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Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (27)

At Wat Pa Nakhounnoi with friends to remember
the 10th anniversary of the Disappearance of Sombath

My dearest Sombath,

December 15 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of your abduction by the police in front of a police post on Thadeau Road. Every day for 10 long years, when I drive by that fateful police post each time I go home, I cannot but re-live how you have been stopped by the police and how you have been taken away never to be seen again. I also relive how I have begged and appealed to the Lao authorities to give me information as to what happened, why you have been taken, where have you been taken, and to investigate the case and return you safely to me and the family.

But Sombath, after 10 long years, I still have no answers as to what happened to you. All I have are the grainy footages caught on the police CCTV camera of how you were abducted – each frame showing clear evidence as to what happened to you on that fateful evening. That incriminating evidence remains in the public consciousness. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (27)”

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Decade After Lao Advocate’s Suspected Abduction at Police Post, Still No Answers

Voice of America: 15 December 2022

A pamphlet about Sombath Somphone sits on display at an event in Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 15, 2022, marking the 10-year anniversary of his enforced disappearance in Laos.

Bangkok — In the fading evening light of December 15, 2012, on a busy road in the Lao capital of Vientiane, Sombath Somphone, a tireless and renowned advocate for his country’s impoverished farmers, vanished without a trace.

In CCTV footage captured by a roadside camera, Sombath is seen being pulled over at a police post, stepping out of his jeep, and getting into a pickup truck that drives him away.

His wife, Shui Meng Ng, who was driving home to have dinner with Sombath just ahead of him in another car, has not seen or heard from him since. Ten years on, she is still demanding answers about the suspected abduction from Lao authorities, who deny any knowledge of his fate, and drawing attention to the hundreds of other cases of enforced disappearance across Southeast Asia. Continue reading “Decade After Lao Advocate’s Suspected Abduction at Police Post, Still No Answers”

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Kidnap cases alive and well

Bangkok Post: 17 December 2022

On Thursday, activists gathered in front of the Lao Embassy in Bangkok to mark the 10th year of the disappearance of Sombath Somphone, the award-winning Lao social activist. Every year, activists have launched campaigns to keep the memory of his mysterious vanishing alive.

On Dec 15, 2012, Sombath, recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay award (known as Asia’s Nobel Prize), vanished from a busy street in Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR.

Grainy footage from a police CCTV camera showed Sombath’s vehicle was stopped at a checkpoint before individuals whisked him into another vehicle and drove him away. CCTV footage also showed an individual arriving at the scene and driving Sombath’s vehicle away from the city centre.

Despite prima facie evidence of what happened, the Lao government has not explained his disappearance. Continue reading “Kidnap cases alive and well”

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‘Where is Sombath?’: After 10 Years, the Question Remains Hanging

The Diplomat: 15 December 2022  By Sebastian Strangio

Despite a decade of calls from U.N. officials and human rights groups, there is still no word as to the ultimate fate of Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone.

Lao civil society activist Sombath Somphone photographed with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2006.

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of the Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone. As in most of the past ten years, the occasion has been marked by commemorations and calls for answers about his disappearance – and an emanation of silence from the government in Vientiane.

On the evening of December 15, 2021, Sombath, the leader of Laos’ first and most prominent civil society organization, was stopped at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the capital Vientiane. The 60-year-old was then transferred to another vehicle, according to a grainy police surveillance video that emerged later, and was never seen again. After Sombath’s disappearance, the United States and other Western governments called for an investigation. The Lao government promised to do so but has never done much toward fulfilling it.

To mark the 10th anniversary of Sombath’s disappearance, 66 civil society organizations issued a statement to “renew calls on the Lao government to determine his fate and whereabouts and deliver justice, truth, and reparation to his family.” Continue reading “‘Where is Sombath?’: After 10 Years, the Question Remains Hanging”

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Sombath Somphone: The activist who disappeared at a police checkpoint

BBC News: 15 December 2022

Sombath Somphone has not been since he was stopped at a police checkpoint

By Oliver Slow

Sombath Somphone, a prominent development worker in Laos, was on his way home from work when he disappeared at a police checkpoint on 15 December 2012. His wife, who’s still working to find out what happened to him, believes it was a warning to others.

“It’s been 10 years now and it’s still very fresh in my mind,” Shui Meng Ng tells the BBC.

The drive home that day was supposed to be routine. Her husband met her at the handicraft shop she owned in the capital Vientiane and as usual the couple drove home together in convoy – she was ahead, and he followed behind.

Ms Ng could see her husband behind her for most of the way, but lost him before she reached home. Continue reading “Sombath Somphone: The activist who disappeared at a police checkpoint”

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Dear Sombath…from S.Y. Chin (5)

Dear Sombath,

I am deeply aware that 15 December 2022 marks the tenth year since any of us have heard from you. Your enforced disappearance 10 days before Christmas – a season for peace and joy – deepens the hurt caused by your absence from the development community. During the past decade; our respect for your work, which is driven by your noble principles, innovative ideas and selfless objectives, has grown.

Many of us have read the splendid book, “Silencing of a Laotian Son,” by Dr. Ng Shui Meng and discovered personal aspects of your life we had not known previously. We did not know that your commitment to Laos began early in your youth. You were offered a Green Card which would have allowed you to stay on in Hawaii after your graduation to enjoy the ease of a career in the USA – however, you turned it down and chose to return to serve your country and fellow Laotians. You were the only student to make this choice among your classmates.

As Christmas 2022 approaches followed by the New Year of 2023, we are acutely aware that December has long ceased to be peaceful or joyous for your family and colleagues.

Your name, good work and well-being continue to be discussed within the development community. The past decade has not faded nor silenced this discussion.

S.Y. Chin

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Decade on, wife of missing Laos activist says no closer to finding answers

The Online Citizen:   13 December 2022

In this file photo taken on December 12, 2018, Shui-Meng Ng holds a picture of her missing Laos husband Sombath Somphone, an award-winning environmental campaigner following a press conference in Bangkok (AFP)

BANGKOK, THAILAND — The wife of a missing Laos activist said Tuesday that a decade on she was still no closer to finding answers over his disappearance as more than 60 human rights groups condemned Vientiane’s inaction.

Sombath Somphone, an award-winning campaigner for sustainable development, vanished on 15 December 2012 after police pulled over his vehicle at a checkpoint in the capital.

The case shone a spotlight on the reclusive communist nation’s poor human rights record, but campaigners condemned on Tuesday the lack of significant progress on the case. Continue reading “Decade on, wife of missing Laos activist says no closer to finding answers”

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Ten Years After, Sombath Somphone’s Legacy Lives On

Focus on the Global South:  13 December 2022

Focus on the Global South co-organized with the Asia Europe Peoples’ Forum, Embassy of Netherlands in Thailand, and Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute the Sombath Symposium, which gathered more than 50 activists, artists, academics, members of media, among others both virtually and in-person.

The Sombath Symposium is part of a series of events under the umbrella theme of “We Shall Not Forget” from December 2 to December 15, the day that will mark ten years since Sombath was disappeared. The events seek to commemorate Sombath’s legacy, to demand justice for Sombath and his family, and to call for an end to enforced disappearance and persecution of people and communities who advocate for justice, sustainability, human rights and peace.

The event “Honoring the Legacy of Sombath Somphone,” held December 2 on Lao National Day in Ruan Chula Narumit at Chulalongkorn University—the same venue of the first Sombath Symposium on Humanity and Nature: Traditional, Cultural, and Alternative Perspectives six years ago—saw the coming together of activists, academics, and the human rights and diplomatic community in their continuing struggle for truth and justice for Sombath. Continue reading “Ten Years After, Sombath Somphone’s Legacy Lives On”

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After 10 years, civil society worldwide is still asking: “Where is Sombath?”

FIDH: 13 December 2022

Ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone, we, the undersigned civil society organizations and individuals, renew calls on the Lao government to determine his fate and whereabouts and deliver justice, truth, and reparation to his family. We deplore the Lao authorities’ repeated failure to act on their human rights obligations to thoroughly investigate Sombath’s disappearance and provide adequate, effective, and prompt reparation for Sombath and his family over the past decade.

Since Sombath, a pioneer in community-based development and youth empowerment, was abducted from a busy street in Vientiane on 15 December 2012, numerous United Nations (UN) member states and human rights monitoring mechanisms have repeatedly expressed their concern over his enforced disappearance and urged the Lao government to conduct a prompt and effective investigation into this grave human rights violation and crime under international law. Continue reading “After 10 years, civil society worldwide is still asking: “Where is Sombath?””

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No progress on human rights, EU told ahead of upcoming dialogue

FIDH-LMHR: 12 July 2022

The European Union (EU) must raise its concerns with the Lao government over the lack of progress in addressing long-standing human rights violations in Laos and urge authorities to comply with the country’s human rights obligations, FIDH and its member organization Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR) said today. The two organizations made the call ahead of the 11th EU-Laos Human Rights Dialogue, which will be held on 13 July 2022 in Brussels.

“The human rights dialogue is one of the few opportunities for the EU to raise its concerns with Vientiane. It must not be another opportunity that allows the government to engage in dishonest statements and avoid any pledges to make concrete and measurable human rights commitments.” Adilur Rahman Khan, FIDH Secretary-General

In conjunction with their call, the two organizations released a briefing paper that provides a summary of human rights developments in Laos since the previous human rights dialogue, which was held remotely on 16 June 2021. The briefing paper documents key developments on the following issues: 1) political prisoners; 2) failure to cooperate with United Nations (UN) human rights mechanisms; 3) enforced disappearances; 4) violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief; 5) human rights impacts of infrastructure and investment projects; 6) minimum wage increase; and 7) the COVID-19 response.

“As the 10-year anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Sombath Somphone approaches, it is crucial that the EU keeps pressing the Lao government for answers about his fate and whereabouts. The chilling effect of Sombath’s disappearance haunts Lao civil society to this day and, until truth and justice are established, fear and oppression will prevail.” Elise Lyfoung, LMHR President

|Press contacts FIDH: Ms. Eva Canan (French, English) – Tel: +33648059157