🖤 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗵? 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗢𝗱?#𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗗𝗮𝘆𝗢𝗳𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱

#𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗗𝗮𝘆𝗢𝗳𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 🖤 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗵? 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗢𝗱?

These are the questions asked by families of the disappeared and by the whole world.

But the Lao government has never given an answer.

👉 Enforced disappearance is when a person is abducted by state officials, or with their consent, and their fate and whereabouts are deliberately concealed.

This leaves the victim outside the protection of the law = a grave violation of human rights under international law.

🖤 #𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗜𝘀𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗵?

𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚, a Lao civil society leader and founder of PADETC, who received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2005, was forcibly disappeared on 15 December 2012.

To this day, his family and the international community keep asking:

“Where is Sombath?”

🖤 #𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗜𝘀𝗢𝗱?

𝑶𝒅 𝑺𝒂𝒚𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒏𝒈, a Lao pro-democracy activist from the “Free Lao” group, who was seeking asylum in Thailand, went missing on 26 August 2019.

His case remains unresolved. Thai police merely recorded him as “missing” but have never disclosed further investigation results to his family, nor delivered justice… even until today.

👉The cases of Sombath and Od reflect a culture of impunity in Laos.

Despite repeated calls from the international community — including the United Nations — the Lao government continues to stay silent.

✊🏽 On this International Day of the Disappeared, 30 August 2025, we call on the Lao government to:

🔎 Reveal the truth

⚖️ Conduct transparent investigations

✊ Hold perpetrators accountable

So that justice can be restored to the victims and their families.

#WeAreManushyan ♾️ Equal Human Beings