members of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum. Photo courtesy ACSC/APF

The missing Laotian civil society leader Sombath Somphone will be at the forefront of the conversation at the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum meets in Kuala Lumpur next month. Sombath is a victim of enforced disappearance, and was kidnapped in Vientiane, Laos, in 2013. The Laos government has consistently denied involvement or refused to provide real information about the missing civil society leader, and his case has come to represent one of the most egregious human rights offenses still committed in the ASEAN countries.

The ACSC/APF allows civil society activists from all the ASEAN countries to voice their concerns about rights violations in their countries, and become empowered by the strength in numbers there. In countries such as Laos and Vietnam, dissent is often suppressed with jail time or enforced disappearances, which makes it extremely dangerous for activists to speak out. Jerald Joseph, chair of the APF’s Regional Steering Committee, said that by coming to the forum, activists who face risks in their home countries find a safer space to voice their concerns. And their participation puts serious human rights issues in the international spotlight, putting pressure on their governments to address injustices. Continue reading “ASEAN rights activists demand change ahead of People’s Forum”