After 12 years of Lao Government misinformation, denial, and cover-ups: “Where is Sombath?”
“The Lao authorities have consistently failed to provide any concrete information.”
Sombath Somphone was last seen on 15 December 2012. Blurry footage from a CCTV camera shows Sombath being stopped by police officers on a busy street in Vientiane, Laos. He got out of his jeep. Then unidentified men forced him into a pickup truck and drove him away. Since then, nothing.
Sombath is an award-winning community activist and civil society leader. In 1996, he set up the Participatory Development Training Center (PADETC), the first Lao civil society organisation. PADETC promoted “development with a balance between social development, economic development and environmental harmony”.
In 2005, Sombath won the Ramon Magsaysay award for his “hopeful efforts to promote sustainable development in Laos by training and motivating its young people to become a generation of leaders”.
I met Sombath several times when I worked at TERRA (Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance) in Bangkok in the 1990s. I took part in NGO meetings with Sombath and met him in Vientiane in the early 2000s. I found him thoughtful, informative, and inspiring. And he worked tirelessly to improve the livelihoods of villagers in Laos.
9th Asia-Europe People’s Forum
In October 2012, Sombath co-chaired the 9th Asia-Europe People’s Forum, which took place in Vientiane. It was the largest civil society event held in Laos, with more than 1,000 people taking part.
Sombath gave the keynote speech at the opening session. He talked about progress in science and development making our lives more comfortable and convenient. He added that,
However, for the poor, the disenfranchised, the benefits of progress have yet to reach them. For example, take food production — food production has gone up worldwide, but unjust systems of economic development and uneven distribution means the rich are consuming more food than they really need, and are getting obese, while some 6 million people still go to bed hungry.
He talked about the four pillars of development: economic; social; environment; and governance. And he talked about the importance of strengthening all four.
I travelled to Vientiane for the People’s Forum and gave two presentations at a workshop on “Forest carbon initiatives and community rights in the Mekong region”. One was an explanation of the REDD negotiations at the UNFCCC and the other was about the financing of REDD projects in the Mekong Region.
At the workshop, a Karen Indigenous rights activist spoke about the evictions in the name of conservation from the Kaeng Kachan Park in Thailand.
And a Cambodian activist gave a presentation about the problems with deforestation and degradation within the Oddar Meanchey REDD project in Cambodia.
Following many of the presentations at the People’s Forum, Lao government employees made statements defending the government’s development position. Laos, apparently, was unique. The land grabs and evictions that were happening in other countries associated with fortress conservation, hydropower dams, extractivism, or industrial tree plantations couldn’t possibly happen in Laos.
The reality in Laos was very much the opposite.
“Large areas of land were taken by private companies,” Shui-Meng Ng, Sombath’s wife, said at the Oslo Freedom Forum in 2016. “There were massive evictions and environmental destruction. Sombath had no choice but to become more vocal on the development policy.”
The government response: Repression
Amnesty International reported that during the People’s Forum in Vientiane, “plain-clothed security officials were involved in monitoring and harassing participants”.
On 7 December 2012, the Lao government expelled Anne-Sophie Gindroz, the country director of the Swiss NGO HELVETAS. Together with Sombath, she was on the organisation committee of the People’s Forum.
In 2015, she published a book titled “Laos, The silent repression” and dedicated it to Sombath and Shui-Meng.
Walden Bello, co-chair of the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South, said that,
“Basically, I think what you had at the Asia-Europe People’s Forum was people spontaneously coming up to express their worries that their lands were being lost. I think in the mind of the Lao government, this was an organised effort, instead of a spontaneous effort. That there was a mastermind. My sense is that they thought that the mastermind was Sombath and that’s when they acted.”
A 2018 documentary directed by Ran Quinn documents the life and enforced disappearance of Sombath:
In 2021, Shui-Meng launched her book, “Silencing of a Laotian Son – the Life, Work and Enforced Disappearance of Sombath Somphone,” at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand.
For 12 years, the Lao Government has ignored appeals
For 12 years, Shui-Meng has led a campaign looking for an answer to the question: “Where is Sombath?”
In October 2024, she spoke at the opening of the 27th session of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances in Geneva:
“Unfortunately, now, 12 years later, I still don’t know where Sombath is. I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know his status, or whether he is still alive. This is the tragedy of enforced disappearances. And this is the pain that victims, the left behind, family members, have to suffer every day.”
Shui-Meng describes enforced disappearances as “the most difficult and criminal act against human rights”.
She has appealed to the UN, taken part in many meetings, met with heads of governments, and appealed to the Lao Government authorities. She told the UN Committee that,
“I got nothing. I did not receive any information. The Lao Government authorities have ignored my appeals for 12 years. And they continue to tell the people who ask about what happened to Sombath Somphone that the investigation is still ongoing.
She said that she will not give up. “I don't know how long I will be able to live on. But I can say I will continue my struggle to find truth and justice for Sombath until my last breath,” she said. “There are more than 40,000 case of enforced disappearances with the UN. This is unacceptable.”
Joint Statement
On 15 December 2024, on the 12th anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Sombath Somphone, 78 organisation from around the world put out a joint statement appealing for governments to call for the prompt resolution of Sombath’s case.
The statement is posted here in full:
Laos: States should ask “Where is Sombath?” at upcoming review of human rights record
15 December 2024: On the 12-year anniversary of the unresolved enforced disappearance of Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone, we, the undersigned civil society organizations and individuals worldwide, urge United Nations (UN) member states to express their concern over this continuing crime and to call for the prompt resolution of Sombath’s case at the upcoming review of the human rights record of Laos.
As UN member states prepare for the fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Laos, scheduled for April/May 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland, we call on them to reinforce civil society’s long-standing calls for truth and accountability regarding Sombath’s enforced disappearance.
During the second UPR of Laos in January 2015, Sombath Somphone was the subject of recommendations, expressions of concern, and advance questions by 16 UN member states.1 During the third UPR of Laos in January 2020, seven UN member states formulated recommendations or advance questions on Sombath’s case.2
During both reviews, the Lao government claimed its investigation into Sombath’s enforced disappearance was ongoing. Such statements have been contradicted by the indisputable fact that, for 12 years, the Lao authorities have consistently failed to provide any concrete information on the steps they claim to have taken to effectively investigate Sombath’s disappearance. Instead, the government has engaged in a protracted campaign of misinformation, denials, slander, and cover-ups.3
At the upcoming UPR, UN member states should call on the Lao government to take thorough and effective measures to establish the fate or whereabouts of Sombath and all other victims of enforced disappearances in the country, identify the suspected perpetrators of such serious crimes, and provide victims with an effective remedy and full reparations. To date, no case of enforced disappearance in Laos has been resolved and no perpetrators have been identified or brought to justice.
UN member states should also recommend the Lao government promptly ratify, without reservations, the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), which it signed in 2008, and fully implement it into national law, policies, and practices.
The Lao government’s failure to uphold its obligations under international human rights law and standards with respect to Sombath is reflective of the human rights violations constituting crimes under international law and related impunity that have plagued Laos for several decades. His enforced disappearance has also had a chilling effect on Lao civil society organizations and human rights defenders, and marked a significant escalation in the government’s silencing of independent voices.
Amid the serious constraints and repression faced by independent civil society organizations and human rights defenders in Laos, and the continued silence of donors, development agencies, and diplomats in the country, concerned international attention remains the primary hope for finding Sombath and delivering justice to him and his family.
We continue to stand in solidarity with Sombath and his family and urge UN member states to join us in asking the Lao government the same question we have been asking for the past 12 years: “Where is Sombath?”
Background
Sombath Somphone, a pioneer in community-based development and youth empowerment, was last seen at a police checkpoint on a busy street of Vientiane on the evening of 15 December 2012. Footage from a traffic CCTV camera showed that police stopped Sombath’s vehicle at the checkpoint and that, within minutes, unknown individuals forced him into another vehicle and drove him away in the presence of police officers. CCTV footage also showed an unknown individual arriving and driving Sombath’s vehicle away from the city center. In December 2015, Sombath’s family obtained new CCTV footage from the same area and made it public. The video shows Sombath’s car being driven back towards the city by an unknown individual.
For further information, please visit:
Organizations:
Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma)
Amnesty International
Armanshahr|OPEN ASIA
ARTICLE 19
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR)
Asia Democracy Network (ADN)
Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA)
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
BALAOD Mindanaw
Bangladesh Krishok Federation
Bir Duino
Bytes For All
Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)
Cambodian League for the Promotion & Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
Center for Prisoners’ Rights
Centre for Civil and Political Rights
Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD)
China Labour Bulletin (CLB)
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS)
Community Resource Centre (CRC)
Covenants Watch
Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)
Defence of Human Rights (DHR)
Equality Myanmar
FIAN International
FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights
Focus on the Global South
Fortify Rights
Fresh Eyes
Front Line Defenders
Globe International
Human Rights Alert
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
Human Rights in China (HRIC)
Human Rights Watch
Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation
Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association
International Campaign for Tibet (ICT)
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
International Rivers
Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw)
Justice for Peace Foundation
Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law
Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR)
League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI)
London Mining Network
Madaripur Legal Aid Association (MLAA)
MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture)
Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN)
Manushya Foundation
National Commission for Justice & Peace (NCJP)
National Fisheries Solidarity Movement
Odhikar
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum
Peace Rights Foundation
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)
People’s Watch
Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)
Psychological Responsiveness NGO
Public Association “Dignity”
Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU)
Safety and Risk Mitigation Organization (SRMO)
Stiftung Asienhaus
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR)
Task Force Detainees of the Philippines
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)
The Corner House
Think Centre
Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG)
Transnational Institute
Union for Civil Liberty (UCL)
Urgewald
Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR)
WH4C (Workers Hub For Change)
Women’s Peace Network (WPN)
World Organization against Torture (OMCT)
Individuals:
Shui Meng and Sombath’s family, Vientiane
Nico Bakker, Portugal
Philip Hirsch, University of Sydney
Rosanna Barbero
Anne Sophie Gindroz
Saeed Baloch
Ame Trandem, The Hague, The Netherlands
Nora Sausmikat, Germany
Randall Arnst
Larry Lohmann
Sarah Sexton
Nicholas Hildyard
David JH Blake
Angkhana Neelaphaijit
Recommendations: Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom; Expression of concern: Belgium, Netherlands, and Singapore. Advance questions: Slovenia, Spain, and United States.
Recommendations: Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and United Kingdom. Advance questions: Belgium and United States.
For example, see: BBC, Laos accused of lying over Sombath Somphone abduction, 28 August 2013; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23862691; Radio Free Asia, EU Parliament Dissatisfied with Lao Efforts to Locate Missing Activist, 28 October 2013, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/eu-10282013191323.html; Human Rights Watch, Laos: End Cover-Up in Activist’s ‘Disappearance’, 14 June 2013, https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/14/laos-end-cover-activists-disappearance; APHR, Lao government’s deceptive game on Sombath investigation must end, 12 September, 2014, https://aseanmp.org/publications/post/lao-governments-deceptive-game-on-sombath-investigation-must-end/; FIDH, Government slanders Sombath Somphone, issues “blanket denials” on enforced disappearances during rights review, 18 July 2018, https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/laos/government-slanders-sombath-somphone-issues-blanket-denials-on; Human Rights Committee, Information received from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic on follow-up to the concluding observations on its initial report, 18 December 2023, https://shorturl.at/6ZOYe; Sombath.org, The investigation [last accessed on 29 November 2024], https://www.sombath.org/en/who-is-sombath/video/the-investigation/
Sombath talked about "talked about the four pillars of development: economic; social; environment; and governance." yet governance silenced him, and still we see further degrading of governance all around this sad world.