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Varias ONGs piden a Laos un mayor compromiso con los derechos humanos

El Diario: 31 Agosto 2016

Varias ONGs pidieron hoy a Laos un mayor compromiso con los derechos humanos e instaron a los países donantes que aborden el tema en la Cumbre de la Asociación de Naciones del Sudeste Asiático (ASEAN) que se celebra en Vientián la próxima semana con la asistencia del presidente de EEUU, Barack Obama.

Entre las vulneraciones, las organizaciones garantes de derechos humanos destacaron las desapariciones forzadas de activistas, la confiscación de tierras, la discriminación de las minorías, el control de los medios de comunicación, y la nula libertad de prensa y las detenciones arbitrarias.

En diciembre del 2012, el activista laosiano Sombath Somphone fue secuestrado en una de las principales avenidas de la capital de Laos tras recibir el alto en un control de tráfico, según se puede apreciar en imágenes registradas por cámaras de seguridad que logró la mujer del activista, Shui Meng. Continue reading “Varias ONGs piden a Laos un mayor compromiso con los derechos humanos”

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Human rights under scrutiny in Laos ahead of ASEAN meet

Anadolu Agency: 31 August 2016

BANGKOK, THAILAND - AUGUST 31: An activist holds a protest in front of the Laos Embassy in Bangkok calling on the government to stop Human Rights violations.
BANGKOK, THAILAND – AUGUST 31: An activist holds a protest in front of the Laos Embassy in Bangkok calling on the government to stop Human Rights violations.

One week before Laos hosts a summit of Southeast Asian leaders, international rights groups are demanding that Thailand’s sleepy northern neighbor improve its human rights situation.

But while advocates have underscored the state of human rights in the country, the wife of a prominent civil society leader who disappeared after being arrested in Vientiane in December 2012 had more personal concerns Wednesday. Continue reading “Human rights under scrutiny in Laos ahead of ASEAN meet”

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Repression in Laos Goes Under the Spotlight

TheNewsLens: 29 August 2016

TheNewsLens-2016Human rights and democracy advocates are using next week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Vientiane, Laos, to draw attention to the country’s authoritarian regime.

Charles Santiago is a Malaysian Member of Parliament and Chairperson of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).

In an op-ed published in the Bangkok Post, Santiago slams Laos’ communist government for being a “regional leader” in repression. Continue reading “Repression in Laos Goes Under the Spotlight”

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Laos leads region, but only in repression

Bangkok Post: 27 August 2016, By Charles Santiago

Lao Embassy in Bangkok-2013
In this photo taken in December 2012, activists hold a large banner featuring a poster of the missing civil society leader Sombath Somphone during a demonstation in Bangkok. Chanat Katanyu

On Sept 6, heads of state from around the world will gather in Vientiane, Laos, for the year’s only Asean Summit. The high-profile meeting should be a chance for the Lao government, as hosts, to showcase its regional leadership potential. But don’t expect a spectacle of economic, social or environmental innovation. The only thing on display will be the communist government’s unflinching commitment to authoritarianism at all costs — something that neighbouring governments seem ever eager to emulate.

Despite being the titular head of the regional bloc in 2016, Laos leads the region in few respects. Its economic output, in both overall and per capita terms, remains among the lowest in Asean, and its presence on the world stage is minimal.

But there is one particular area in which the Lao government has been a consistent regional leader: repression. Continue reading “Laos leads region, but only in repression”

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Lao Government Muted Representatives to ASEAN People’s Forum

Radio Free Asia: 09 August 2016

Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith (C) delivers the opening speech at the planary session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) 49th annual ministerial meeting in Vientiane, July 24, 2016.
Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith (C) delivers the opening speech at the planary session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) 49th annual ministerial meeting in Vientiane, July 24, 2016.

Laos’ representatives attending a meeting of civil society organizations that is held each year during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit said little about human rights issues inside their own authoritarian country because they were selected by the government in Vientiane, sources tell RFA.

While the ASEAN People’s Forum is designed to highlight human-rights issues in the 10 countries that make up ASEAN, the Lao government made sure that rights criticisms of that country were kept to a minimum by hand-picking the Lao civil society representatives attending the forum, according to the sources. Continue reading “Lao Government Muted Representatives to ASEAN People’s Forum”

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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”

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ASEAN’s shame: Where is Sombath Somphone?

ASEAN Today: 26 July 2016

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Photo: The Sombath Initiative/Facebook

By Sarah Caroline Bell

The sun had set on a warm Saturday evening in Vientiane. For most, December 15 2012 was just another weekend, but for Sombath Somphone, it marked the last time he was seen.

Shortly after 6pm, security camera footage captured the police stopping his vehicle a short distance away from the Australian Embassy Recreation Club. It is hard to see, but the footage shows Sombath being escorted into the Thadeua Police Post. His jeep is taken away by a motorcyclist, a truck appears outside the police post and Sombath is taken away. That was his last reported sighting.

In 2015, fresh new evidence was unearthed by the family which shows Sombath’s jeep being driven south. The government of Laos has stalled at every possible opportunity to investigate the disappearance and deny any knowledge of it. How can that be possible when his last contact was with multiple members of authority; the police? Continue reading “ASEAN’s shame: Where is Sombath Somphone?”

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Radio silence

The Economist: 23 July 2016

As Barack Obama prepares for his first visit to Laos, its civil society struggles

Economist-2016
Sombath is Missing

A HIGHLIGHT of Ounkeo Souksavanh’s years as a radio host in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, came in late 2011 when he hosted an episode of Wao Kao (“News Talk”) on land disputes in the south of the country. Near the end of the programme, Mr Ounkeo says, a listener called in and criticised the son of a Politburo member for allegedly grabbing land from farmers for a property-development project. In mid-2012 the Lao government appeared to show sympathy with such complaints: it said it would suspend the granting of permits to take over farmland for rubber plantations, a big cause of farmers’ gripes.

But there was no on-air celebration. The government had shut down the radio programme, one of the country’s only public outlets for grievance. In December 2012 Sombath Somphone, a campaigner for farmers’ rights who had publicly challenged the granting of rural land-use concessions to businesses, was stopped at a police post and put into the back of a pickup truck. He has not been heard from since. His supporters put up notices about his disappearance, like the one pictured on the next page. Officials told them to stop. Mr Ounkeo felt that he was in danger, too. He eventually left for America. He now works there for Radio Free Asia, a station funded by America’s Congress. Continue reading “Radio silence”

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Disappearance Casts a Pall Over Laos as ASEAN Conference Looms

Radio Free Asia: 07 July 2016

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A 2005 photo of Sombath Somphone in the Philippines. AFP/Somphone family

Sombath Somphone’s shadow continues to hang over Laos, with the rural development expert’s disappearance in 2012 still haunting the country as it prepares to host the annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Sombath’s abduction remains unsolved even though there is video footage of Sombath’s Jeep being stopped at a police checkpoint that also shows Sombath being herded into a white truck and taken away. In the video, a man dressed in white returns and drives off in his Jeep.

Though police promised to investigate, Lao authorities soon backtracked saying they could no longer confirm whether the man in the video footage was actually Sombath.

And that’s the way the case has remained despite international calls to solve it. Continue reading “Disappearance Casts a Pall Over Laos as ASEAN Conference Looms”