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Wall of silence around activist's disappearance

The Nation: 17 June 2014

Phil Robertson

A year and a half later, where is Sombath Somphone? In Laos that simple question has been blocked by a wall of silence.

He was last seen driving home on December 15, 2012, in the capital, Vientiane, before he was forcibly disappeared. Government security video footage clearly shows that he was stopped at a police checkpoint, taken into the office, and then brought out and forced into another vehicle. Credible reports placed him later that night at a police station in Vientiane, and since then he has not been seen or heard from again.

Sombath Somphone is an internationally acclaimed civil society leader and 2005 Magsaysay Award winner who concentrated his life’s efforts on agricultural development in Laos. Hailing from a modest rural background, he possessed an acute understanding of rural poverty and the need to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability in ways that would positively impact the lives of Laos’ farming communities.

Yesterday marked a dark mid-term anniversary: exactly a year and a half since Sombath’s “disappearance”. Since then, the Laos government has repeatedly failed to conduct a serious investigation, much less push for accountability and provide answers. Offers by governments such as United States and others to provide technical assistance to the Lao authorities to analyse the video showing Sombath’s arrest have been repeatedly turned down. At one point, one of the investigating police officers publicly stated that the investigation had been halted, only to be contradicted by a more senior officer following international outcry. Continue reading “Wall of silence around activist's disappearance”

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Le gouvernement accusé de bafouer les droits de l’homme

Société des Missions étrangères de Paris: 12 Juin 2014

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Le militant des droits de l’home Sombath Somphone est porté disparu depuis décembre 2012

Un rapport présenté le 10 juin dernier aux Nations Unies dénonce les violations persistantes des droits de l’homme au Laos. Parmi les nombreux exemples cités par l’organisation Human Rights Watch, la disparition du militant Sombath Somphone a été qualifiée de « particulièrement inquiétante ».

Le Laos, loin d’avoir progressé dans le domaine des droits de l’homme, a encore reculé, uge dans un rapport très critique Human Rights Watch (HRW). Le gouvernement poursuit ses restrictions des libertés fondamentales d’une façon drastique, justifiant l’attention de la communauté internationale.

Parmi les « faits particulièrement inquiétants », soulignés par Phil Robertson, directeur pour l’Asie de HRW, restent les disparitions inexpliquées de Sombath Somphone en décembre 2012 et de l’écologiste Sompawn Khantisouk, porté disparu depuis sa convocation au poste de police en janvier 2007. Sur ces points, comme sur toutes les questions touchant les droits de l’homme, « les autorités laotiennes défient la communauté internationale en refusant de répondre à ses inquiétudes légitimes concernant les nombreuses disparitions inexpliquées et autres abus qui se multiplient dans le pays ».

Le Laos sera pour la seconde fois sur la sellette lors de l’examen périodique universel (EPU) (1) qui se tiendra en octobre prochain devant le Conseil des droits de l’homme des Nations Unies à Genève. Selon l’ONU, le gouvernement laotien n’a pas respecté les engagements pris lors de la précédente session de l’EPU en 2010. Le pays devait, entre autres, ratifier les conventions internationales concernant les droits de l’homme, mettre fin aux restrictions concernant la liberté d’expression, d’association et de réunion, garantir la liberté de la presse et mettre en conformité sa législation du travail avec les standards de l’Organisation internationale du travail (OIT). Continue reading “Le gouvernement accusé de bafouer les droits de l’homme”

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HRW condemns Laos government’s gross rights violation

Asia Correspondent: 12 June 2104

Sombath Somphone
Laotian activist Sombath Somphone has been missing since 2012.

The Laos government routinely oppresses citizens, stifles basic human rights, and acts with impunity, Human Rights Watch said in a critique issued this week. The organization blasted the Southeast Asian country’s leaders for restricting “fundamental rights including freedom of speech, association, and assembly.” The critique concerns Laos’ failures to live up to recommendations issued in a 2010 Universal Periodic Review. The country is up for another review in October, and HRW believes the last UPR did not address critical areas, including “enforced disappearances; freedom of speech, association, and assembly; the treatment of detainees in drug detention centers; and labor rights.”

The critique notes the tight control the state exerts over the media, and a culture of self-censorship. News programs that encourage debate and discussion of hot-button rights issues are at risk of being shut down, and activists live with the real threat of harm and kidnapping.

HRW emphasized the country’s policy of enforced disappearance, particularly the high-profile case of Sombath Somphone, an activist who has been missing since 2012. Continue reading “HRW condemns Laos government’s gross rights violation”

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人權觀察組織：寮國人權無進展

中央社商情網: 10 六月 2014

（中央社記者林憬屏曼谷2014年6月10日專電）人權觀察組織今天指出，寮國政府無法解決系統性的人權問題，包括嚴重限制基本自由、缺乏勞工權、未起訴就拘禁吸毒嫌犯，公民社會領袖頌巴斯失蹤至今仍令外界關注。

頌巴斯（Sombath Somphone）2012年12月在永珍被警方攔阻後失蹤至今，另一名環保人士宋包（Sompawn Khantisouk）2007年向警方報告後也失蹤。

人權觀察組織（Human Right Watch）亞洲副主任羅伯森（Phil Robertson）透過聲明指出，頌巴斯被強制失蹤，寮國當局以漠視抗拒國際社會對此案的關注，有關各國的政府不應坐視。

聯合國人權理事會今年10月將對寮國進行第2次的「全球定期審議」，檢視人權狀況。

人權觀察組織指出，寮國政府在2010年第1次全球定期審議上作出的承諾，一直無法作出具體改變，寮國應該批准國際人權公約，終止對言論、集會、結社、媒體的限制，寮國的勞工法仍無法達到國際標準。

人權觀察組織表示，寮國政府應該調查並終止毒品拘禁中心濫權的情況，改由有適當醫療、自發性、社區為主的方式，對毒品依賴進行治療。

羅伯森說，寮國政府無法容忍人民持有異議，以傷害人權的法律與長期拘禁避免任何人挑戰它的權力，寮國人民害怕政府，因為他們知道官員幾乎可以不受懲罰。

人權觀察組織今天把寮國的人權紀錄評論提交給聯合國，評論中指控寮國政府無法解決系統性的人權問題。

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EU, Laos Hold Working Group on Human Rights, Governance

RTT News: 21 May 2014

The European Union and Laos have held the fifth round of their annual Working Group Human Rights and Governance meet in Brussels, a statement issued by the 28-member European bloc said Wednesday. The EU delegation was led by Anette Mandler, acting Director for Human Rights and Democracy in the European External Action Services. The Lao delegation was led by Phoukhong Sisoulath, Director General, Department of Treaties and Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Lao PDR Representative to the AICHR, Secretary-General to the Lao National Steering Committee on Human Rights. “It provided an opportunity to express concerns about the implementation of international standards in Laos and in the EU. It also allowed for a constructive exchange of experience about how to translate such standards into domestic practice,” the statement said.

The two sides reviewed recent developments in human rights, including issues such as freedom of expression, assembly and association, death penalty as well as civil society and human rights defenders. Continue reading “EU, Laos Hold Working Group on Human Rights, Governance”

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Laos: Crony scheme in control of press and civil society

Index on Censorship: 12 May 2014

By Helen Clark

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The Laotian president, Choummaly Sayasone, made a five day official visit to France in October 2013 — the first such visit in 60 years. (Photo: Serge Mouraret / Demotix)

When travellers and writers talk about Laos, they mention how peaceful it is, and how Buddhist. The people, says Lonely Planet, are some of the most chilled out in the world. People forget, as they rarely do with Vietnam or China, that it is still a communist state.

The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) has absolute control over the press and civil society. Professor Martin Stuart-Fox, a Laos expert with the University of Queensland, has written widely on the country’s history and government and has said that the party is little more than a crony scheme, with many of those in power now descended from the old Lao aristocracy. It is necessary to have a powerful patron, almost always in the party or closely connected to it, for success. Information is difficult to get hold of and even local journalists, who often have close ties to the government, complain publicly, if respectfully, about the impenetrability of government departments.

Freedom House writes: “Press freedom in Laos remains highly restricted. Despite advances in telecommunications infrastructure, government control of all print and broadcast news prevents the development of a vibrant, independent press.”

These media restrictions are part of a wider pattern of suppression of information, lack of transparency in business dealings, prevention of protests and cultural and religious oversight by the government and party.

However the most noticeable event of the past 18 months has been the disappearance of Sombath Somphone. At the end of 2012 the Lao development expert went missing and many of his colleagues quietly believe the government may be responsible. Little but the bare facts have been written in the local, state-owned press. Continue reading “Laos: Crony scheme in control of press and civil society”

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Wife of missing Laos activist appeals for help in US

Zee News: 30 April 2014

The wife of a missing Laotian activist appealed Tuesday for US assistance in finding him, warning his case has had a chilling effect on civil society in the communist nation.

Sombath Somphone, a US-educated agriculture expert who ran one of Laos’ most prominent development organizations, disappeared in December 2012 as he was driving home. Closed-circuit footage released by the family showed he was taken away at a police post.

His wife, Ng Shui-Meng, said she was meeting with White House and other US officials to urge the United States to keep pressing Laos to investigate. Since his disappearance, she said that non-governmental groups have scaled back activities or encountered greater impediments from authorities.

“It’s clear that civil society space has narrowed,” Ng told reporters in Washington.

Ng said that Sombath had always been careful to seek government authorization for his work so as to avoid controversy. She said she did not wish to challenge the Laotian government’s assertion that authorities were not involved in his disappearance.

“For me, I am not interested as to who has taken Sombath. I am only interested in getting Sombath back,” Ng said. Continue reading “Wife of missing Laos activist appeals for help in US”

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Vợ một nhà hoạt động người Lào kêu gọi Mỹ giúp đỡ tìm chồng mất tích

Radio France Internationale: 30 Tháng Tư 2014

Đức Tâm

Sombath-magsaysay-small
Nhà hoạt động nhân quyền Sombath Somphone (DR)

Hôm qua, 29/04/2014, vợ một nhà hoạt động xã hội người Lào đã kêu gọi chính quyền Mỹ giúp đỡ tìm chồng bị mất tích và bà cảnh báo trường hợp của chồng bà sẽ gây ra những tác động tiêu cực đối với sự phát triển xã hội dân sự tại Lào.

Ông Sombath Somphone là chuyên gia đào tạo nông nghiệp của Mỹ, phụ trách một tổ chức phi chính phủ hoạt động trong lĩnh vực phát triển tại Lào, đã mất tích từ tháng 12 năm 2012, khi trên đường trở về nhà. Theo các thông tin mà gia đình cung cấp, thì có thể ông đã bị bắt tại một trạm cảnh sát.

Vợ ông, bà Ng Shui-Meng, cho biết là đã gặp đại diện của Nhà Trắng và các quan chức Mỹ khác, để kêu gọi Hoa Kỳ gây sức ép với chính phủ Lào tiến hành điều tra về vụ này.

Bà Shui-Meng nói với các nhà báo, tại Washington, là kể từ khi chồng bà mất tích, các tổ chức phi chính phủ đã giảm bớt các hoạt động hoặc chính quyền tìm cách gây cản trở cho các hoạt động của họ tại Lào.
Continue reading “Vợ một nhà hoạt động người Lào kêu gọi Mỹ giúp đỡ tìm chồng mất tích”

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寮國異議人士失蹤500天 妻子要求真相

中央廣播電臺: 30 四月 2014

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寮國著名的民權異議人士薩馮內(Sombath Somphone)(AFP)

寮國著名的民權異議人士薩馮內(Sombath Somphone)失蹤已經500天，他的妻子29日在華盛頓表示，至今完全沒有任何訊息，不知道薩馮內到底發生了什麼事。

薩馮內最後一次露面是在2012年12月15日。根據監控錄影顯示，員警在首都永珍一個檢查哨攔住了薩馮內的座車。幾分鐘之後，一群身份不明的人強迫薩馮內坐上另外一輛車，隨後開走。

監控錄影顯示，薩馮內是在員警知情的情況下被帶走。不少人更認為，寮國政府是此事件的同謀。

雖然寮國安全部門否認參與此事，但薩馮內的失蹤已在一黨專政的寮國產生恐嚇作用。

薩馮內新加坡籍的妻子正在美國訪問，呼籲歐巴馬政府和國會對寮國施加壓力，以早日找到薩馮內。

薩馮內曾因引導年輕人參與發展計畫，在2005年獲得有亞洲諾貝爾和平獎之稱的麥格塞塞獎(Magsaysay Award)。但在媒體全由國家控制的寮國，薩馮內獲獎的消息遭到封鎖。

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Missing Lao Civil Society Leader’s Wife Urges Action on His Case

Radio Free Asia: 29 April 2014

Sombath's wife Ng Shui Meng speaking in Washington, April 29, 2014. (RFA)
Sombath’s wife Ng Shui Meng speaking in Washington, April 29, 2014. (RFA)

Five hundred days after Laos civil society leader Sombath Somphone went missing at a police checkpoint, his wife called on the United States Tuesday to press the authorities in the Southeast Asian state for answers over his disappearance.

Ng Shui Meng, Sombath’s Singapore-born wife who is in Washington to highlight her husband’s case, said she hopes in meetings with congressional and White House staffers to “ask for whatever support they can give” to get to the bottom of the issue.

“I believe that Laos wants good relations with the U.S.,” Ng told reporters at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, calling on U.S. leaders to raise Sombath’s case at regional summits.

“A statement from [U.S. President Barack] Obama or from [Secretary of State] John Kerry when they attend critical meetings, ASEAN meetings … would be very good,” Ng said, referring to future gatherings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to which Laos belongs.

“I’m not sure what more can be done,” Ng said. Continue reading “Missing Lao Civil Society Leader’s Wife Urges Action on His Case”