Sombath Somphone, Laotian social developer and activist Workers helping poor farmers in Laos disappeared without a trace in Vientiane On the evening of December 15, 2012
CCTV footage shows Sombath being ejected from his vehicle at a police checkpoint and taken to a pickup truck that had driven him to his disappearance.
10 years later, Sui Meng, Sombath’s wife I’m still trying to find answers to her husband’s disappearance from the Lao government. But there was no answer. which further highlights the problem of “Enforced disappearances” of hundreds of social activists in several Southeast Asian countries.
The United Nations defines “Enforced disappearance” as the arrest, detention or kidnapping of a public official or his employee. The government has denied knowing or revealing the fate of those forced to disappear.
Sui Meng, Sombath’s wife Tell VOA Lao officials refused to meet and tell her about her husband’s case of 5 years. The truth she wanted to know was where was her husband? What happened to him? And what did he do wrong? For the past 10 years you have lived without knowing anything. which caused her great suffering
Sombath Somphone was born in Laos and received a scholarship to study in the United States. at the secondary and undergraduate levels he holds a master’s degree in agriculture from Hawaii State University. And he gets back to work helping farmers develop new ways of farming to improve their livelihoods.
In 2001, Sombath was awarded the United Nations Human Resources Development Award. her and four years later she received the Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership.
Sombath questioned the Lao government’s land purchase deal before disappearing. This leaves many families homeless for little or no compensation.
Angkhana Neelaphaijit, human rights activist in Thailand The wife of lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, who has been missing since 2011. Also in 2004, she told VOA In the Sombath case CCTV footage is key evidence that he was taken away . But the fact that officials say there is no information or leads that can be traced “is hypocritical and non-transparent.”
VOA attempted to contact the police and a Lao government spokesman to inquire about the matter, but received no response.
The United Nations agency said that up to May of this year There are 1,303 unsolved cases of enforced disappearances in the ASEAN region alone.
About three-quarters of these occur in the Philippines and East Timor, which used to be part of Indonesia. Most of them are cases that date back several decades. Brunei and Singapore are the only two ASEAN countries that have not reported such abduction cases.
said the Angkhana Currently, such incidents continue to occur throughout ASEAN. And the numbers that the official announced are right. This is “the tip of the iceberg” because there are still many families who have not filed a complaint for fear of being endangered by those who kidnapped their family members.
Katia Chirizzi, Deputy Representative for Southeast Asia The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights believes this scare is one of the reasons government officials continue to use this method.
He spoke at a memorial service to mark the 10th anniversary of Sombath Somphone’s passing in Bangkok on Tuesday. “ASEAN governments often use such tactics to silence their political opponents or government critics… They use fear to send threatening messages to others who are rioting to ask important issues of public interest and concern. The victims they ranged from human rights activists, environmental activists, social activists and political government commentators to lawyers and journalists”.
But fear did not make Sombath’s wife give up on finding a husband
This week, Sui Meng held a memorial service to mark the 10th anniversary of her husband’s passing. as well as raising awareness of the problem of the disappearance of many social activists. You have traveled to meet many foreign diplomats. and leading a civil rights movement in front of the Laotian embassy in Bangkok
She insists that she will continue to pray and hope like the rest of the missing family, hoping to see her husband again one day. And that is what she has nurtured her to be able to endure to this day.
- Source: VOA
