🚨 Where is Sombath? 13 years on. Still no action, answers, nor justice for the forcibly disappeared Lao activist

Today, we commemorate Sombath Somphone, a renowned Lao activist and community leader. On 15 December 2012, he was abducted in broad daylight in Vientiane. His fate remains unknown.

Thirteen years later, no perpetrators have been identified. The Lao government has conveniently failed to conduct a credible investigation and ignored repeated calls for accountability. Even though many high-ranking officials from the time of his disappearance still hold powerful roles today.

⚠️ Thirteen years of deliberate inaction and silence is not bureaucracy, it is political violence.

The Lao authorities can act: identify those responsible, cooperate with international mechanisms, ratify and implement the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Refusing to act is a choice, an act of impunity denying Sombath’s family the truth they deserve.

✊ But despite the silence, Sombath’s legacy – on youth empowerment, community-led development, and environmental justice – lives on.

At Manushya Foundation, we will never tire of calling for justice and asking #WhereIsSombath?

📎 Read our full joint statement with FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights) and partners urging renewed international action for Sombath: bit.ly/WhereIsSombath13

#JusticeForSombath #HumanRights #EnforcedDisappearances #Laos