Month: August 2016

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Sombath, Humanity & Nature at ASCS/APF

Dili-APF-2016-03“Humanity & Nature,” a workshop on traditional and alternative perspectives about humanity’s relationship with the environment was held on August 4th at the ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) in Dili, Timor Leste.

Topics discussed included Sombath’s work and philosophy, holistic education, gross national happiness, traditional wisdom, and agro-ecology. A video from an earlier workshop on these issues was also shared.

Government-appointed CSO representatives from the Lao PDR also briefly attended, apparently to monitor who was participating. Others stood for a picture of solidarity just after the event.

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Limited Freedom of Expression

ACSC-APF 2016 LogoThe ACSC/APF 2016 will not take place in Lao PDR, due to concerns over possible restrictions and limited freedom of expression on key issues of concerns of ASEAN which are inconsistent with the agreed ACSC/APF’s modality of engagement.

From the CSO Statement of the 2016 ACSC/APF recently held in Timor Leste. Ironically, the forum’s Regional Steering Committee imposed their own restrictions and limitations by releasing the statement before participants at the forum could voice their concerns on its contents.

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Urgent Action: Three Lao Activists Held Incommunicado

Amnesty International: 03 August 2016

Amnesty InternationalThree Lao human rights activists have been arrested on 5 and 22 March in circumstances that may constitute enforced disappearances. They remain in incommunicado detention since they appeared on national television on 25 May in a report that confirmed that they had been arrested for threatening national security through social media postings.

Soukan Chaithad (32), Lodkham Thammavong (30), and Somphone Phimmasone (29) are Lao nationals who had been working in Thailand until February 2016, when they returned to Laos to obtain documentation to continue working there. The three had participated in a peaceful demonstration of around 30 people outside the Lao embassy in Bangkok on 2 December 2015, Lao national day, and had posted a number of messages on Facebook criticising the Laos government for corruption, deforestation and human rights violations. Continue reading “Urgent Action: Three Lao Activists Held Incommunicado”

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Workshop on Sombath at ACSC/APF

ACSC-APF-2016-Humanity & NatureLao civil society representatives made it clear that Sombath’s name, among other issues, would not be welcome at a ACSC/APF event held in Laos. For this and other reasons, the event was moved to Timor-Leste.

“Humanity and Nature” will be held from 16:15-18:15 PM on August 4th in room two of the Alola Foundation.

Speakers include:

  • Ng Shui Meng, Spouse of Sombath Somphone
  • Genito Santana, Kdadalak Sulimutuk Instititute
  • Cheek Sophea, Focus on the Global South
  • Myrna Dominguez, Integrated Rural Development Foundation
  • Sam Zarifi, International Commission of Jurists
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Upcoming Asean forum must listen to Lao civil society

Bangkok Post: 02 August 2016

Sombath Somphone was disappeared at a police checkpoint near Vientiane more than three years ago, and the Laos government refuses to discuss his case. (File photo by Chanat Katanyu) 

The Asean Civil Society Conference/Asean Peoples’ Forum (ACSC/APF) which is to take place today in Dili, Timor-Leste appears to be clouded by uncertainty and fears.

Concerns have emerged as there have been no indications that the three-day meeting, as stated during preparatory events in March and May, can provide a safe space for Laos’ progressive and independent civil society organisations (CSOs) — a space where they can offer critiques, raise concerns and voice dissenting opinions on various issues, including human rights violations, forced disappearances and the negative impact of infrastructure development projects on ordinary peoples’ lives.

By safe, I mean that even in the presence of government-sponsored NGO representatives, the voices of members of independent CSOs shall be heard. That they shall be allowed to organise and conduct their own panels and don’t feel threatened or intimidated. Continue reading “Upcoming Asean forum must listen to Lao civil society”

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L’activiste Sombath Somphone, spectre gênant pour le régime laotien

Libération: 2 août 2016

Sombath-Magsaysay
Sombath Somphone en 2005. Il avait fondé l’ONG Padetc.

Le défenseur des petits paysans a été enlevé fin 2012 dans des conditions troubles. Au Timor oriental, une conférence citoyenne se penche sur sa disparition.

Il est l’un des disparus les plus célèbres d’Asie du Sud-Est. Et pour les autorités du Laos, Sombath Somphone est devenu un nom à taire, sinon une vie à occulter. Car dans la petite république démocratique populaire coincée entre le Vietnam et la Thaïlande et dans l’orbite de la très gourmande Chine, ce fondateur d’une ONG de soutien aux paysans, 64 ans, est un proscrit. Son histoire, emblématique de la situation des droits de l’homme en Asie, doit être évoquée à la conférence sur la société civile de l’Association des nations de l’Asie du Sud-Est (Asean) qui se tient à Dili, au Timor oriental, jusqu’au 5 août. Continue reading “L’activiste Sombath Somphone, spectre gênant pour le régime laotien”