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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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Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (3)

My dearest Sombath

SB-MOI write with great sadness to let you know that your beloved mother passed away this morning. Her health started failing about 6 months ago. Although she was very weak, she held on, pining to see you one last time.

Your mother is one of the kindest and gentlest souls I have ever known; and it is so clear to me that she and you had a special bond. I often see how your faces light up whenever you see each other. As her first born, you definitely had a special spot in her heart; and you, as her eldest son, you saw it your duty to lighten her burden as a parent as much as you could. You often told me how hard your mother had to work on the farm, as well as take care of all of you. You spoke of her with such love and respect, telling me often about how she never complained even though life was tough. Looking back, you must have inherited many of her traits – her kindness, gentleness, patience, and how to work hard.

Sombath, your mother has to be the best mother-in-law one can ever wish for. She was a woman of few words, and it seemed that she did not even like talking very much. I have never, in all these years, heard her speak ill of anybody. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (3)”

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AICHR Must Act

afad-logoThe Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) calls on the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) to ACT NOW against increasing human rights violations in the region.

In Lao, the government remains calloused to calls from the international community to surface Sombath Somphone, a 2005 Ramon Magsaysay awardee for Community Leadership who disappeared on 15 December 2012, exactly 18 months today. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic signed the Convention Against Enforced Disappearance (CED) on 29 September 2008. It also ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on 25 September 2009.

Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, in a call to AICHR issued on 15 June 2014.

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Le gouvernement accusé de bafouer les droits de l’homme

Société des Missions étrangères de Paris: 12 Juin 2014

sombath-somphone
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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Laos: No Progress on Rights

Human Rights Watch: 10 June 2012

Urgently End Disappearances, Systematic Suppression of Basic Freedoms

sombath-somphone
Sombath Somphone, a social activist, was last seen in Vientiane, the capital, in December 2012. There is strong evidence that he was forcibly disappeared by Laotian authorities.

The government of Laos has failed to address the country’s systemic human rights problems, Human Rights Watch said today in a critique of Lao’s human rights record submitted to the United Nations. Laos will appear for the country’s second Universal Periodic Review in October 2014 at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Human Rights Watch highlighted several human rights issues that deserve international attention, including severe restrictions on fundamental liberties, absence of labor rights, and detention of suspected drug users without charge in abusive drug centers. Of particular concern is the forced disappearance of civil society leader Sombath Somphone, in Vientiane in December 2012 after he was stopped by the police, and of an environmentalist, Sompawn Khantisouk, who has been missing since he was ordered to report to a police station in January 2007.

“The Lao authorities are defying international concerns by ignoring calls to respond to the enforced disappearance of activist Sombath Somphone,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “Concerned governments need to drive home the point that they will not sit complacently by as disappearances and other abuses multiply in Laos.” Continue reading “Laos: No Progress on Rights”

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Dear Sombath…from Flip de Haan

Dear Sombath,

The letter I write to you was provoked by an initiative on Facebook. I think this is much in your spirit since I remember you speaking enthusiastically about the use of Internet (Google maps) by young students together with village elders in projects in the rural area. I still remember your inspiring presentation on a VSO workshop in Vang Vien in 2011. Your very personal approach appealed to me and I remember your, for me unexpected, reaction to some of my critical questions. We were the only two people in the room with some grey hairs and you received my comments with the remark that you were very happy with a more critical note since you were critical at heart yourself, but the only way to get things done was to remain optimistic.

I have tried to keep that lesson in mind since I heard of your disappearance, but I must say it becomes more and more difficult as time passes. Presently I work as an agricultural advisor in the Prisons of Malawi and I hope to be able to contribute a little to the situation of people in custody here in Africa. Let me end with pronouncing the hope that you will we a free man soon and assuring you that many people keep up the spirit of your attitude toward development for the poor since you inspired them.

Yours Sincerely,

Flip de Haan,

Zomba, Malawi