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On 15 December 2024, marking the 12-year anniversary of the unresolved enforced disappearance of Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone, civil society organisations and individuals worldwide, including The Observatory (FIDH-OMCT), urged 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.
During the third UPR of Laos in January 2020, seven UN member states
formulated recommendations or advance questions on Sombath’s case.
During both reviews, the Lao government claimed its investigation
into Sombath’s enforced disappearance was ongoing. Such statements have
been contradicted by the undisputable 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.
At the upcoming UPR, UN member states should call on the Lao
government to take throrough 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 organisations 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 organisations 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: https://www.sombath.org/
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