Category: Notable Quotes

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Civil Society speaks on Sombath

ACSC-APF2.2.3 States and non-state actors continue to commit violations with impunity, including police brutality, torture and enforced disappearances, against civil society activists. For example, the lack of immediate and transparent investigation into the case of Sombath Somphone[3] by ASEAN governments, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), or any other human rights mechanisms in the region. Human rights defenders continue to be persecuted under oppressive laws, including laws against activities as “injuring the national unity”, “propaganda against the State“, “abusing democratic freedoms” and sedition laws, which deny the people safe and constructive political space.

[3] Sombath Somphone, an internationally acclaimed community development worker and prominent member of Lao civil society, went missing on 15 December 2012, when police stopped his vehicle at a checkpoint in the capital. He was then transferred to another vehicle, according to police surveillance video, and has not been heard from since. Reports say that the Lao government continues to deny responsibility for his disappearance.

From Reclaiming the ASEAN Community for the People, the CSO Statement for the 2015 ACSC/APF.

For Para. 2.2.3, on page 2 the sentence containing the individual name of Sombath Somphone and the related footnote must be completely deleted because in any statement we just point out the fact and suggest recommendation and for avoiding unwilling or detrimental consequences, we never put in the name of individual nor we name of specific country. Furthermore, in LAO PDR few people know Sombath Somphone. He is known as a simple Lao citizen and as a development worker, but not prominent as pretended in the footnote. He has established a none registered Association. He does not elected as leader of Lao CSOs. The facts are there.

…This is the determinate voice of Lao people concerning ASEAN CSOs STATEMENT. Once again the People of LAO PDR hope that the sentence of multi-Party and pluralistic system and the other sentence with the individual name of Sombath Somphone, the word LGBTIQ and also all the footnotes shall be deleted or erased from the final Statement prior submission to the high level ASEAN LEADERS during the interface event.

From a resolution allegedly resulting from a meeting of Lao CSOs held on 10-11 March, 2015.

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'The Hypocrisy of Asean'

SEA Globe-23 March 2015…the Somphone case is an excellent example of Asean’s failure to take a stance on human rights. Instead of criticising the Lao government for not investigating the disappearance, she said, Asean “hides” behind its policy of ‘non-intervention’ in national issues, even though it has previously intervened in internal matters.

…Calling this “the hypocrisy of Asean,” Naidu added that the regional body refuses to intervene on human rights but has no qualms about the region’s “capitalist elites” influencing the national economic policies of member states.

Wathshlah Naidu, in “An Uncomfortable Question,” by  David Hutt, in The Southeast Asian Globe.

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The Lao PDR is a People's Democratic State

The Lao PDR is a people’s democratic state. All powers belong to the people, and are exercised by the people and for the interests of the multi-ethnic people. The State protects the freedoms and democratic rights of the people. All acts of bureaucratism and harassment detrimental to the people’s honor, physical well-being, lives, consciences and property are prohibited.

From the Lao National Report submitted for the Universal Periodic Review held in Geneva on 20 January 2015.

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Sombath did many things differently

SB-Magsaysay-08Sombath is quite a special man, he looks at the potential of how to share ideas, concepts.  He never says “this is my idea,” but “I saw this thing is useful for society–what is your idea?”

He is open, just stimulates thinking.  I was in media, a creative person, but in my mind I never thought of the social aspects, just broadcasting. But Sombath thought of alternative media for the country.

He is a creative person, Like sang san (ສ້າງສັນ) in the Lao language, it means creation, or to seek. He is thinking more rapidly, ahead of many people. Something like dreaming, but not only a dream, but doing real things. He is an open person. In meetings he never stops anyone from saying things.  He records and then shows this is your idea not mine.
Sombath did many things differently.

Draft translation from interviews done with many of Sombath’s colleagues. Original Lao transcripts currently unavailable.

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Our young Lao volunteers

This award is also for our young Lao volunteers and youth leaders, who have demonstrated to us, the adults, that they have the capacity, and indeed the right, to claim the space to determine their own and their community’s development pathway. I believe that it is their passion and their hopes and dreams for a better future which are recognized and celebrated through this prestigious award today.

Sombath Somphone, in his response upon receiving the Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 2005.

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Sombath and Foreign Aid

Sombath-magsaysay-smallFor a country that relies on foreign assistance for roughly 70% of its budget, the agronomist’s disappearance—and the government’s subsequent unwillingness to forthrightly address it—has become a major headache. Few in Laos have built bridges between the foreign and local development communities as effectively as Sombath Somphone.

Murray Heibert, in “Is Laos Losing Its Way?” The Wall Street Journal, 08 January 2013.

But will Sombath’s disappearance and other human rights issues be addressed at the upcoming Round Table Implementation Meeting to be held on 14 November 2014?

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Lao national wins Asia's most prestigious prize

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFor his tireless efforts among the youth and in community development in the countryside, he has received Asia’s most prestigious award. It is only the second time during its nearly 50 year history that the Ramon Magsaysay Award has been bestowed upon a Lao national. The first one was Keo Viphakone in 1967, for Government Service.

Vientiane Times, 10 August 2005.

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Human rights and donor aid…

It is unlikely any single event could attract more international scrutiny of Laos’ appalling human rights record than the Sombath Somphone case did in late 2012 and 2013. Yet, the ritual announcements of donor aid have continued, including a recent top-up of US$3.9 million from the US, EU, UNDP and France for the Legal Sector Master Plan and its goal of instituting a rule of law state in Laos by 2020. In this game, Lao leaders uphold their side of the bargain by maintaining the government’s commitment to goals negotiated as part of the annual Round Table Process between the government and donors, such as pursuing “off­track areas of the MDGs” and strengthening the rule of law. As long as egregious incidents like Sombath’s enforced disappearance fail to impact upon this bargain, such commitments will continue to operate as mechanisms of governance that reinforce the status quo, rather than as principles guiding better governance.

Simon Creak, in “Laos in 2013: International Controversies, Economic Concerns and the Post-socialist Rhetoric of Rule,” Southeast Asian Affairs, 2014

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Laos stands out…

Sombath-magsaysay-smallLaos stands out in contrast to neighbours like Myanmar, which despite its long-time rule by the military managed to develop an independent civil society, according to John Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director of the Washington-based Human Rights Watch.

“If a human rights defender like Aung Sang Suu Kyi were to stand up in Laos and speak out against authoritarian rule, she would be immediately arrested. And unlike Aung Sang Suu Kyi, having the luxury of living under house arrest, you would just be taken off to prison and never seen again,” he said.

“Laos NGO restrictions threaten development, say non-profit groups,” South China Morning Post, 17 September 2014