15th December 2020

AFAD demands to know the truth about Sombath Somphone on the 8th year of his disappearance by the Lao Government

Manila: It has been eight years since the disappearance of Sombath Somphone, a worker from . The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) continues to stand in solidarity with Sombath’s family, friends, and other defenders who struggle to know the whereabouts of Sombath.

Sombath Somphone was disappeared on 15th of December 2012 in . CCTV cameras captured him being stopped and driven away by the police. Since then, the family of Sombath has been conducting the ‘Return Sombath Campaign’ to know the truth about what happened to him and seek justice from the Lao government.

For the last eight years, the government of Laos has refused to provide information about the investigations into his case and has tried to cow the family into silence. In the meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 11th and 12th of July 2018, the Lao government delegate, instead of responding to the questions about the investigations into the enforced disappearance of Sombath, made slandering statements against Sombath and his wife Shui Meng and attempted to deny the role of the State in his disappearance.

Apart from this, the Lao government has been delaying the investigations. Despite pressure from the international human rights community, there are no answers from the authorities. This procrastination is tantamount to a denial of the right to truth, justice and reparation for the family of Sombath even as it entrenches impunity of the perpetrators.

In Laos, the state of human rights and fundamental freedoms continues to be dismal. There are severe restrictions on the freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly and the media and civil society are controlled by the State, leaving little or no space for dissent. Any criticism of the government can lead to imprisonment without due process of law. Hence, citizens refrain from asking questions. In 2019, a Laotian blogger, Muay Littlepig, was sentenced to five years in prison for criticising the government’s poor response to flooding in southern Laos.

During its third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review in January 2020, the Lao government rejected 66 of the 266 recommendations including on the freedom of speech and expression. Clearly, the State shuns reforms to improve the situation and critics of government policies continue to face reprisals in the form of imprisonment and disappearance.

The world is witnessing a rise in reprisals by the State against human rights defenders and activists for their people-centered work. Measures to delegitimize voices of dissent persist. Sombath’s disappearance was a consequence of his challenging the Lao Government’s development model of transforming land to capital which led to massive land deals negotiated by the government and private investment companies that had left thousands of rural Lao villagers landless and with little compensation.

Laos must understand that it is duty-bound to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights and is accountable for their violations of its citizens’ rights.

AFAD stands in solidarity with the family of Sombath and demands that information gathered from the investigation into his case be revealed and perpetrators be brought to justice.

Signed by:

Khurram Parvez Nilda L. Sevilla

Chairperson Secretary-General

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The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) is a regional federation of human rights organizations working toward a world without desaparecidos. AFAD members are based in , , Kashmir, Laos, , , , , , , and Timor-Leste. It advocates truth, justice, redress, reparation, and empowerment for the victims and the reconstruction of the historical memory of the disappeared towards the eradication of enforced disappearances.