“Before the
disappearance of Sombath, there was some optimism that civil society could be a force for change in Laos. Since his disappearance, such hopes have been virtually extinguished, since most people are now too scared to do anything that might rile the regime,”
Martin Steward-Fox in Laos: Reform or Revolution, The Diplomat, 28 September 2016
Briefing paper prepared by Civil Rights Defenders (CRD)
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR) has participated in the first two rounds of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of its human rights records, but its compliance and engagement with other UN human rights mechanisms has been very limited, despite its treaty obligations and UPR commitments. This low level of cooperation is particularly worrying given the lack of meaningful access to domestic remedies for human rights violations, which continue to take place with impunity.
Human Rights Treaties
Laos is state party to seven core international human rights treaties (and two optional protocols): (1)
Continue reading “What are…Laos’ International Human Rights Obligations & Commitments?”
Channel News Asia: 16 September 2016
Sombath Somphone’s high-profile disappearance in 2012 came into focus again during the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane. Although world leaders shied away from public mention of the Laotian civil society leader, his other half Ng Shui Meng vows to keep searching for her husband until her “dying day”.
For a moment, just one, Ng Shui Meng’s tough facade cracked as she appeared to contemplate giving up what has been an arduous four-year slog to locate her missing husband Sombath Somphone.
“You always break down. You always try and make sense of things. All kinds of thoughts come through your mind, like ‘Why don’t you jump off a cliff? Why do you bother to wake up?’” said the Singapore-born, Laos-based woman.
It was a departure from the otherwise calm, measured manner of the 69-year-old PhD-holder in sociology, who met with Channel NewsAsia in a muggy shophouse along Chanthabouly District in Vientiane. Continue reading “Singaporean wife of missing Laos man: ‘Time can never heal a wound like this’”
USA Today: 11 September 2016
The last time Ng Shui Meng saw her husband, he was driving his beloved vintage American jeep.
That was a December evening almost four years ago, after Sombath Somphone was stopped by traffic police. He never arrived home for dinner.
The disappearance of Sombath, 64, a prominent Lao activist who focused on rural development and reducing poverty, is a persistent reminder of human rights abuses by the communist government here. Continue reading “Mystery surrounds disappearance of Laos man after traffic stop”
CNN: 08 September 2016
In 1975, 14-year-old Barack Obama and 23-year-old Sombath Somphone were both living in Oahu, the future US president starting high school and the Lao exchange student on his way toward a bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaii.
Forty-one years later, their paths converged again, in a way. Obama this week became the first sitting US president to visit Laos. Sombath, meanwhile, has vanished — stopped on a street in this sleepy Mekong outpost in 2012, stuffed into a pick-up truck, and never heard from again. Continue reading “For disappeared man’s wife, Obama trip yields little”
Honolulu Star Advisor: 06 September 2016
A top aide of President Barack Obama said he will meet with the wife of a missing Laotian activist and East-West Center graduate, whose case has been repeatedly highlighted by human rights groups as an example of authoritarian excesses of Laos’ one-party Communist government.
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters today he will meet with Shui Meng Ng on Thursday while Obama is visiting Laos. The president arrived on Monday to attend a regional summit.
Human rights activists were hoping that Obama would speak about Ng’s husband, Sombath Somphone, who was picked up apparently by security forces on Dec. 15, 2012. He has not been seen since.
Obama has not mentioned him so far in his public remarks, but Rhodes said that “we care very deeply about her case and her husband, and we believe she deserves to know what happened to her husband.” Continue reading “Obama aide to meet with wife of missing UH-educated Laotian activist”
Bangkok Post: 07 September 2016
As world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, the heads of state of Asean countries, as well as the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, gather in Laos, they should ask their hosts: “Where is Sombath?”
My husband, Sombath Somphone, a leading community development advocate, “disappeared” in Laos on Dec 15, 2012.
Even though nearly four years have passed since he was last seen on closed-circuit television footage being driven away from a police checkpoint in Vientiane, the Lao government has continued to stonewall any queries as to his whereabouts and simply maintain “the state is not involved and the police are still investigating”. Continue reading “Asean summit must address Vientiane’s shortcomings”
Pertemuan ASEAN Harus Mengangkat Kasus Hilangnya Pemimpin Sombath Somphone, Penyangkalan Terhadap Kebebasan
BANGKOK, 31 Agustus 2016 – Pada malam pertemuan tahunan pimpinan negara ASEAN di Vientiane, kelompok-kelompok advokasi dan HAM memberikan seruan kepada Pemerintah Laos untuk menangani kasus pelanggaran HAM yang meluas di negara Laos, termasuk kasus penghilangan paksa dan penahanan yang sewenang-wenang. Para pemimpin negara yang hadir memiliki kesempatan unik untuk mengangkat kepedulian mereka terhadap pelanggaran HAM selama pertemuan tersebut di Vientiane dari tanggal 6 sampai 8 September. Mereka harus menekan pemerintah Laos untuk menghentikan pelanggaran HAM yang secara konsisten telah meletakkan Laos pada posisi terendah dalam indeks HAM dan pembangunan yang diukur berdasarkan hak asasi warga negara, kebebasan pres, demokrasi, kebebasan beragama, dan transparansi ekonomi.
Pada konferensi pers yang diadakan oleh The Sombath Initiative di Foreign Correspondents Club, Bangkok, Thailand, kelompok-kelompok tersebut mempublikasikan satu set dokumen terkait dengan penghilangan paksa pemimpin masyarakat sipil, Sombath Somphone, pembatasan demokrasi dan HAM oleh pemerintah Laos, kurangnya kebebasan berpendapat, kegagalan pemerintah dalam menjalankan kewajiban HAM, dan dampaknya pada bantuan dan investasi asing.
. Continue reading “Menyelesaikan Permasalahan Pelanggaran HAM di Laos”
Human Rights Foundation: 06 September 2016
Human Rights Foundation (HRF) urges President Barack Obama to demand a renewed investigation into the disappearance of civil society leader Sombath Somphone during his visit to Laos to attend the U.S.-ASEAN Summit. The first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos, President Obama arrived in Vientiane on Tuesday morning and met with Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachit. On August 25, HRF, along with 44 organizations and individuals, addressed a letter to President Obama asking that he pressure the government of Laos to investigate into Sombath’s disappearance and create a safe public domain for non-profit organizations and independent media. Sombath was abducted from a police checkpoint on December 15, 2012. Family members were later allowed access to CCTV footage that showed Sombath being abducted, but the government of Laos has maintained its lack of involvement in the abduction. 
Continue reading “HRF to President Obama: Inquire into Disappearance of Activist in Laos”
Amnesty International: 06 September 2016
Nestled in the Mekong region, with mighty China to its north, is landlocked Laos. Famed for its sedate surroundings, and tragically the country where the U.S. dropped more than 260 million bombs during its war in Indochina, it rarely receives the attention received by its more prominent neighbours.
This week, Barack Obama will become the first U.S. President to ever visit the country for the ASEAN summit. In advance of the visit, US officials have spoken of an emerging partnership on development between the two countries, which focuses on health, nutrition and basic education.
As visitors frequently note, the pace of life is slow in Laos, remarkably so. But beneath the tranquil surface that President Obama will encounter, there lurk endemic human rights problems. Continue reading “The questions Laos doesn’t want to answer”
