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December 2022 - Ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the enforced
disappearance of Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone, we, the
undersigned civil society organisations and individuals, renew calls
on the Lao government to determine his fate and whereabouts and
deliver justice, truth, and reparation to his family. We deplore the
Lao authorities’ repeated failure to act on their human rights
obligations to thoroughly investigate Sombath’s disappearance and
provide adequate, effective, and prompt reparation for Sombath and
his family over the past decade.
Since
Sombath Somphone, a pioneer in community-based development and youth
empowerment, was abducted from a busy street in Vientiane on 15
December 2012, numerous United Nations (UN) member states and human
rights monitoring mechanisms have repeatedly expressed their concern
over his enforced disappearance and urged the Lao government to
conduct a prompt and effective investigation into this grave human
rights violation and crime under international law.
In
December 2014, three UN human rights experts urged the Lao
authorities to “release more information about the progress of
[the] investigation, especially to his family,” and to request
international assistance to determine Sombath’s fate and
whereabouts.
During
the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) sessions examining the human
rights performance of Laos in 2015 and 2020, a total of 11 UN member
states made 15 recommendations that called on the Lao government to
investigate Sombath’s disappearance.
In
July 2018, following the review of Laos’ initial report under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the UN
Human Rights Committee regretted “the paucity of relevant
information” provided by the government regarding its investigation
into Sombath’s case, and called on the government to “step up
efforts to conduct a thorough, credible, impartial and transparent
investigation” into his enforced disappearance.
Following
his official visit to Laos in March 2019, then-UN Special Rapporteur
on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston urged the
government to “finally allow a meaningful investigation” into
Sombath’s disappearance.
Four
special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council have sent three
communications to the Lao government to demand it provide information
on Sombath’s fate and whereabouts and about any investigations
carried out into his enforced disappearance, one as recently as
2021.
Regrettably,
the Lao government’s response to the international community’s
extraordinary expressions of deep concern has been characterized by a
catalogue of apparent inaction, negligence, cover-ups, and misleading
statements, and an overall lack of political will to effectively
address Sombath’s enforced disappearance.
The
Lao authorities have completely failed to uphold their international
legal obligations to investigate Sombath’s disappearance and to
bring those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair
trials before ordinary civilian courts, including under the ICCPR and
the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Laos is a state party.
While Laos is yet to ratify the International Convention for the
Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), which
it signed in 2008, under international law it is obliged not to
defeat the treaty’s object and purpose.
The
impact of enforced disappearances on the relatives of the disappeared
often also constitutes torture. The UN Working Group on Enforced and
Involuntary Disappearances has recognized that official denial of
information to relatives of the disappeared about the truth of their
fate and whereabouts adds to the “continuous torture” enforced
disappearance inflicts upon relatives. The ICPPED further requires
officials to ensure family members are informed on the progress and
results of all appropriate measures authorities are obliged to take
to search for, locate, and release disappeared persons.
Since
December 2012, the Lao authorities have met with Sombath’s wife,
Shui Meng Ng, only four times – the last instance in December 2017.
Officials have not provided her with any updates on her husband’s
situation since then, despite her repeated requests. The government’s
last public remarks on Sombath’s case were made during the third
UPR of Laos in September 2020, when a government representative
merely said the search for Sombath was “the duty of the Lao
government.”
Now,
more than ever, we stand in solidarity with Sombath’s family and
all other victims of enforced disappearances in Laos. We reiterate
our call on the Lao authorities to determine the fate or whereabouts
of all victims of enforced disappearances in Laos, identify the
perpetrators of such serious crimes, and provide victims with an
effective remedy and full reparations. We also urge the government to
accelerate the process of ratification of the ICPPED without making
any reservations and to implement it into national law.
We
have been pressing for justice and accountability for 10 years. We
will not stop demanding the truth until Sombath is found and justice
is delivered for him and his family. Once again, we are united in
asking a simple and straightforward question to the Lao government:
“Where is Sombath?”
Background
Sombath
Somphone was last seen at a police checkpoint on a busy street of
Vientiane on the evening of 15 December 2012. Footage from a 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 later
arriving, and driving Sombath’s vehicle away from the city center.
The presence of police officers at Sombath’s abduction and their
failure to intervene is prima facie evidence of the
involvement of state agents’ participation in Sombath’s fate,
rendering it a presumptive case of enforced disappearance.
For
further information, please visit: https://www.sombath.org/en/
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