The Asia Europe Peoples Forum (AEPF), like many civil society organisations and networks, together with families and friends of those who have been forcibly disappeared, continues to search for answers from governments under whose watch enforced disappearances have taken place.
The disappeared include women and men who have championed democracy, human rights, equality, and social, environmental and climate justice, and defended the rights of workers, peasants, fishers, indigenous peoples and women.
Enforced disappearance is a heinous violation of human rights and infringes upon a range of human rights embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and elaborated in major international human rights instruments. It is an international crime and a crime not only against the disappeared and their families, but against entire society since it is a strategy to spread terror and silence those who seek justice and closure. When practiced repeatedly and systematically, enforced disappearance constitutes a crime against humanity.
We ask responsible, accountable governments committed to the rule of law to put pressure on governments who refuse to answer questions about the disappeared, despite compelling evidence of their actions. We demand that all nations pledge an end to this inhuman, criminal practice.
We make this appeal based on our own loss and experience.
Sombath Somphone, a civil society leader and co-organiser of the AEPF in 2012[i] in the Lao PDR (Laos), was forcibly disappeared in Vientiane on 15 December 2012 on his way home.[ii] Footage from CCTV cameras[iii] reveals that he was last seen at a police check-post where his vehicle was stopped and within minutes individuals forced him into another vehicle and drove away. The fact that this was done in the presence of police officers strongly indicates the complicity of state actors.
Since then, the Lao Government has failed to provide any credible answer to Sombath’s disappearance. Sombath’s wife Shui Meng-Ng continues to wait and search for her husband. She along with the AEPF demands answers from the Lao Government and extends her support for the hundreds who have been forcibly disappeared before and after Sombath. Disturbingly, this practice continues in many countries, especially where there is resistance to state oppression and the socially and environmentally destructive practices of many corporations.
Since Sombath’s disappearance, the AEPF has repeatedly appealed to the European Union, ASEAN bodies and the Lao Government to
- Give credible answers to the whereabouts of Sombath Somphone.
- Set up an impartial and legitimate enquiries into enforced disappearances, including that of Sombath Somphone.
- Work with all countries to sign, ratify, incorporate into domestic legislation and implement the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED)
- Regularly report internationally on the practice and observance of this Convention at country level.
This year, on the anniversary of the disappearance of Sombath Somphone, we once again call on international organizations, governments, parliaments, institutions, civil society organisations and others to join together to end enforced disappearance and deliver justice to the victims of this heinous crime.
Signed
AEPF
[i] 9th Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF9) • ASEM InfoBoard
[ii] https://www.sombath.org/en/
[iii] https://www.sombath.org/en/who-is-sombath/video
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