April 2013 - Sombath Somphone | ສົມບັດ ສົມພອນ

By Jonah Fisher

It is a case that a decent detective would crack in a week. Sombath Somphone’s abduction was caught on camera and took place on a busy road at a police checkpoint.

Mr Sombath founded the PADETC organisation in Laos

But more than four months after Laos’ leading development worker disappeared, the authorities say they have no leads and yet need no outside help finding him.

It is little wonder that aid workers and diplomats in this small South East Asian nation are fearing the worst.

Mr Sombath’s wife Shui-meng Ng last saw her husband in the rear-view mirror of her car.

It was Saturday, 15 December 2012, and the couple were driving home in their respective vehicles along Thadeua Road, which runs parallel to the Mekong River.

The Mr Sombath, 62, had been doing some early evening exercise while his Singapore-born wife had attended a meeting in town.

With the day coming to a close, they met up at the small shop Ms Shui-meng runs and decided to head home in convoy.

Despite the absence of traffic, the cars lost contact with each other. When she got home, Ms Shui-meng waited for several hours before heading back out to look for her husband.

Having found no trace of him or his Jeep, she reported him missing the next morning. Continue reading “Fears grow for abducted Laos campaigner Sombath”

April 28, 2013July 28, 2015

การชุมนุมที่กรุงมะนิลาเพื่อกดดันอาเซียน

ข่าวไทยพีบีเอสเรื่องการชุมนุมที่กรุงมะนิลา ประเทศฟิลิปปินส์เพื่อเรียกร้องผู้นำอาเซียนให้ถือเรื่องการหายตัวไปของสมบัด สมพอนเป็นประเด็นการทำงานเร่งด่วน

คลิ๊กที่ภาพเพื่อชมวิดีโอบน YouTube

April 27, 2013July 28, 2015

Call for AICHR to Show Relevance

The Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy Task Force on ASEAN and Human Rights (SAPA TFAHR) has issued a plea to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AIHCR) to break its silence:

It is high time that AICHR responds to questions of its relevance for human rights in the region. Staying silent on Sombath’s disappearance is a convenient but short-sighted approach because human rights violations related to land, natural resources and the environment are likely to increase as the region embarks on a zealous pursuit of economic development and integration towards 2015. The AICHR must stress to individual ASEAN member states on the urgent need for an enabling environment and democratic space for all human rights defenders, including development workers and civil society organizations, to do their legitimate work without fear of reprisals.

The full statement can be read here.

April 27, 2013July 28, 2015

A Song for Sombath

Please watch this powerful performance of Nasaan Si Sombath? (Where is Sombath?).

The song is Awit Ng Naghahanap (Song of Searching) by Noel Cabangon. The interpretive dance by SAD.

The event was organised by Focus on the Global South, Asian Federation Against Enforced Disappearance (AFAD), Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) in Manila on 12th April

Click on the image to watch the video on YouTube

Please share this link widely : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNh5Lnusgl8

April 20, 2013July 29, 2015

Archbishop Tutu Speaks out for Sombath

On behalf of Archbishop Tutu’s office we confirm that Archbishop Tutu addressed a letter, dated 25 February 2013, to H.E. Mr Thongsing Thammavong, Prime Minister of Laos, and H.E. Mr. Choummaly Sayasone, Secretary General of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and President of the Lao PDR. The Archbishop’s office has received no acknowledgement of receipt of the letter.

The letter regarded the “disappearance” of human rights campaigner Mr Sombath Somphone, in Laos.

The Archbishop wrote that Mr Somphone’s commitment to poverty alleviation and sustainable development at home and in the region had been nothing short of inspirational. He had worked extensively with Buddhist monks and elders to set up youth meditation camps and this care for the spiritual core of the Laotian people had touched many in the region and beyond.

The Archbishop wrote that Mr Somphone’s participation and ability to speak freely at the Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) in Vientiane, last November, marked an enriching moment for free speech in Laos and allowed an inclusive conversation to take place between all levels of Laotian society.

“It is a tragedy that someone with such a deep love for his people could disappear,” the Archbishop wrote. Continue reading “Archbishop Tutu Speaks out for Sombath”

April 19, 2013July 28, 2015

A Congruence of Disappearances

The Straits Times: 18 April 2013

Mr Sombath Somphone, a 62-year-old award-winning Laos civil society activist, with his Singaporean wife Ng Shui Meng. Mr Sombath was driving his jeep near a busy intersection in Vientiane when he went missing on Dec 15, 2012.

By Nirmal Ghosh, Indochina Bureau Chief

BANGKOK – Mr Sombath Somphone, a Magsaysay Award winner for public service, was last spotted by the cold and unblinking eye of a CCTV camera on the evening of Dec 15 last year, getting into an unknown SUV on a street in Vientiane and being driven away.

Since his disappearance, the Lao government has said he was abducted, but denied that any security agency took him. This has been received with wide scepticism, and the Lao government continues to come under pressure at international forums.

Mr Sombath had only just retired as head of the Participatory Development Training Centre, Laos’ most prominent home-grown civil society organisation. He was a well-known figure in the international development community, and a mentor for countless young Laos.

In Vientiane itself, a curtain of silence has descended over his disappearance more than 100 days ago. His wife, Singaporean Ng Shui Meng, is physically and emotionally exhausted but still not contemplating leaving Laos, the couple’s home for over 30 years – any time soon.

“Sometimes I feel this has to be a dream, a nightmare. I stay because there is still some hope,” she says.

The 100-day anniversary, on March 15, of Mr Sombath’s disappearance roughly coincided with the ninth anniversary of the disappearance of Thai lawyer Somchai Neelepaijit in Bangkok on March 12, 2004. He has also not been found and, as in the case of Mr Sombath, there is no proof he is still alive. Continue reading “A Congruence of Disappearances”

April 17, 2013July 28, 2015

Magsaysay Award Foundation joins calls to ‘Surface Sombath’

PRESS RELEASE
April 17, 2013

Neon green paper with a face drawing and the text “Surface Sombath Somphone.”

This was the symbol adopted by civil society groups that participated in the cultural and solidarity event titled “Public Action to Call on the Philippines and the ASEAN: Surface Sombath Somphone and all Desaparecidos.” The gathering was held last April 12 in front of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs offices in Pasay, Metro Manila.

Sombath Somphone, 60, a community worker and green activist from Laos, is the 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Community Leadership. The event marked the 120^th day of his disappearance and protested the seeming inaction of the Laos government.

The participants also sought the Philippine government’s support in ensuring that Sombath’s case is included on the agenda of bilateral meetings of leaders of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Sombath went missing on December 15, 2012. He was last seen in Vientiane, Cambodia, where a CCTV footage showed police stopping his jeep as he drove on the way home. Two plainclothes men then hauled him onto another vehicle.

It has been four months, and there has since been no information on his whereabouts. The Laos authorities deny involvement.

Sombath’s wife, Ng Shui Meng, is concerned, especially since her husband suffers from prostate cancer. She has received no word on her husband’s fate, but has told media, “I believe he is still alive.”

Officers and staff of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF), led by Awardee Relations Manager Ma. Carmencita Toledo, joined the solidarity event. Toledo reiterated the support of the Magsaysay Award community and the call to the Lao government to act toward Sombath’s deliverance. Continue reading “Magsaysay Award Foundation joins calls to ‘Surface Sombath’”

April 17, 2013July 28, 2015

Somchai, Jonas, Sombath: Southeast Asia’s Missing Human Rights Warriors

The Diplomat: April 16, 2013

By Mong Palatino

Thai human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit went missing on March 12, 2004. Filipino activist Jonas Burgos was last seen on April 28, 2007. Lao development economist and educator Sombath Somphone disappeared on December 15, 2012.

The search for these missing activists has become a campaign for human rights promotion, not only in their respective countries but across Southeast Asia. Their names have become synonymous with the fight against enforced disappearances, kidnapping, torture, and other human rights atrocities, often carried out with apparent impunity.

At the time of his disappearance, then 53-year-old Somchai was handling cases in southern Thailand, a region ravaged by infighting between government troops and Muslim separatist rebels. Somchai was pursuing a case against police officers accused of torture when he mysteriously disappeared in Bangkok.

Jonas, the son of Philippine press freedom fighter Joe Burgos, was connected with a left-leaning peasant group when he was abducted by suspected state agents in a Quezon City shopping mall. There were witnesses who testified in the court that Jonas shouted ‘Aktibista ako!’ (I’m an activist!) while he was being dragged out of the mall.

Sombath is a popular NGO leader whose work with the Participatory Development Training Centre in Laos earned him the 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Award, known as Asia’s Nobel Prize, for community leadership. Sombath’s disappearance was captured on CCTV footage, which shows Sombath being stopped by police and then abducted by unidentified men. Sombath’s abduction is believed to be related to his advocacy for the protection of land rights for ordinary villagers. Continue reading “Somchai, Jonas, Sombath: Southeast Asia’s Missing Human Rights Warriors”

April 16, 2013July 29, 2015

Editorial: Missing Activist’s Family Deserves Help and Answers

The Nation: 16 April 2013

Lao social campaigner Sombath Somphone was allegedly abducted last December in Vientiane, but no one in authority wants to offer any clue to his whereabouts or fate

Since December 15 last year, when Lao social activist and Magsaysay Award winner Sombath Somphone went missing, his wife Ng Shui Meng has spent most of her time campaigning and working to ensure his safe return. It’s a daily struggle that so far has reaped no reward.

Sombath was last seen driving his jeep in Vientiane, where he was stopped at a police post and then driven away in a pickup truck by unidentified men.

Members of Sombath’s family, including his 85-year-old mother, are of course desperately concerned about his fate. His ageing and weak mother was still hoping to see her eldest son during Songkran, the traditional New Year festival also celebrated in Laos.

It is difficult for Shui Meng to explain to her mother-in-law why that Sombath appears to have been abducted, and why those in power are reluctant to help find him or offer any theory on his disappearance.

Born into a poor family in Ban Don Khio, central Khammouane province, Sombath spent most of his early life struggling with poverty, hunger and insecurity. He and his family had to seek refuge during the Indochina war in the 1960s. Like many others, Sombath was fortunate to get the opportunity to leave Laos and permanently settle in another country. However, he chose to return home and work for the better development of his country and people. Continue reading “Editorial: Missing Activist’s Family Deserves Help and Answers”

April 13, 2013July 28, 2015

The world is waiting for Sombath's return

If Lao officials think the issue of Sombath’s disappearance will go away, they are wrong.

Those were the words of Tuur Elzinga, a Dutch Senator who led the European Delegation to Vientiane last month. And there is plenty of evidence to support Tuur Elzinga’s statement at the website created to raise awareness of the disappearance of Sombath Somphone.

The website at https://sombath.org has now been viewed more than 100,000 times. Citizens from more than 140 countries have visited the site since it was launched in January this year, less than a month after Sombath was abducted outside a police post in Vientiane.

The site has attracted a strong interest from the Lao community at home and abroad, with approximately 25% of visitors living in Laos and another 25% in the United States. Other countries in the top 10 are: Thailand, Australia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and Switzerland.

The plight of the most prominent figure in Lao civil society has also attracted attention from dozens of other countries, from India to Iceland, Japan to Jamaica, and Vietnam to Venezuela.

The content of the site continues to expand and now has links to more than 100 news articles and statements of concern. Also on the rise is the number of subscribers, with more than 1,400 people currently receiving updates by email or through Facebook and Twitter.

One of the recent additions to the site was a Statement from John Kerry, US
Secretary of State:

Regrettably, the continuing, unexplained disappearance of Mr. Sombath, a widely respected and inspiring Lao citizen who has worked for the greater benefit of all of his countrymen, raises questions about the Lao government’s commitment to the rule of law and to engage responsibly with the world.

The world is waiting.