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Lao Activist Missing 500 Days, Wife Seeks Answers

ABC News: 29 April 2014

Five hundred days after Laos’ most prominent civil rights advocate went missing at a traffic police checkpoint in the capital Vientiane, his wife said Tuesday she remains completely in the dark about what happened to him.

Sombath Somphone’s disappearance was recorded on closed circuit television. The footage shows the activist being escorted by two men to a pickup truck and driven away.

But Laos has released scant information, and Sombath’s disappearance has sent a chilling message to civil society in the one-party state.

His Singapore-born wife, Ng Shui-Meng, is visiting Washington to urge the Obama administration and Congress to press the Lao government to resolve the case which she said has hurt the image of the Southeast Asian nation where she’s lived for more than 30 years. Continue reading “Lao Activist Missing 500 Days, Wife Seeks Answers”

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AICHR can do more to protect Asean citizens

The Nation: 28 April 2014

Kavi Chongkittavorn

The fate of Laotian civil society activist Sombath Somphone will serve as a test case on whether the dictum of a people-oriented Asean community, expounded recently by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, or people-centred community advocated by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, is genuine and sincere. Since December 2012, the whereabouts of Sombath, a Magsaysay Award winner are unknown.

Sombath’s wife, Dr Ng Shui Meng, has been working relentlessly to push for a full investigation by the Laotian government into his disappearance. Asean-based civil society groups have also continuously appealed to Vientiane to put more effort into the case, which occurred in front of a police checkpoint near the capital, where he was last seen. So far, very little information has been revealed by the authorities.

At a recent meeting in Bangkok, Asean parliamentarians praised Singapore for its efforts to urge the Lao government to expedite their inquiry into Sombath’s disappearance and resolve the case as soon as possible. They also called for other Asean members to take a firm and common stand on the issue. Continue reading “AICHR can do more to protect Asean citizens”

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Kidnapping In Laos Affects Civil Society

The Eugene Weekly: 17 April 2014

By Camilla Mortensen

Sombath Somphone is “one of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s most respected civil society figures,” according  to a December 2013 press statement from Secretary of State John Kerry on the one year anniversary of Sombath’s disappearance. Sombath was kidnapped from a police checkpoint in Laos and has not been heard from since. Sombath’s wife, Ng Shui-Meng, will be speaking about her husband’s disappearance and the challenges to free speech and human rights in Laos and in the rest of Southeast Asia while in Eugene on Monday, April 21.

“Laos has taken steps in recent years to become a responsible partner in the community of nations,” Kerry writes. “Sombath’s abduction threatens to undermine those efforts.”

Ng Shui-Meng says that while some have called Sombath the “Nelson Mandela of Laos,” her husband was never involved in politics. He worked in nonviolence and consensus building, she says, and always worked with the approval of government officials. Sombath established the Participatory Development Training Center in Laos, which works to train young people and local government officials in community-based development. Continue reading “Kidnapping In Laos Affects Civil Society”

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"Where is Sombath Somphone?" asks his wife prior to Oregon visit

The Oregonian: 16 April 2014

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In this Sept. 16, 2005 photo given to Associated Press by Sombath Somphone family, Lao leading civil rights activist Sombath Somphone, right, with his wife Shui-Meng poses for a photograph during their holiday trip in Bali, Indonesia. (Courtesy of the family of Sombath Somphone)

By Mike Francis

It’s been 16 months, and Ng Shui-Meng wants to make sure the world remembers that her husband was taken off a public street in Laos and hasn’t been seen since.

Sombath Somphone was a lifelong activist for the poor and disenfranchised of Laos. He worked throughout his adult life on their behalf, advocating for their education, empowerment and happiness. (See his part in the “Happy Laos” video below.)

He was, his wife says, resolutely apolitical. He sought to build consensus, acting as a bridge between the governed of Laos and their governors. On his last major project before he was the victim of what Amnesty International calls an “enforced disappearance,” he co-chaired a key committee for the Asia-Europe Peoples’ Forum with Laos’ minister of foreign affairs.

Yet he evidently troubled some people. Continue reading “"Where is Sombath Somphone?" asks his wife prior to Oregon visit”

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Abe's 'values diplomacy' fails to address human rights issue in Laos

The Asahi Shimbun: 25 March 2014

Hideki Wakabayashi, Secretary General, Amnesty International, Japan

On Dec. 15, 2012, in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, 62-year-old citizen activist Sombath Somphone was stopped by police at a checkpoint and taken away by unidentified abductors.

The kidnapping was recorded on video, but the Laotian authorities denied any involvement in the incident. Despite pleas from the international community, the authorities today still have not taken any concrete measures to solve the case, and there are even suspicions of a cover-up.

Members of Amnesty International Japan and Human Rights Watch protest at the Laos Embassy in Tokyo in December 2013. (Hideki Yakabayashi)
Members of Amnesty International Japan and Human Rights Watch protest at the Laos Embassy in Tokyo in December 2013. (Hideki Yakabayashi)

Sombath had worked on poverty issues in Laos and had been long involved in advising farmers and in environmental education. For this meritorious service, in 2005 he was the recipient of the Magsaysay Award, an honor that is called the Nobel Prize of Asia.

On Dec. 15, 2013, exactly one year after the kidnapping, Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong of Laos, who was visiting Japan for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit Meeting, held a top-level meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Continue reading “Abe's 'values diplomacy' fails to address human rights issue in Laos”

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Vanished: Laotian development worker still missing after more than a year

The Guardian: 11 March 2014

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Watch the interview with Sombath’s wife at the Guardian website

Sombath Somphone, a Laotian development worker, was last seen on 15 December, 2012, being bundled into a car at a police checkpoint in Vientiane. He has not been heard from since.

Global campaigns, family pleas and government investigations have found no hint of why Somphone disappeared. Advocacy groups believe he was the victim of an enforced disappearance – that he was detained by the government or government agents, who then deny the action and keep the detainee hidden.

Somphone’s position as a civil society leader working in the field of agricultural development has been raised as a possible factor in his disappearance, but his wife, Singaporean national and former Unicef worker Shui Meng Ng, dismisses any suggestion he worked against the government.

Shui Meng has recently completed a speaking tour of Australian universities trying to dispel inaccuracies which she told Guardian Australia may be endangering Somphone – if he is still being held somewhere.

“There were allegations about him taking a very prominent opposition position to the development agenda of the Laos government,” she told Guardian Australia.

“There were also some allegations that Sombath is not even Laotian, that he’s actually carrying an American passport. I felt it was important to make public and correct many of those misinformations about Sombath, who he is, as well as the type of work he’s doing and his vision for Laos.” Continue reading “Vanished: Laotian development worker still missing after more than a year”

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Missing Lao activist's wife speaks out, appeals for information

Radio Australia: (07 March 2014)

The wife of abducted Lao rights advocate Sombath Somphone has called on Australia to help maintain the pressure on Laos to do more to resolve the case.

Since Mr Sombath disappeared 15 months ago, Ng Shui Meng has campaigned tirelessly to find out what happened.

Her husband’s disappearance from a police post in central Vientiane generated an international outcry by donor governments, rights groups and NGOs for his safe return.

The Lao government says it is continujng to pursue the case, but little progress has been reported.

Ng Shui Meng has also appealed for anyone in Laos with information to come forward.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Ng Shui Meng, wife of Sombath Somphone, retired academic and former UNICEF representative to East Timor

NG: The reason why I’ve accepted to speak on Sombath is that over the last 15 months, there were a lot of reports on Sombath, some of them were not very accurate in depicting the kind of person he is or the kind of work he has done. So I want to put right what Sombath’s work is and the kind of person he is basically to clarify things to the public out there. As to going back to Laos, I have not done anything wrong and assume the government would understand that my speaking about Sombath’s disappearance is basically about a fact. He has disappeared, the government has acknowledged that he has disappeared and the government has also promised to conduct an investigation around his disappearance and to try and find him. Continue reading “Missing Lao activist's wife speaks out, appeals for information”

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ASEAN human rights talks face major challenges

Jakarta Post: 04 March 2014

Emerlynne Gil, Bangkok

When the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) meets in Jakarta this week, its urgent priority must be improving how it communicates and engages with civil society in Southeast Asia and responds to human rights issues.

ASEAN civil society, representing more than 500 million people from the region, has signaled its eagerness to harness the potential of the AICHR. But the Commission has been widely criticized as being “toothless” and lacking a clear mandate since its creation in 2009.

Human rights issues among its member states need to be prioritized and addressed.

While some member states, including Indonesia and the Philippines have shown a degree of willingness to address them, others have not been so forthcoming. Continue reading “ASEAN human rights talks face major challenges”

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Disappeared Lao Civil Society Leader’s Mother ‘Still Waiting for Him to Return'

Radio Free Asia: 27 February 2014

Ng Shui Meng at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in Bangkok, Dec. 11, 2023. RFA
Ng Shui Meng at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in Bangkok, Dec. 11, 2023. RFA

A year and two months since prominent Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone went missing in Vientiane, his family is still puzzled over why he disappeared and his ailing mother is still waiting for him to come home, his wife said Thursday.

“His mother is now 86 years old and ill,” Sombath’s wife Ng Shui Meng told RFA’s Lao Service Wednesday in Australia, where she spoke to students at the University of Sydney about his case.

“She is crying and waiting for her son return,” she said.

“I am asking Lao government and whoever is merciful to bring him home safely; that is my hope.”

The 61-year-old NGO leader has been missing since Dec. 15, 2012, when he was stopped in his vehicle at a police checkpoint in Vientiane. He was then transferred into another vehicle, according to police surveillance video, and no one has seen him since.

Lao officials say they are investigating the case but have offered little information on his whereabouts, prompting human rights groups to suspect that he may have been abducted by government-linked groups. Continue reading “Disappeared Lao Civil Society Leader’s Mother ‘Still Waiting for Him to Return'”