Year: 2016

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How about a little financial pressure?

SB-prayerThey have disappeared him. His name is Sombath Somphone, and he was — I’m not sure what the right tense is — a civil-society leader. They snatched him out of his car…

I’m thinking, “Can’t some government turn the screws on Laos — the financial screws — until they cough this man up? Should it be that hard? It doesn’t require an invasion or the breaking of diplomatic relations or anything, does it? How about a little financial pressure, à la the Magnitsky Act? Anything!”

Jay Nordlinger, in Trolls, Wales, whales, Nobelists, heroes, heroines … National Review, 02 June 2016

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Vì sao Lào vẫn thẳng tay trấn áp về nhân quyền ?

RFI: 09 tháng sou 2016  By Arnaud Dubus

RFI-June 2016

Ba thanh niên Lào đã bị chính quyền Viêng Chăn bắt giữ và đã bị giam giữ bí mật vì tội chỉ trích chế độ trên mạng Facebook. Cả ba người đã phải “thú nhận lỗi lầm” của họ trên đài truyền hình Nhà nước hồi cuối tháng 5/2016 rồi. Theo thông tín viên Arnaud Dubus tại Bangkok, sự cố này không phải là chưa từng có và điều đó cho thấy là chính phủ Lào không chút mảy may lo ngại trước các áp lực của cộng đồng quốc tế trong việc tôn trọng tự do ngôn luận.

RFI: Thân chào anh Dubus, anh có thể cho chúng tôi rõ về vụ bắt giữ ba thanh niên Lào này ?

Arnaud Dubus: Cả ba thanh niên, gồm một cô gái, tên Lodkham Thammavong, 30 tuổi, bạn trai của cô – Somphone Phimmasone, 29 tuổi và một người khác, tên Soukan Chaithad, 32 tuổi cùng làm việc tại Bangkok, như hàng ngàn thanh niên Lào khác. Thammavong từng làm giúp việc nhà ; Somphone – làm bảo vệ nhà máy, còn Soukan, người giao hàng.  Continue reading “Vì sao Lào vẫn thẳng tay trấn áp về nhân quyền ?”

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Rights group demands Laos release detained activists

Turkish Weekly: 07 June 2016, By Max Constant

Rights groups have called on Laos to immediately release three young Laotians arrested and detained since March on charges of criticizing the country’s communist government.

The trio is accused of participating in a demonstration last December in front of the Laos embassy in Thailand, and criticizing the “regime” on Facebook.

“The government’s systematic repression of all forms of peaceful dissent underscores the immense gap between Vientiane’s promises to the international community and its abusive behavior at home,” Karim Lahidji, president of the Paris-based International Federation of human rights, said Monday in a joint statement with the Laos movement for human rights.

“Laos authorities must immediately and unconditionally release three individuals who have been arbitrarily arrested and detained incommunicado for criticizing the government,” he added.

Lodkham Thammavong, a 30-year-old domestic worker, Somphone Phimmasone, a 29-year-old security guard, and delivery man Soukan Chaithad, 33, were shown May 27 on a Laos state security TV channel in what appeared to be a pre-recorded broadcast admitting that they recognized their mistake of “getting involved with a group that protested against the country’s policies”. Continue reading “Rights group demands Laos release detained activists”

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Laos cracks down on social media critics

Al Jazeera: 06 June 2016, By Preeti Jha

In a new strike on freedom of expression, Laos broadcasts a stark warning to social media users.

Al Jazeera-June-2016
Soukan Chaithad and Somphone Phimmasone on Laos national TV [Preeti Jha/Al Jazeera]
Vientiane, Laos – With their heads hung low, three Laos nationals quietly apologise on state TV for betraying the country through anti-government Facebook posts, a striking parade of apparent confessions in the communist regime’s latest crackdown on dissent.

The ominous broadcast in late May was the first news of the trio for families desperate to know their whereabouts since they were arrested in March.

“From now on I will behave well, change my attitude and stop all activities that betray the nation,” said 29-year-old Somphone Phimmasone on Lao National TV.

He sat between the two co-accused: his girlfriend, Lodkham Thammavong, 30, and another man, 32-year-old Soukan Chaithad, each wearing the trademark royal blue uniforms of prisoners.

Flanked by a row of straight-backed police officers, beneath a banner proclaiming “peace, independence, unity, prosperity” in Laos, Soukan stressed their confessions weren’t forced by the authorities. Continue reading “Laos cracks down on social media critics”

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Three government critics arbitrarily arrested, detained incommunicado

FIDH/LMHR: 06 June 2016
FIDH-LMHR-June 2016

(Paris) Lao authorities must immediately and unconditionally release three individuals who have been arbitrarily arrested and detained incommunicado for criticizing the government, FIDH and its member organization Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR) said today.

“The government’s systematic repression of all forms of peaceful dissent underscores the immense gap between Vientiane’s promises to the international community and its abusive behavior at home. It’s time for foreign governments and donors to raise their voices about human rights violations in Laos and demand Vientiane change its ways.” Karim Lahidji, FIDH President

Continue reading “Three government critics arbitrarily arrested, detained incommunicado”

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Is International Aid Complicit in the Repression in Laos?

LMHR logoThe Lao Movement for Human Rights has the honor of inviting you to a conference on:

”Is International assistance complicit in the repression in Laos?”

Tuesday, June 14 at 15:00
Regional Council of Ile-de-France, room 100
33 rue Barbet-de-Jouy, 75007 Paris

Speakers:

  • Anne-Sophie Gindroz, author of the book ”Laos: the Silent Repression”
  • Richard Werly, France correspondent of the Swiss newspaper ‘Le Temps’
  • Vanida Thephsouvanh, President of the Lao Movement for Human Rights

For safety reasons, events taking place in the regional council hall, require prior registration.

An ID will be requested at the entrance.

 

Le Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l’Homme

A l’honneur de vous inviter à la conférence sur le thème

‘’L’aide internationale est-elle complice de la répression au Laos?’’

Mardi 14 juin à 15h00

Conseil régional d’Île-de-France, salle 100

33 rue Barbet-de-Jouy, 75007 Paris

Intervenants :

  • Anne-Sophie Gindroz, Auteur du livre ‘’ Laos : la répression silencieuse’’
  • Richard Werly, correspondant en France du journal suisse  ‘’Le Temps’’
  • Vanida Thephsouvanh, Présidente du Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l’Homme

Pour des raisons de sécurité, les manifestations qui se déroulent dans les salles du Conseil régional sont sur inscription obligatoire.  

Une pièce d’identité vous sera demandée à l’entrée.

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Humanity and Nature: Traditional, Cultural & Alternative Perspectives

Humanity & Nature Publication CoverAn economy is often defined as “the wealth and resources of a country or region”. Few would contest that the greatest wealth and most fundamental resource for humanity is the earth on which we live; yet most do not see our environment as an economy in itself.  Conversely, nearly all contemporary economic and development models see the natural economy as a resource to be exploited (or at best managed) to serve the needs of the monetized economy.

While this perspective is certainly predominant, it is neither intrinsic nor universal. It is also increasingly proving to be unsustainable.

Focus on the Global South and The Sombath Initiative, in cooperation with the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, held the Sombath Symposium on February 15-17, 2016, to present and discuss knowledge and practice drawn from different cultures and traditions that can serve as an alternative foundation to the predominant growth-driven development model.

This publication, “Humanity and Nature: Traditional, Cultural and Alternative Perspectives”, compiles essays discussing these perspectives, as well as syntheses of the different parts of the symposium.  The Sombath Initiative and Focus on the Global South hope that this publication will serve as resource material, as well as a guide document for the ongoing and future work on alternative perspectives on humanity’s relationship with nature.

A short video of the symposium and videos of each presentation are available to view at The Sombath Initiative YouTube channel.

For more information about The Sombath Initiative and Sombath Somphone, please visit www.sombath.org

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Three Lao Nationals Are Latest Victims of Forced Disappearances

Radio Free Asia: 16 May 2016

Two Lao nationals have been arrested upon returning home from Thailand where they were working, while a third has vanished, because they criticized the Lao government while abroad, their friends and relatives said.

Somphone Phimmasone, 29, his girlfriend Lod Thammavong, 30, and Soukane Chaithad, 32, returned to Laos in February to renew their passports, the sources said.

Police arrested Somphone and Lod at her home at Navatai village of Nongbok district in central Laos’ Khammouane province on March 5, said a relative of the couple, who declined to be named.

“At first, the police told us they had been arrested for possession of drugs, but two weeks later the policeman in charge of the jail informed us that they had been arrested for political campaigning,” he said. “[He] told us not to get involved if we didn’t want to get into trouble.”

Somphone and Lod were being held in the province’s Khamkhikai jail as of April, but later the police told their families that they had transferred the pair to the capital Vientiane for detention, the relative said. Continue reading “Three Lao Nationals Are Latest Victims of Forced Disappearances”

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Dear Sombath…from Galileo

Dear Sombath,

GalileoI began meeting you only after they said you were gone, a victim of enforced disappearance.

I first met you in an email sent by my colleague at Focus on the Global South, Joseph Purugganan exactly one year ago, when I first joined the organization as a budding activist. He mentioned of the dramatic rise in the killing of environmentalists all over the world and the need to programmatically address the issue of extrajudicial killings and criminalization of dissent, as part of the Sombath Initiative and Focus’ broader Power and Democracy program. I was intrigued by your life so I began digging deeper and learning more about your ideas and ideals.

We are similar, in a way, in our preference of working in the field with the people rather than writing about it.

I met you for the second time, in Malaysia, in the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF). People were talking about you. People spoke of how you pioneered the use of Participatory Rural Appraisal in Laos and how you helped the Lao people to come up with solutions by themselves. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Galileo”