The wife of an Australian human rights activist who disappeared in Cambodia has made a direct appeal to the federal government: find him, and bring him home. It's the kind of request that sounds almost quaintly straightforward until you remember how these stories usually go.

Tran Hiep, a 50-year-old Australian Vietnamese democracy campaigner, was supposed to fly back to Bangkok, Thailand, on 18 September to reunite with his wife, Chloe Dang, after a short trip to Phnom Penh to meet with human rights defenders. He never boarded the flight. He has not communicated with her since. Eleven days later, Dang is still waiting for a phone call that hasn't come.

"My family and I are really worried about his safety, and we just only want to know where he is and what happened to him," Dang said from Bangkok airport, before boarding a flight to Melbourne. "My husband deserves protection, and I really hope the Australian government will continue to put pressure on Cambodia to do an investigation to find out where he is right now."

Hiep, a freelance IT professional who founded the Australian Alliance to Combat Human Trafficking, was travelling with another human rights activist, Nguyen Duc Thuan, who is also Vietnamese and holds a Norwegian passport. The pair had gone to Cambodia to meet with dissident Vietnamese activists for training - the sort of low-key civil society work that has become increasingly hazardous in the region.

Vietnam has spent recent years ramping up its crackdown on dissidents, with more than 55 activists arrested under broad criminal laws in 2025 alone. Civil society groups and United Nations human rights experts have repeatedly warned of growing co-operation between Vietnamese authorities and neighbouring governments targeting advocates - a trend that gives the phrase "neighbourly relations" a distinctly ominous ring.

Viet Tan, a pro-democracy diaspora political party, described the pair's disappearance as concerning given previous cases involving Vietnamese dissidents vanishing in neighbouring countries and subsequently appearing in custody in Vietnam. "Their disappearance is not an ordinary 'missing person' incident. Both men are long-time human rights advocates and Viet Tan members," the organisation said.

Dang, 36, said the uncertainty has taken a psychological toll. "It's been 11 days and I'm really in the dark," she said, choking back tears. "I don't know where he is and how he's doing - it's driving me crazy."

The Australian government confirmed consular officials were in contact with Dang but declined to comment further, which is at least consistent. "The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian reported missing in Cambodia," a department spokesperson said on Monday.

The families of the missing men have filed an appeal with the UN working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances - a body whose very existence is a reminder that "disappearing" people is, for some governments, still very much a going concern.