Tag: ASEAN

Posted on

Lao government spurns ASEAN civil society

In Laos, which will chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year, the government refused to allow a meeting of Southeast Asian civil society groups on the sideline of an upcoming ASEAN summit, and has provided no new information on the whereabouts of Sombath Somphone. He was probably Laos’s best-known civil society activist when he vanished in 2012, shortly after being seen at a police checkpoint in Vientiane.

From The Year in Democracy in Southeast Asia in The Diplomat: 11 December 2015

Posted on

ONG instan a Laos a investigar “seriamente” la desaparición de un activista

W Radio: 11 Septiembre 2015

Bangkok, 11 sep (EFE).- Un grupo de organizaciones defensoras de los derechos humanos instaron al gobierno de Laos a investigar “de manera seria” la desaparición del activista local Sombath Somphone, cuando hoy se cumplen los 1.000 de su desaparición.

“En Laos ha crecido un miedo entre la sociedad civil de tan solo pronunciar el nombre de Sombath, su desaparición o hasta su trabajo (…) Si esto le pasó ha él, un reconocido activista pro derechos humanos, le puede pasar a cualquiera”, señaló Shui Meng Ng, mujer del activista, en un acto en el Club de Corresponsales de Bangkok.

El 15 de diciembre de 2012, Sombath conducía por una de las avenidas más transitadas de la capital laosiana cuando la Policía le dio el alto.

En las últimas imágenes registradas del activista, captadas por cámaras de seguridad en la zona, se aprecia como Sombath baja del vehículo para hablar con las autoridades fuera de escena.

Acto seguido un desconocido se lleva el vehículo del activista y un grupo de personas monta de manera precipitada en otro coche, aunque los investigadores dicen no poder determinar si Sombath está entre ellas. Continue reading “ONG instan a Laos a investigar “seriamente” la desaparición de un activista”

Posted on

ASEAN People’s Forum

Logo-Speak Out-Points to PonderACSC/APF forums held each year are vibrant examples of diverse ASEAN civil society groups and individuals bringing their voice and concerns to the region’s leaders and lawmakers.

In 2014, the gathering was held in Yangon, Myanmar, with some 3000 participants. Three plenaries and 35 panels included nearly 200 speakers.

Only one of these was from the Lao PDR.

The 2015 forum took place April 20-24 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With over 1,400 participants, this event involved 69 workshops with some 250 panellists sharing their thoughts and analysis.

Again, just one of these was a Lao citizen.

Yet many believe the Lao PDR is suitable to host the next event in 2016.

Posted on

Civil groups urge end to forced disappearance in ASEAN

Jakarta Post: 03 September 2015

As ASEAN moves toward a single economic community, civil society groups have urged regional governments not to tolerate human rights violations and to address past abuses, including cases of forced disappearance.

In its efforts to become a democratic region, ASEAN still faces unresolved cases of involuntary disappearances. According to the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), some 800 cases of forced disappearances in ASEAN member countries have been reported to the UN.

The Philippines has the most cases filed at 625, followed by Indonesia with 163, Thailand with 71, Laos and Myanmar with two each and Cambodia with one case.

“The figures represent the tip of the iceberg vis-a-vis the actual number of cases, since families and witnesses are fearful of reprisals from state authorities,” AFAD said in a recent statement. Continue reading “Civil groups urge end to forced disappearance in ASEAN”

Posted on

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”

Posted on

Civil Society speaks on Sombath

ACSC-APF2.2.3 States and non-state actors continue to commit violations with impunity, including police brutality, torture and enforced disappearances, against civil society activists. For example, the lack of immediate and transparent investigation into the case of Sombath Somphone[3] by ASEAN governments, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), or any other human rights mechanisms in the region. Human rights defenders continue to be persecuted under oppressive laws, including laws against activities as “injuring the national unity”, “propaganda against the State“, “abusing democratic freedoms” and sedition laws, which deny the people safe and constructive political space.

[3] Sombath Somphone, an internationally acclaimed community development worker and prominent member of Lao civil society, went missing on 15 December 2012, when police stopped his vehicle at a checkpoint in the capital. He was then transferred to another vehicle, according to police surveillance video, and has not been heard from since. Reports say that the Lao government continues to deny responsibility for his disappearance.

From Reclaiming the ASEAN Community for the People, the CSO Statement for the 2015 ACSC/APF.

For Para. 2.2.3, on page 2 the sentence containing the individual name of Sombath Somphone and the related footnote must be completely deleted because in any statement we just point out the fact and suggest recommendation and for avoiding unwilling or detrimental consequences, we never put in the name of individual nor we name of specific country. Furthermore, in LAO PDR few people know Sombath Somphone. He is known as a simple Lao citizen and as a development worker, but not prominent as pretended in the footnote. He has established a none registered Association. He does not elected as leader of Lao CSOs. The facts are there.

…This is the determinate voice of Lao people concerning ASEAN CSOs STATEMENT. Once again the People of LAO PDR hope that the sentence of multi-Party and pluralistic system and the other sentence with the individual name of Sombath Somphone, the word LGBTIQ and also all the footnotes shall be deleted or erased from the final Statement prior submission to the high level ASEAN LEADERS during the interface event.

From a resolution allegedly resulting from a meeting of Lao CSOs held on 10-11 March, 2015.

Posted on

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”

Posted on

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”

Posted on

'The Hypocrisy of Asean'

SEA Globe-23 March 2015…the Somphone case is an excellent example of Asean’s failure to take a stance on human rights. Instead of criticising the Lao government for not investigating the disappearance, she said, Asean “hides” behind its policy of ‘non-intervention’ in national issues, even though it has previously intervened in internal matters.

…Calling this “the hypocrisy of Asean,” Naidu added that the regional body refuses to intervene on human rights but has no qualms about the region’s “capitalist elites” influencing the national economic policies of member states.

Wathshlah Naidu, in “An Uncomfortable Question,” by  David Hutt, in The Southeast Asian Globe.

Posted on

Reclaiming the ASEAN Community for the People: ACSC/APF 2015 – CSO Statement

ACSC-APFStates and non-state actors continue to commit violations with impunity, including police brutality, torture and enforced disappearances, against civil society activists. For example, the lack of immediate and transparent investigation into the case of Sombath Somphone by ASEAN governments, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), or any other human rights mechanisms in the region. Human rights defenders continue to be persecuted under oppressive laws, including laws against activities as “injuring the national unity”, “propaganda against the State“, “abusing democratic freedoms” and sedition laws, which deny the people safe and constructive political space.

From the  CSO Statement for the 2015 ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum to be held 21-24 April in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.