Month: October 2013

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France: discrète visite du président du Laos, Choummaly Sayasone

Radio France Internationale: 23 Octobre 2013

Les présidents français, François Hollande et laotien, Choummaly Sayasone sur le perron de l’Elysée le 22 octobre 2013. AFP/Bertrand Guay

Le président du Laos Choummaly Sayasone est en visite officielle en France. Cette visite est historique. C’est la première fois qu’un chef d’Etat laotien se rend en France tout juste 60 ans après la reconnaissance de l’indépendance du Laos. Plusieurs ONG saisissent l’occasion pour dénoncer la situation des droits de l’homme dans ce pays et attirer l’attention sur Sombath Somphone, un activiste célèbre au Laos qui a disparu depuis bientôt un an.

Cette visite historique passe presque inaperçue. Pourtant Choummaly Sayasone séjournera cinq jours en France. Il a déjà rencontré le président Hollande ce mardi 22 octobre et ce mercredi il est reçu par le Medef, le patronnat français, mais la presse n’a été conviée à aucun de ces rendez-vous. Une manière probablement d’écarter toute question gênante et ne pas embarrasser l’hôte lors de cette visite destinée entre autres à développer la coopération et les échanges économiques et commerciaux.

La disparition de Sombath Somphone

S’il est un dossier qui dérange c’est bien celui de Sombath Somphone, célèbre activiste reconnu pour son combat en faveur des pauvres et contre la corruption, qui n’a pas donné de signe de vie depuis une nuit de décembre 2012. Les autorités nient toute implication dans cette affaire, pourtant des images issues de caméras de surveillance montrent l’activiste en train de monter dans un véhicule de police.

Depuis plus rien, aucune nouvelle. Mais les ONG, ses amis et sa famille ne baissent pas les bras. Un énième appel a été lancé pour enquêter sur la disparition de Sombath Somphone, dont le cas vient s’ajouter à une longue liste de violations de droits humains au Laos.

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Försvunnen människorättsaktivist i Laos

Sverige Radio: (23 October 2013)

(Note: This radio program contains both English and Swedish. Click on the blue link above, and then on the blue arrow above the picture on the webpage.)

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Den försvunna aktivisten Sombath Somphone. Foto: Michael Töpffer/Sveriges Radio

Den kommunistiska enpartistaten Laos i Sydostasien var länge ett mottagarland för svenskt bistånd. Under många år verkade den politiska utvecklingen, om än väldigt sakta, gå åt rätt håll, men en händelse i december förra året har skapat en oro i landet. Nu är Laos i det internationella blickfånget för övergrepp mot mänskliga rättigheter. Reportage av Michael Töpffer. Hör Lisbet Bostrand som för Sidas räkning arbetat på svenska ambassaden i Vientiane.

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FIDH exige investigar la desaparición en diciembre de un activista de Laos

Hoy: 21 October 2013

París, 21 oct (EFE) La Federación Internacional de Derechos Humanos (FIDH) aprovechó hoy el encuentro que van a mantener este martes el presidente de Francia, François Hollande, con su homólogo de Laos, Choummaly Sayasone, para reclamar que se investigue el paradero de un activista desaparecido el pasado 15 de diciembre.

Sombath Somphone, de 62 años, fue visto por última vez en Vientiane, y aunque las autoridades de Laos niegan toda implicación en el asunto, existen imágenes de una cámara de videovigilancia, según la FIDH, en las que se ve cómo fue arrestado por la policía.

“Las autoridades de Laos tienen el deber absoluto de investigar sobre la desaparición de Somphone, conocido por su combate en favor de los más desfavorecidos y contra la corrupción”, dijo la ONG en un comunicado, que se sirve de la cobertura que va a tener la visita para llamar su atención sobre el caso.

Para ese organismo, “su desaparición forzada, en la que la policía está indudablemente implicada, deja a sus familiares y personas cercanas en el sufrimiento y la incertidumbre”, y a la sociedad laosiana en su conjunto, “ya aterrorizada”, “todavía más vulnerable”.

Hollande y Sayasone, según la agenda presidencial, está previsto que se reúnan mañana en París a las 10.00 hora local (08.00 GMT) en el Palacio del Elíseo, sede de la presidencia gala.

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Community Learning

This film, created in 2012 by PADETC, shows the impact of Sombath’s development concepts in a process of participatory problem solving in a village in Pek District of Xieng Kuang Province. The process is led by high school student volunteers involved in the ‘Youth Development for Drug Prevention in School’ project of the Ministry of Education and Sports. Students collected information about conditions in their communities using Sombath’s sustainable development framework with the four balanced pillars of social-cultural preservation, environmental harmony, spiritual well-being, and economic development. During the process, villagers agreed the issue of land boundaries was a priority problem that urgently needed to be solved. The film shows the process of problem solving, beginning from the root causes that are determined by the people themselves, and that brings hope to the community. You will also feel the warmth of Sombath’s heart towards his own country and listening to the people’s voice.

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Where is Sombath Somphone?

The Malay Mail: 10 October 2013

By Dr. Lim Teck Ghee

Today, Thursday, 10 Oct 2013, marks 300 days of the disappearance of Sombath Somphone, one of Lao PDR’s most prominent activists. Sombath is a long-time and good friend. In the late 1970s, he and I were part of a small group of human rights activists and social critics from the Southeast Asian region who met regularly to discuss the situation of our countries (at that time Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam and Singapore) and to see how we could support each other in work to advance peace and development in our part of the world.

The outcome of our efforts was a pioneering regional civil society organisation called the Asian Cultural Forum on Development or ACFOD which was set up in 1977. ACFOD’s mission can be seen in the summary below of the organisation’s alternative vision of development which contrasts strongly with the mainstream development thinking prevalent in the region.

ACFOD Mission Statement

  • Advocate Holistic Development and to Counter Destructive/ Dehumanised Development.
  • Promote Peace, Harmony, Human Rights and Gender Equality and the Conscientisation of People.
  • Promote Participatory Democracy and Sustainable Development.
  • Respect for Minority Rights and Cultures.
  • Foster Humanist and Moral Values as a Core Part of Development.
  • Provide the Platform for Grassroots and People-to-People Exchange and Action.

Although we were a small regional grouping with limited resources and hardly any support from our national governments, ACFOD’s member organisations, which included the Consumers Association of Penang of which I was the honorary secretary at that time, pushed hard for this alternative vision of development in our national and regional work.

Sombath’s work in PADTC

Among our group of 15 hard core members, perhaps no one was more committed to an alternative and decentralised vision of development than Sombath. He founded the Participatory Development Training Centre in Laos in 1997 and became a respected voice in his country against authoritarianism and anti-democratic development, winning the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership – one of the most prestigious awards for human development in Asia. Continue reading “Where is Sombath Somphone?”

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The European Parliament


…whereas Sombath Somphone, a prominent figure in social development and youth education, disappeared on 15 December 2012 in the capital city of Vientiane…

…whereas there are violations of fundamental freedoms, particularly press and media freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, academic freedom and the rights of minorities in Laos…

The European Parliament

…Expresses its deep concern about the disappearance, safety and well-being of Sombath Somphone…

…Is concerned about the tardiness and lack of transparency of the investigation into the disappearance of Sombath Somphone; calls on the Lao authorities to undertake prompt, transparent and thorough investigations, in accordance with their obligations under international human rights law, and to ensure the immediate and safe return of Sombath Somphone to his family…

…Asks the Lao authorities to reaffirm publicly the legality and the legitimacy of the work for sustainable development and social justice, in order to counter the intimidation provoked by disappearances such as of Sombath Somphone…

…Calls on the EU to put Laos among its priorities for the 22nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council…

…Calls on the Government of Laos to respect the rights of expression and association, the rights of minorities and protect the right to freedom of religion or belief ending all restrictions on the exercise of this right, as recommended at the UN Universal Periodic Review on 21 September 2010…

From Resolution of European Parliament on 06 February 2013

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Lonely Vigil for Missing Laotian Activist

The Sentinel: 02 October 2013

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Sombath and Shui Meng

Government suspected of complicity in development expert’s disappearance

For Ng Shui-Meng, the past 10 months have been lonely, frustrating and frightening. She has been engaged in a vain struggle to discover what happened to her husband, Sombath Somphone, who almost certainly was kidnapped and murdered, possibly with the complicity of members of the Laotian government.

Shui-Meng refuses to give up, hoping that the 61-year-old Sombath, a popular and internationally known development expert who disappeared last Dec. 6 as he was on his way home to dinner, may still be alive. There are suspicions that Sombath had aroused the antagonism of major land interests over his attempts to protect the interests of the largely rural peasant population.

An estimated 40 percent of the country’s arable lands is now in the hands of foreign interests, studies say. However, his wife says Sombath has never been confrontational and had worked closely with the government to alleviate poverty.

Sombath, recipient of the 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Award and many other prestigious honors, simply vanished as he and Shui-Meng were driving home in separate cars in the Laotian capital of Vientiane. The disappearance has stirred criticism from the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and a wide range of human rights organizations for the government’s apparent refusal to come clean on the case. Continue reading “Lonely Vigil for Missing Laotian Activist”

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The Case of Sombath Somphone

New Mandala: 02 October 2013

By Kearrin Sims

Sombath-Somphone-at-workThis October marks the 4th anniversary of the founding of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission of Human Rights (AICHR). Since AICHR was formed ASEAN has had a mixed track record with human rights. Although there have been some impressive political reforms across the region, particularly in Burma, some states appear to have grown increasingly confident in their ability to commit human rights abuses against their citizens. Nowhere has this been more so than in Laos.

Often presented as an idyllic Buddhist nation, the poor track record of human rights abuses in Laos has largely slipped under the radar of the international media. All this suddenly changed, however, following the enforced disappearance of Mr. Sombath Somphone in late 2012. A recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership – one of the most prestigious awards for human development in Asia, and the founder of the Participatory Development Training Centre (PADETC) in Laos, Sombath Somphone (61) amongst the most widely respected development workers in East Asia. In October 2012 Sombath play a key role in coordinating the Asia-Europe People’s Forum (APF), the largest civil society event ever held in Laos. Continue reading “The Case of Sombath Somphone”