Shui-meng, wife of Sombath Somphone, has launched a book on the ninth anniversary of his disappearance
I first came in contact with Shui-meng when the Asia Europe People’s Forum organized a delegation of parliamentarians to visit Laos on Aug. 25-27, 2013. Former AFAD (Asian Federation Against Enforced Disappearances) chairperson Mugiyanto joined the delegation. That was the start of years of friendship and solidarity.
In Shui-meng, I see a colleague, a sister, a victim of the cruelest form of human rights violation.
In Manila in July 2014 during the Third World Conference on psychosocial support for victims of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and other forms of human rights violations, Shui-meng told participants about the treacherous enforced disappearance of her husband Sombath Somphone shown by CCTV footage.
This was followed by years of solidarity actions and lobbying in Geneva. We were together in the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Morocco and Switzerland. In these countries, Shui-meng saw thousands of victims and realized that she is not alone.
In South Korea, where our Timorese and Guatemalan colleagues shared about the reunification of stolen children with their biological families, Shui-meng remembered that it was the country that Sombath and she last visited. They were looking forward to a happy retirement. How she wished that, like the stolen children reunited with their families, she would one day be reunited with her husband.
In 2016, I and all AFAD council members visited Lao capital Vientiane. We commemorated Sombath’s anniversary in PADETC, the training center that he established for young people. It was graced by members of the diplomatic community and the very youth that Sombath mentored.
Wherever you are, you have heard her cry and wiped her tears. It must be all the more painful for you
In a seemingly small and peaceful country like Laos, human rights violations abound. The enforced disappearance of Sombath and at least 10 others are a testament to this.
I never personally met Sombath, but I must have attended his awarding of the 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Award.
In a letter I wrote to Sombath, published on his website, I told him what an admirable wife Shui-meng is. Moreover, I said: “Mr. Sombath, many people know that you would never leave your wife in such pain. But the cruelty of the crime of enforced disappearance forced you to physically separate. We are certain, however, of the strength of your spiritual oneness. Wherever you are, you have heard her cry and wiped her tears. It must be all the more painful for you. But let your spiritual oneness be in itself a source of comfort and strength to each other …”
Nine years later, Shui-meng has produced a book titled Silencing of a Laotian Son, The Life, Works and Enforced Disappearance of Sombath Somphone. This book was launched in Bangkok, Thailand, on Dec. 14, the eve of the ninth anniversary of Sombath’s disappearance.
I am honored to have read and edited the first manuscripts of the book.
In its preface, Shui-meng recalled: “I would never forget that fateful night; it was forever etched into my memory. I was driving in my car following our usual route home at Ban Kok Nin. Sombath was following behind in his old jeep. I could see his jeep from my rear-view mirror until we passed a police post at KM 4 on Thadeua Road. At that point, I suddenly realized that Sombath’s jeep was not behind me anymore. Thinking that Sombath probably stopped for gas, I continued home.
“But he never arrived back at the house … Next morning, I reported Sombath missing to the local district authorities. The single officer present took down the information and advised me to report the case to the main municipality police station. I telephoned everyone I knew in the hope of finding Sombath. I was looking everywhere I could think of.
“And then I noticed something. I noticed a CCTV camera installed near the police post where I had lost sight of Sombath the previous night. This could give us a clue as to what had happened to him.
“At the Municipality Police Station, my family and I requested to see whether the CCTV camera could reveal anything about Sombath’s disappearance. The junior police officers allowed us to view the tapes. And what we saw shocked us.
“The footage clearly showed that Sombath was stopped at the police post and then taken into another vehicle and driven away. We couldn’t believe our eyes. We managed to film the sequence of events off the TV from the CCTV footage.
“I was initially hopeful that with such clear evidence, the police would have to cooperate and find and return Sombath quickly. But my hopes were dashed.”
Nine years have passed and, like most victims of this scourge, Sombath remains disappeared. Since his disappearance, Shui-meng has been spending every moment of her life in seeking the truth, in searching from pillar to post to find Sombath and in attaining the elusive justice. Yet all she gets is a blank wall.
Only in Shui-meng’s dreams does Sombath return. But when she wakes up, she is confronted with the harsh reality of his indefinite absence
At the UN, no matter the personal commitment and solidarity of its officials, Shui-meng always left the huge edifice with questions unanswered. The loud voice of the NGO community and of some UN states miserably failed to prick the calloused conscience of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
After joining the UN in 1955, Laos has been boasting of its commitment to the values of the UN Charter and is actively contributing to global development under the three pillars of the charter: peace and security, development and human rights.
To note, in 2008, Laos signed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Signing signifies doing nothing contrary to the spirit and letter of the instrument. Calls for ratification from states and civil society fell on deaf ears.
Only in Shui-meng’s dreams does Sombath return. But when she wakes up, she is confronted with the harsh reality of his indefinite absence. Like the mothers and grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo of Argentina, she is tireless in her search. While some of them succeeded in finding their grandchildren alive, Shui-meng has never found Sombath.
I look forward to reading Shui-meng’s book. It is surely a narrative of pain, of love and commitment to continue the struggle for truth and justice, and of the undying hope against hope that Sombath will surface alive.
The Lao government has never silenced Sombath and all the others disappeared. On the contrary, by forcibly disappearing its citizens, it is showing its real nature before the international community.
NO to enforced disappearances. Truth and justice for Sombath and all desaparecidos.
* The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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