Laos slammed for failing to trace rights activist 11 years on

UCA News reporter

Shui Meng holds a picture of her missing husband, award-winning environmental campaigner Sombath Somphone, following a press conference in Bangkok, Dec. 12, 2018. (Photo: AFP)

Rights groups have strongly criticized the communist government of Laos for failing to probe and trace the whereabouts of rights activist Sombath Somphone who disappeared 11 years ago.

Lao government should bring forth the truth behind the enforced disappearance of Sombath, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) along with 74 rights groups and five individuals said in a statement on Dec. 14.

We deplore the unmistakable pattern of inaction, negligence, and obfuscation that various Lao authorities have repeatedly engaged in for more than a decade, the rights groups said.

We continue to resolutely stand in solidarity with Sombath's family and all other victims of enforced disappearances in Laos, the groups added.

Sombath Somphone, a recipient of the 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, is hailed as a pioneer in community-based development and youth empowerment.

He was last seen in the national capital Vientiane on Dec. 15, 2012, before his alleged kidnapping right in front of the police.

Security camera footage showed an unknown individual arriving and driving Sombath's vehicle away from the city center.

Citing a submission to the UN Human Rights Committee in September, the groups refuted the government's claim that it never stopped trying to find the truth about Sombath's fate.

In reality, the Lao authorities have continued to disregard Sombath's wife, Shui Meng Ng, and have not provided her with any updates on her husband's case since 2017, the groups alleged.

Lao government had said that it needed more time for investigation and added that the Task Force was still active in the investigation and had not yet closed Sombath's case.

These government statements are unequivocally false in suggesting any degree of transparency, the groups said.

Rights groups alleged that the Lao government has been engaged in a continuous cover-up of the facts of Sombath's case since his disappearance.

The government had provided misleading information about its actions to Sombath's family, the Lao public, and the international community, the groups alleged.

The Lao government ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in 2008 but did not fully implement it at the national level, activists say.

The groups also urged the Lao government to take effective measures on enforced disappearances.

We reiterate our calls on the Lao authorities to take real and effective measures to establish the fate or whereabouts of Sombath and all other victims of enforced disappearances in the country, the groups said.

The government should identify the perpetrators of such serious crimes and provide victims with an effective remedy and full reparations, they urged.

Laos must lead the regional efforts to strengthen, promote, and protect human rights as it is slated to take over as the next chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the groups asserted.

The efforts to seek justice and accountability for Sombath will continue, the groups said.

Until the truth is found, and justice is delivered to his family, we will not stop demanding answers from the Lao government to the same question we have been asking for the past 11 years: Where is Sombath? the statement added.