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July 20, 2014July 28, 2015

2 women share a wound that never heals, disappears

The Philippine Inquirer: 20 July 2014

By Tarra Quismundo

620x413x20_2women.jpg.pagespeed.ic.kbRhDgxs_O — TWO OF A KIND Edita Burgos and Ng Shui Meng cross paths in a global conference here against forced disappearances. JOAN BONDOC

They are two hearts missing a part, brought together by the same goal: That someday, no mother, wife, friend or family member would experience the same uncertainty and “torture” they continue to endure for losing a loved one.

Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, and Singaporean Ng Shui Meng, wife of disappeared Lao development worker, economist and Magsaysay laureate Sombath Somphone, met for the first time on Thursday in Manila, incidentally roommates for a four-day conference aimed at drumming up support for families of the world’s desaparecidos.

The moment seemed like a culmination, a fated crossing of paths between the two women who have made it their life’s mission to search for the missing, raise awareness about the families who miss them and call for global action against enforced disappearances.

“We were brought together. I do not believe in accidents or coincidences. I believe everything is providence. God puts you there because there’s something you can do and something good will come out of it. That’s how I look at it,” Burgos told the Inquirer.

Both were participating in an international conference on psychosocial support for families of the disappeared, an event mounted in Manila by the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances. The federation of regional human rights groups was founded in the Philippines in 1998.

“I have heard about that case and I have been praying for her …. When I came into the room, she was very gracious. I introduced myself, and then I saw her name and told her, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you right away,’” Burgos said, recounting her first meeting with Ng on Thursday morning at the Bayview Park Hotel Manila.

They were to stay in the same space together for the next four days. Continue reading “2 women share a wound that never heals, disappears”

July 19, 2014July 28, 2015

Stop enforced disappearances, says wife of Ramon Magsaysay awardee

The Manila Post: 17 July 2014

By Jaime R. Pilapil

Shui Meng Ng, wife of disappeared Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sombath Somphone of Laos, on Thursday urged the government to act on solving disappearances in the Philippines.

Ng was guest speaker at the Third Conference on Psychosocial Support Disappearances, Torture and Extra-judicial Execution held at Bayview Park Hotel in Manila.

Organized by Asian Federation Against Disappearances (AFAD), relatives of the disappeared, among them Editha Burgos, also attended the event. Burgos is the mother of Jonas who was forcibly taken by military agents on April 28, 2007. Jonas has since been missing.

Since martial law in 1972, records show that there were more than 2,000 disappearances, more than 1,000 torture victims and hundreds of killings, including the Maguindanao massacre in November 2009.

Sombath is a prominent civil society leader who received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2005.On December 15, 2012, Laotian police stopped his vehicle. His abduction was caught by CCTV. He has never been seen since.

Ng and the conference participants called on the Lao government to conduct a serious investigation and do its best to make sure that Sombath will be brought home safe. Continue reading “Stop enforced disappearances, says wife of Ramon Magsaysay awardee”

June 25, 2014July 28, 2015

Missing Sombath a test for ASEAN

Asian Currents: 12 June 2014

ASEAN’s weak response to the disappearance of Lao community worker Sombath Somphone raises questions about the strength of the institution’s commitment to human rights.

By Kearrin Sims

Nowhere in Asia has seen the formation of stronger regional partnerships than those within ASEAN. In 2015 the institution will attempt to undertake yet another step forward in its impressive history of growing regional connectivity through the beginning of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

Among other things, the AEC is expected to promote greater regional cooperation around human resource development; enhance consultation on macroeconomic and financial policies; increase infrastructure and communications connectivity; and see ASEAN become a single market and production base. How these arrangements will fit with ASEAN’s non-interference approach to diplomacy remains to be seen, although the region’s history suggests the two will likely find a means of accommodation.

Far more challenging, will be attempts to create an ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC), which is also planned to begin in 2015. Operating parallel to the AEC, the ASCC is designed to promote a spirit of cooperation and collective responsibility, to encourage respect for fundamental freedoms, and to advance social justice and human rights. While the AEC seems achievable, the realisation of the ASCC will face many more challenges. Continue reading “Missing Sombath a test for ASEAN”

June 20, 2014July 28, 2015

The Disappeared

The Globe: 18 June 2014

The whereabouts of renowned Lao development worker Sombath Somphone remain unknown and the case has become a cause célèbre. Southeast Asia Globe spoke to his wife, Shui Meng, about the man behind the media attention

By Kearrin Sims Illustration by Victor Blanco

Often depicted as an activist, Sombath Somphone is a Lao development worker who worked with communities in sustainable agriculture. A much-respected figure in Southeast Asia and beyond, he was awarded the 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. While driving home on 15 December 2012, Sombath was stopped at a police checkpoint and abducted. He has not been seen since.

How did growing up in a rural Lao village shape Sombath?

Sombath’s childhood in the village was not that different from many rural kids in Laos, although as the oldest child he did bear the responsibilities of the family more than his siblings. I think that sense of responsibility, of having to take care of the family, had a major impact on his life. He became very close to his mother and came to appreciate how great the burden of caring for the family is on women in Laos. Continue reading “The Disappeared”

June 17, 2014July 28, 2015

Wall of silence around activist's disappearance

The Nation: 17 June 2014

Phil Robertson

A year and a half later, where is Sombath Somphone? In Laos that simple question has been blocked by a wall of silence.

He was last seen driving home on December 15, 2012, in the capital, Vientiane, before he was forcibly disappeared. Government security video footage clearly shows that he was stopped at a police checkpoint, taken into the office, and then brought out and forced into another vehicle. Credible reports placed him later that night at a police station in Vientiane, and since then he has not been seen or heard from again.

Sombath Somphone is an internationally acclaimed civil society leader and 2005 Magsaysay Award winner who concentrated his life’s efforts on agricultural development in Laos. Hailing from a modest rural background, he possessed an acute understanding of rural poverty and the need to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability in ways that would positively impact the lives of Laos’ farming communities.

Yesterday marked a dark mid-term anniversary: exactly a year and a half since Sombath’s “disappearance”. Since then, the Laos government has repeatedly failed to conduct a serious investigation, much less push for accountability and provide answers. Offers by governments such as United States and others to provide technical assistance to the Lao authorities to analyse the video showing Sombath’s arrest have been repeatedly turned down. At one point, one of the investigating police officers publicly stated that the investigation had been halted, only to be contradicted by a more senior officer following international outcry. Continue reading “Wall of silence around activist's disappearance”

June 13, 2014July 28, 2015

Le gouvernement accusé de bafouer les droits de l’homme

Société des Missions étrangères de Paris: 12 Juin 2014

Un rapport présenté le 10 juin dernier aux Nations Unies dénonce les violations persistantes des droits de l’homme au Laos. Parmi les nombreux exemples cités par l’organisation Human Rights Watch, la disparition du militant Sombath Somphone a été qualifiée de « particulièrement inquiétante ».

Le Laos, loin d’avoir progressé dans le domaine des droits de l’homme, a encore reculé, uge dans un rapport très critique Human Rights Watch (HRW). Le gouvernement poursuit ses restrictions des libertés fondamentales d’une façon drastique, justifiant l’attention de la communauté internationale.

Parmi les « faits particulièrement inquiétants », soulignés par Phil Robertson, directeur pour l’Asie de HRW, restent les disparitions inexpliquées de Sombath Somphone en décembre 2012 et de l’écologiste Sompawn Khantisouk, porté disparu depuis sa convocation au poste de police en janvier 2007. Sur ces points, comme sur toutes les questions touchant les droits de l’homme, « les autorités laotiennes défient la communauté internationale en refusant de répondre à ses inquiétudes légitimes concernant les nombreuses disparitions inexpliquées et autres abus qui se multiplient dans le pays ».

Le Laos sera pour la seconde fois sur la sellette lors de l’examen périodique universel (EPU) (1) qui se tiendra en octobre prochain devant le Conseil des droits de l’homme des Nations Unies à Genève. Selon l’ONU, le gouvernement laotien n’a pas respecté les engagements pris lors de la précédente session de l’EPU en 2010. Le pays devait, entre autres, ratifier les conventions internationales concernant les droits de l’homme, mettre fin aux restrictions concernant la liberté d’expression, d’association et de réunion, garantir la liberté de la presse et mettre en conformité sa législation du travail avec les standards de l’Organisation internationale du travail (OIT). Continue reading “Le gouvernement accusé de bafouer les droits de l’homme”

June 12, 2014July 28, 2015

HRW condemns Laos government’s gross rights violation

Asia Correspondent: 12 June 2104

The Laos government routinely oppresses citizens, stifles basic human rights, and acts with impunity, Human Rights Watch said in a critique issued this week. The organization blasted the Southeast Asian country’s leaders for restricting “fundamental rights including freedom of speech, association, and assembly.” The critique concerns Laos’ failures to live up to recommendations issued in a 2010 Universal Periodic Review. The country is up for another review in October, and HRW believes the last UPR did not address critical areas, including “enforced disappearances; freedom of speech, association, and assembly; the treatment of detainees in drug detention centers; and labor rights.”

The critique notes the tight control the state exerts over the media, and a culture of self-censorship. News programs that encourage debate and discussion of hot-button rights issues are at risk of being shut down, and activists live with the real threat of harm and kidnapping.

HRW emphasized the country’s policy of enforced disappearance, particularly the high-profile case of Sombath Somphone, an activist who has been missing since 2012. Continue reading “HRW condemns Laos government’s gross rights violation”

June 11, 2014December 29, 2015

人權觀察組織：寮國人權無進展

中央社商情網: 10 六月 2014

（中央社記者林憬屏曼谷2014年6月10日專電）人權觀察組織今天指出，寮國政府無法解決系統性的人權問題，包括嚴重限制基本自由、缺乏勞工權、未起訴就拘禁吸毒嫌犯，公民社會領袖頌巴斯失蹤至今仍令外界關注。

頌巴斯（Sombath Somphone）2012年12月在永珍被警方攔阻後失蹤至今，另一名環保人士宋包（Sompawn Khantisouk）2007年向警方報告後也失蹤。

人權觀察組織（Human Right Watch）亞洲副主任羅伯森（Phil Robertson）透過聲明指出，頌巴斯被強制失蹤，寮國當局以漠視抗拒國際社會對此案的關注，有關各國的政府不應坐視。

聯合國人權理事會今年10月將對寮國進行第2次的「全球定期審議」，檢視人權狀況。

人權觀察組織指出，寮國政府在2010年第1次全球定期審議上作出的承諾，一直無法作出具體改變，寮國應該批准國際人權公約，終止對言論、集會、結社、媒體的限制，寮國的勞工法仍無法達到國際標準。

人權觀察組織表示，寮國政府應該調查並終止毒品拘禁中心濫權的情況，改由有適當醫療、自發性、社區為主的方式，對毒品依賴進行治療。

羅伯森說，寮國政府無法容忍人民持有異議，以傷害人權的法律與長期拘禁避免任何人挑戰它的權力，寮國人民害怕政府，因為他們知道官員幾乎可以不受懲罰。

人權觀察組織今天把寮國的人權紀錄評論提交給聯合國，評論中指控寮國政府無法解決系統性的人權問題。

May 21, 2014July 28, 2015

EU, Laos Hold Working Group on Human Rights, Governance

RTT News: 21 May 2014

The European Union and Laos have held the fifth round of their annual Working Group Human Rights and Governance meet in Brussels, a statement issued by the 28-member European bloc said Wednesday. The EU delegation was led by Anette Mandler, acting Director for Human Rights and Democracy in the European External Action Services. The Lao delegation was led by Phoukhong Sisoulath, Director General, Department of Treaties and Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Lao PDR Representative to the AICHR, Secretary-General to the Lao National Steering Committee on Human Rights. “It provided an opportunity to express concerns about the implementation of international standards in Laos and in the EU. It also allowed for a constructive exchange of experience about how to translate such standards into domestic practice,” the statement said.

The two sides reviewed recent developments in human rights, including issues such as freedom of expression, assembly and association, death penalty as well as civil society and human rights defenders. Continue reading “EU, Laos Hold Working Group on Human Rights, Governance”

May 13, 2014December 26, 2015

Laos: Crony scheme in control of press and civil society

Index on Censorship: 12 May 2014

By Helen Clark

demotix_laos_3046576 — The Laotian president, Choummaly Sayasone, made a five day official visit to France in October 2013 — the first such visit in 60 years. (Photo: Serge Mouraret / Demotix)

When travellers and writers talk about Laos, they mention how peaceful it is, and how Buddhist. The people, says Lonely Planet, are some of the most chilled out in the world. People forget, as they rarely do with Vietnam or China, that it is still a communist state.

The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) has absolute control over the press and civil society. Professor Martin Stuart-Fox, a Laos expert with the University of Queensland, has written widely on the country’s history and government and has said that the party is little more than a crony scheme, with many of those in power now descended from the old Lao aristocracy. It is necessary to have a powerful patron, almost always in the party or closely connected to it, for success. Information is difficult to get hold of and even local journalists, who often have close ties to the government, complain publicly, if respectfully, about the impenetrability of government departments.

Freedom House writes: “Press freedom in Laos remains highly restricted. Despite advances in telecommunications infrastructure, government control of all print and broadcast news prevents the development of a vibrant, independent press.”

These media restrictions are part of a wider pattern of suppression of information, lack of transparency in business dealings, prevention of protests and cultural and religious oversight by the government and party.

However the most noticeable event of the past 18 months has been the disappearance of Sombath Somphone. At the end of 2012 the Lao development expert went missing and many of his colleagues quietly believe the government may be responsible. Little but the bare facts have been written in the local, state-owned press. Continue reading “Laos: Crony scheme in control of press and civil society”