Laos Has Made Its Bed and Now Has to Lie in It

Radio Free Asia: 10 September 2013

by Viengsay Luangkhot

A 2005 photo of Sombath Somphone in the Philippines.

The kidnapping of 61 year-old Sombath Somphone, a prominent activist and the winner of the 2005 Magsaysay Award, has put the Lao government in an inextricable position.

A closed-circuit police video clip shows Sombath being stopped by traffic police in front of the Lao-German Technical College on Thadeua Road in Vientiane’s Sisattanak district at around 6:00 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2012, while he was driving home. The video clip shows Sombath come out of the car and walk to the police post.

A little while later, a man wearing a black windbreaker arrives in a motorcycle, runs into the post, and re-emerges soon after to drive away in Sombath’s car, apparently indicating that the man went into the post to get Sombath’s car keys. Not long after, a silver-bronze pickup truck stops in front of the police post with emergency lights on while two men escort Sombath onto the truck and leave.

Sombath has not been seen or heard from since.

Pictures on the video clip show clearly that Sombath was kidnapped from a police post with police officers in the post witnessing the act.

The police officers are suspected to have been involved in the kidnapping, though neither they nor the men who escorted Sombath to the pickup truck can be identified. Nor can the license plate of the truck be read, as the only video now available was taken by Sombath’s coworkers with their cell phone as they viewed the original video clip in the headquarters of the Vientiane traffic police on the morning of Dec. 17, 2012. Continue reading “Laos Has Made Its Bed and Now Has to Lie in It”

September 9, 2013July 28, 2015

亚洲哀恸多位宗教领袖、爭取人权者和异见人士被「强迫失踪」

AsiaNews: 09 September 2013

“Asia’s sad record of ‘enforced disappearances’ of religious leaders , activists and opponents”

从西藏班禅至老挝人权人士，亚洲有几千人被当地政府拘留，他们被视为会威胁政府当局的管治。观察家认为，报告列举的案例只是冰山一角，实际情况更加恶劣。多国政府否认有此问题，只有四个国家已确认国际公约。

曼谷（亚洲新闻/通讯社） – 在亚洲，西藏班禅、泰国穆斯林律师会主席和老挝争取农民权益人士的共通点，是他们成为所谓的「国家拘留」受害者，他们被限制自由和关押在不明地方，因为他们都是「敏感」的政治和宗教人物，甚至因为他们的观点以人权为先。随着时间逝去，这些「国家囚犯」可以得到公平审讯及其家人想讨回公道的机会，变得越来越微弱。这种打压异己的方法，却在整个亚洲大陆越来越普遍。

亚洲反对被迫失踪联会秘书长玛利·巴嘉素（Mary Aileen Bacalso）指出，这个现象很普遍。「亚洲的人口众多，是最多失踪案件的洲份。」此外，官方确证关闸的人数，却是远低于实际的数字，尤其是在政权专制国家，以及常有武装冲突的地区。

在亚洲，据争取人权人士说，有几万人处于「强迫失踪」，但只有一小部分有被记录，因为害怕当局报复。联合国工作组在2012年的报告中指出，在亚洲国家中，斯里兰卡有5,676宗审查和未完案件、菲律宾621宗、尼泊尔458宗、东帝汶428宗、印度353宗、印尼162宗、巴基斯坦99宗、泰国 71宗、中国30宗及北韩20宗。联合国代表形容此为「冰山一角」。

在西藏，班禅于1995年当他只有6岁时被中国当局带走，一直没有消息，他是藏传佛教的第二位最重要的宗教领袖。然而，在该地区的激进组织，有数百名僧侣及活动家在北京警方拘留，采用相同的方法来抑制国内持不同政见者，又如在新疆的穆斯林自治区。东南亚国家，如泰国、印尼、菲律宾和老挝，都是国际人权组织所关注的国家。自1990年代在苏哈托将军的独裁统治期间的强迫失踪，以至亚洲诺贝尔奖得主老挝森巴（Sombath Somphone），他自去年12月被老挝万象当局带走。

对于人权人士或者组织争取释放「被迫失踪」者，往往遇到最大的问题是亚洲多国政府否认有这个问题，也不承认有任何强迫失踪案件。亚洲只有日本、哈萨克斯坦、伊拉克和柬埔寨四个国家，有确认国际公约，保护所有的人不会被国家拘留。联合国呼吁设定一个有罪不罚的过渡期，政府要负起这责任，而家庭希望与他们的亲属早日团聚。

September 8, 2013July 29, 2015

An accidental activist

Bangkok Post: 06 September 2013

Pratubjit Neelapaijit is coping with the uncertain fate of her father by speaking out for the disappeared

Pratubjit Neelapaijit considers herself part of Bangkok’s middle class through and through. Growing up listening to her father, the disappeared lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, and mother Angkhana discussing human rights violations and social issues, the young Pratubjit felt compassionate yet detached.

But life is a series of unexpected incidents – despite her lack of inclination at a younger age, Pratubjit has found herself engaging in activism.

“I was not into human rights issues much when I was a kid,” she said. “Partly I always thought that I was in the middle class in Bangkok and human rights violations happened with ethnic minorities, like hilltribe people and farmers. I believed I was middle class, so this type of problem would not happen to me.” Continue reading “An accidental activist”

September 3, 2013July 28, 2015

261 Days and Counting

Lao govt asked to ‘enable safe return’ of Magsaysay awardee Sombath

Interaksyon: 03 September 2013

MANILA – Members of an international civil society on Tuesday asked the Lao leadership to “use its extensive resources to enable the safe return of Sombath Somphone to his family.” A development worker, Sombath received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2005.

Tina Ebro, co-coordinator of the Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF), headed a small delegation to the Lao embassy in Makati to deliver a letter expressing the group’s “concern” over Sombath’s disappearance on December 2012. Aileen Bacalso, head of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, was part of the delegation.

“Sombath’s continuing disappearance is a matter of regional and international concern. We emphasize that an enforced disappearance constitutes a crime under international law. The Lao authorities’ handling of this case and their sincerity and success in ensuring the safe return of Sombath is the test by which their commitment to upholding human rights will be judged,” AEPF said in the letter. Continue reading “261 Days and Counting”

September 3, 2013July 28, 2015

Restraining Leviathan

The Inquirer: 02 September 2013

By Walden Bello

The state is a Janus-faced creature. On the one hand, there is its “soft face.” This is the set of institutions that provide representation and justice. Then there is the “hard face” of the state, the most important institutions of which are the executive, the internal security forces, and the armed forces.

This “deep state” is a highly contradictory institutional complex. On the one hand, it provides security and order. On the other, it poses the greatest threat to the human, political, and civil rights of citizens. For it is so easy to cross the very thin line separating the provision of public order and the violation of the rights of citizens in the name of order.

This is why it is important to hem in and envelop the security institutions with laws and rules that severely limit or prevent the use of force against citizens. This is the reason laws like Republic Act 10353, the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012, are extremely important, for they restrain the constant institutional temptation of Leviathan to cross the line between the legitimate provision of public security and the illegitimate use of the power of the deep state to repress citizens. Republic Act 10353 was one of the historic triad of human rights bills passed by the 15th Congress. The other two were the Marcos Compensation Bill and the Bill on the Rights of Internally Displaced People. (Unfortunately, the last was vetoed by President Aquino on very specious grounds.) Continue reading “Restraining Leviathan”

September 2, 2013July 28, 2015

Justice Elusive for Asia's Victims of Enforced Disappearances

Radio Free Asia: 02 September 2013

A European parliamentary delegation at a press conference in Bangkok on Lao activist Sombath Somphone's disappearance, Aug. 28, 2013. — A European parliamentary delegation at a press conference in Bangkok on Lao activist Sombath Somphone’s disappearance, Aug. 28, 2013.

Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama’s designated successor the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has been missing for nearly two decades.

In Thailand, Somchai Neelapaijit, the chairman of the Thai Muslim Lawyers Association, disappeared nine years ago while providing legal assistance to Muslims accused of involvement in violence against security forces in the country’s troubled south.

More recently, a prominent Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone, who has been critical of the government’s policies for the poor, vanished after being stopped at a police checkpoint.

In all three cases, governments are believed to be behind the disappearances.

Enforced disappearances—the detention of persons by the state, usually the military or police, followed by a refusal to reveal their fate or whereabouts—has become a major human rights concern in Asia. Continue reading “Justice Elusive for Asia's Victims of Enforced Disappearances”

September 2, 2013July 28, 2015

EU against Vientiane's reticence over Sombath Somphone's disappearance

Asia News: 02 September 2013

Since 15 December, there have been no news about the 61-year-old Laotian activist. CCTV camera shows police officers stopping and taking him away in a pickup. The government denies this version of events, a claim a group of MEPs describes as “ridiculous lies.” Fears are growing about the fate of the 2005 Asian Nobel winner.

Vientiane (AsiaNews/Agencies) – There is growing international pressure on the Laotian government, accused of involvement in the disappearance of 61-year-old Laotian activist Sombath Somphone, whose fate remains unknown since the evening of 15 December 2012.

A group of parliamentarians from the European Union has accused Laotian Communist leaders of telling “ridiculous lies” in relation to the issue. The case however has raised awareness about human rights violations in Laos, an isolated country that is rarely mentioned in world mainstream media, at a time when the authorities have tightened controls on media and on the activities of members of civil society.

Nearly nine months since his disappearance, nothing is known about Sombath Somphone’s fate. Despite their best efforts, human rights groups and three separate EU delegations have failed to get more out of Vientiane.

As in previous occasions, the latest attempt elicited a terse response from the Asian country’s Communist leaders who, after noting the lack of progress in finding him, simply turned down an offer for technical help in the search. Continue reading “EU against Vientiane's reticence over Sombath Somphone's disappearance”

August 31, 2013July 28, 2015

The World Wants to Know: Where is Sombath?

The Irrawady: 31 August 2013

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

indonishi — Still of CCTV footage apparently showing Laotian civil society leader Sombath Somphone about to be detained by unknown men approaching in a white car. (Photo: Youtube)

BANGKOK — At a recent reception in Vientiane, a Western diplomat approached a senior Laotian government official with a query about Sombath Somphone, a respected civil society leader who was grabbed off the streets of the capital on a December evening and has not been seen since. The question elicited a rebuff.

“It is the standard official reaction,” a foreign guest at the reception recalled. “They get into denial mode even though there is CCTV footage of Sombath being forced into a vehicle near a police post in Vientiane.”

A similar wall of silence and denial was erected days later, when a delegation from the European Parliament landed in the Southeast Asian nation on a fact-finding mission over the whereabouts of the soft-spoken 61-year-old. “The Foreign Ministry [officials] presented ridiculous lies that the man abducted wasn’t Sombath,” said the visibly irate Danish lawmaker and head of the delegation, Soren Bo Sondergarrd, speaking to journalists in Bangkok on Wednesday. “They are unwilling to get deeper into this case.”

Sondergarrd’s delegation was the third made by foreign lawmakers, both from Europe and from Southeast Asia, since January this year. And a fourth from Europe is expected on Oct. 28—an indication of the increasing pressure the notoriously secretive communist government is under from the international community. Continue reading “The World Wants to Know: Where is Sombath?”

August 30, 2013July 28, 2015

Plight of Sombath Somphone Back in Focus

The Diplomat: 30 August 2013

By Luke Hunt

The inability of the Laos government to offer a credible explanation for the disappearance of prominent activist Sombath Somphone has again drawn unwanted headlines, with demands for donor nations to think twice before committing taxpayers dollars to the one-party Communist state.

The latest swipe comes from Amnesty International, which is raising Somphone’s plight on International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance. Somphone was last seen in police custody on December 15, but the authorities insist they have no knowledge of his whereabouts.

“The human rights group calls also on other countries to do more to demand that the civil society leader, a victim of enforced disappearance, is found and returned safely to his family,” Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, said.

Much to the embarrassment of officials in Vientiane, who have been preoccupied with organizing billions of dollars for the financing of ambitious infrastructure projects, Somphone’s disappearance was caught on CCTV, leading to repeated calls for the Laos government to act. Continue reading “Plight of Sombath Somphone Back in Focus”

August 30, 2013July 28, 2015

Eight Months On, E.U. Lawmakers Talk Tough Over Disappeared Laos Activist

main_8306943360_e098710387 — Protesters demand the return of Laotian activist Sombath Somphone in front of the Laotian embassy in Bangkok on Dec. 25, 2012

Time: 30 August 2013

The video is admittedly grainy, but what it shows is undeniable — well, at least to everyone except the Laotian government. Prominent Laotian civil-society leader Sombath Somphone was last seen on Dec. 15, 2012, driving in his jeep in the capital, Vientiane. CCTV footage (below) shows him being stopped at a police checkpoint and then driven away in a different vehicle while flanked by security personnel. Eight months on, European parliamentarians have accused the communist-run state of telling them “ridiculous lies” regarding the 62-year-old’s disappearance.

Though hopes for his welfare are rapidly fading, the cause of Sombath refuses to follow suit. An official European Parliament delegation is due to travel to Vientiane on Oct. 28, and his disappearance will likely remain at the top of the agenda after an advance party that visited this week found their inquiries fell on deaf ears. “The Laos regime is still in a state of denial,” Soren Bo Sondergaard, a Danish member of the European Parliament, told reporters on Wednesday, adding that he wants to “send a signal to the regime that this case will not go away.” Sombath’s wife was apparently told by the chief investigating officer last week that her husband’s case has officially been closed, only for that to be hastily countered by superiors when further accusations of complicity began to fly. Continue reading “Eight Months On, E.U. Lawmakers Talk Tough Over Disappeared Laos Activist”