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On the second anniversary of the enforced disappearance of prominent Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone, we, the undersigned regional and international organizations, firmly condemn the Lao government’s ongoing refusal to provide any information regarding Sombath’s fate or whereabouts.

The Lao government’s deliberate silence on Sombath is part of a strategy that aims at consigning to oblivion the heinous crime of enforced disappearance. Regrettably, all other ASEAN member states have remained conspicuously silent on the issue of Sombath’s disappearance. Our organizations believe that ASEAN member states, as well as the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), must break the silence on this matter.

Instead of invoking the principle of non-interference into one another’s internal affairs, ASEAN member states must act as responsible members of the international community and uphold the 10-nation bloc’s key tenets enshrined in the ASEAN Charter, which recognizes the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms among the bloc’s purposes and principles.

As a result, we, the undersigned organizations, call on ASEAN member states to raise the issue of Sombath’s disappearance with the Lao government in all bilateral and multilateral fora. We also urge AICHR to exercise its power to “obtain information from ASEAN member states on the promotion and protection of human rights” in order to shed light on the disappearance of Sombath.

Sombath was last seen on the evening of 15 December 2012 in Vientiane. Lao public surveillance CCTV footage revealed that police stopped Sombath’s car at a police post. Within minutes after being stopped, unknown individuals forced him into another vehicle and drove away. Analysis of the CCTV footage shows that Sombath was taken away in the presence of police officers who witnessed the abduction and failed to intervene - a fact that strongly suggests government complicity.

Sombath’s enforced disappearance is not an isolated incident. To this day, the whereabouts of nine people arbitrarily detained by Lao security forces in November 2009 in various locations across the country remain unknown. The nine had planned peaceful demonstrations calling for democracy and respect of human rights. The whereabouts of Somphone Khantisouk are also unknown. Somphone, the owner of an ecotourism guesthouse, was an outspoken critic of Chinese-sponsored agricultural projects that were damaging the environment in the northern province of Luang Namtha. He disappeared after uniformed men abducted him in January 2007.

Our organizations urge ASEAN member states and the AICHR to call on the Lao government to immediately conduct competent, impartial, effective, and thorough investigations into all cases of enforced disappearances, hold the perpetrators accountable, and provide reparations to the victims and their families.

Signed by:

  1. Adventist Development and Relief Agency Lao PDR
  2. Ain O Salish Kendra
  3. Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma)
  4. Amnesty International
  5. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
  6. ASEAN SOGIE Caucus
  7. Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact
  8. Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
  9. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
  10. Asia-Pacific Solidarity Coalition
  11. Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters
  12. Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM)
  13. Boat People SOS
  14. Burma Partnership
  15. Cambodian Civil Society Working Group on ASEAN
  16. Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)
  17. Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
  18. Cambodian Volunteers for Society
  19. Center for Human Rights and Development
  20. China Labour Bulletin
  21. Coalition to Abolish Modern-day Slavery in Asia
  22. Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS)
  23. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
  24. East Timor and Indonesia Action Network
  25. Equality Myanmar
  26. Equitable Cambodia
  27. FIDH - International Federation for Human Rights
  28. Finnish Asiatic Society
  29. Focus on the Global South
  30. Forum for Democracy in Burma
  31. Fresh Eyes – People to People Travel
  32. Gender and Development Initiative-Myanmar
  33. Globe International
  34. Hawaii Center for Human Rights Research & Action
  35. Human Rights and Development Foundation
  36. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
  37. Human Rights Watch
  38. Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation
  39. Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (IMPARSIAL)
  40. INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre
  41. Initiatives for International Dialogue
  42. Interfaith Youth Coalition on Aid in Myanmar
  43. International Rivers
  44. Judicial System Monitoring Programme
  45. Justice and Peace Network of Myanmar
  46. Justice for Peace Foundation
  47. Justice for Women
  48. Kachin Peace Network
  49. Kachin Women Peace Network
  50. Khmer Kampuchea Krom for Human Rights and Development Association
  51. Korean House for International Solidarity
  52. Lao Movement for Human Rights
  53. Law and Society Trust
  54. League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran
  55. LICADHO Canada
  56. LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights)
  57. Madaripur Legal Aid Association
  58. MARUAH
  59. National Commission for Justice and Peace
  60. Network for Democracy and Development
  61. Odhikar
  62. Olive Branch Human Rights Initiative
  63. People’s Empowerment Foundation
  64. People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy
  65. People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights
  66. People’s Watch
  67. Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates
  68. Potahar Organization for Development Advocacy
  69. RTCC Research and Translation Consultancy Cluster
  70. Sehjira Foundation for Persons with Disabilities
  71. SILAKA
  72. Social Action for Change
  73. STAR Kampuchea
  74. Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
  75. Taiwan Association for Human Rights
  76. Task Force Detainees of the Philippines
  77. Think Centre
  78. Transnational Institute
  79. United Sisterhood Alliance - Cambodia
  80. Vietnam Committee on Human Rights
  81. Women Peace Network Arakan
  82. World Rainforest Movement 

 

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