GE.19-18005(E)
Human Rights Council
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Thirty-fifth session
20–31 January 2020
National report submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 16/21*
Lao People’s Democratic Republic
* The present document has been reproduced as received. Its content does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations.
General Assembly Distr.: General 11 November 2019
Original: English
I. Process for the preparation of the report
1. The National Report under the 3rd cycle of the Universal Periodic Review has been prepared by the Technical Drafting Committee, composed of members from the line ministries and relevant sectors, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) as the focal points. The information used was based on the coordination with and contribution from the line ministries, relevant sectors and State organizations in accordance with the United Nations Human Rights Council’s General Guidelines, relevant resolutions and decision1 and the subsequent Guidance Note.
2. This National Report is focused on the implementation of the 116 recommendations that the Lao PDR had supported under its 2nd cycle review in 2015, reflecting the importance attached and efforts made by the Lao Government in the promotion and protection of human rights, with a view to assuring the enhancement of the rights of the Lao people in accordance with the Constitution and laws, and in line with the obligations of the Lao PDR under the UN human rights treaties to which the Lao PDR is a party.
3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has presented versions of the draft report for consultations with line ministries and relevant Sectors (4 times), and international organizations, CSOs and INGOs (2 times) before submitting to the government for approval.
II. Process of implementation of the recommendations
4. The Government has seriously taken up the responsibility to implementing the 116 recommendations that the Lao PDR supported. The process began with the translation into Lao language and clustering of all the recommendations, officially published and distributed to various sectors and government agencies, CSOs and INGOs that are operating in the Lao PDR. With the support of the UNDP through the SPLSMP2, MoFA has organized numerous consultation sessions with the line ministries and relevant sectors in order to formulate an Action Plan with designated responsible agencies and activities to implement the recommendations, with the majority of them linked to 8th NSEDP3 and the work plans of the respective implementing agencies. The National Committee on Human Rights, through MoFA, had established a Technical Working Group to monitor the progress of the implementation of the recommendations. The group met periodically to review the status of implementation. The Lao PDR has amended and adopted a number of laws, put in place policies and measures to implement those recommendations.
III. Progress on the promotion and protection of human rights in the Lao PDR
5. Simultaneously, in an effort to realize the national motto which is to build a State that is of the people, by the people and for the people, the promotion and protection of human rights of all the Lao people is an important agenda that the Government attaches its special attention to. The Government continues to build and enhance the enabling conditions and environment for the full enjoyment by the people of their political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights as guaranteed in the Constitution and laws, in line with its international obligations under the human rights treaties to which it is a party. Since 2015, the National Assembly has adopted 42 new laws and amended 31 of existing laws, including the Constitution. The amended Constitution now stipulates that the State acknowledges respects, protects, and guarantees the human rights including fundamental rights of the citizens in accordance to the law.
6. Over the past five years, Lao PDR continues to maintain its political stability and security, along with continuous high rate of economic growth, averaging 6.5% per year, the living conditions of the people had also gradually improved. The Government has adopted the 10 year Strategic Development Plan for 2016-2025, the Vision 2030, and the 8th NSEDP for 2016-2020, with a view to graduating from the LDC4 status by 2024, to become
a self-reliant and an upper-middle income country by 2030, on the whole is to constantly enhance and up-lift the living conditions for all the multi-ethnic Lao people.
IV. Implementation of the recommendations
A. Adoption and implementation of the human rights treaties5
7. The 8th Legislature of the National Assembly had adopted its Law Making and Amending Plan for 2015-2020 with a total target of 105 laws6. These ambitious efforts, in part, stemmed from the political will to integrate the substance and aspirations from the international treaties to which the Lao PDR is party, including human rights treaties. The said new laws include the codification of the first ever Penal Code, Civil Code, Law on State Compensation, Law on Treaties and International Agreements, among others7. There are also amendments, for instance, the Law on Election of the National Assembly and the People’s Provincial Assembly, and so on8. The Lao PDR has streamlined the provisions of the international treaties, which it is party to, including human rights treaties, into its domestic law such as the inclusion of the definition of torture, trafficking in persons, corruption, genocide, terrorism, money-laundering and financing of terrorism, ethnic discrimination, discrimination against women, as well as discrimination against persons with disabilities into its Penal Code and stipulated those acts as criminal offenses.
8. In order to more effectively monitor the Lao PDR’s implementation of the human rights treaties, to which it is party, the Lao PDR has revised and amended the Terms of Reference of its existing national human rights mechanisms, such as: the National Steering Committee on Human Rights established 20129, which has been renamed to the National Committee on Human Rights, as well as its mandate and network of focal points across relevant government organizations, offices of prosecutor, legislative organizations and mass organizations has been improved and expanded, with a view to guaranteeing the implementation by those organizations with higher productivity. The National Commission on Advancement of Women and Mothers-Children (NCAWMC)10, the National Committee for Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly, and the National Steering Committee on Anti- Human Trafficking11 set up its network at central and local levels. These national committees and commissions have improved their respective mandates and ToRs to be more robust and increased its capabilities on cooperation and coordination with various sectors in society to be more involved in their respective operating processes. The National Assembly has established its Women’s Caucus and improved its hotline service (156). The Prime Minister’s Office has also opened its own hotline (1516) and installed the people’s complaint boxes at various ministries in order for them to be able to directly communicate their comments and questions regarding their collective and personal issues and interests.
9. The Lao PDR continues its awareness raising and capacity building for state officials from central to local levels on the UN core human rights treaties and the additional protocols, including those the Lao PDR has yet to become a party. It shall also continue to proceed with its legislation adjustment efforts i.e. steadily improving its necessary and appropriate internal mechanisms to match the actual conditions and leading to the consideration of ratification of those international human rights instruments at appropriate time.
B. Awareness raising and training on human rights affairs12
10. The Lao PDR attaches importance to awareness raising and training on human rights for state officials and the general public in order to create a conscience of respect for the fundamental human rights i.e. legal awareness across society. The Lao PDR also pays attention towards building capacity as well as better understanding for the officials whose responsibilities include coordinating and implementing the promotion and protection of human rights, including law enforcement officers and other authorities from central to local level, members of the National Assembly and People’s Provincial Assemblies, academics and students, stakeholders and the general public through various initiatives on regular
basis. Some of those activities include organizing trainings, seminars, and discussions and on occasions thematic experts were invited from abroad to share their lessons and perspective. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also published a compilation of human rights treaties book, as well as a handbook on basic human rights information and distributed them to officials and law enforcement officers, members of the National Assembly, judicial officials, lawyers and law students. The MOJ13, together with NCAWMC and MPS14 have created brochures on protection of the rights and interests of children to distribute free of charge across the society. In order to raise awareness and understanding, and to enhance the respect for human rights, the Lao PDR has celebrated the International Human Rights Day in December of every year, along with guest lectures on human rights organized at various educational institutions. Other relevant international commemorations such as International Women’s day, Children’s day, Anti-Human Trafficking day and others were also organized for the general public.
C. Human rights cooperation at international, regional and bilateral levels15
11. In order to implement the UPR 2nd cycle’s recommendations, as well as treaty obligations that the Lao PDR is a party to, the Lao PDR has not only focused all its endeavors and capacity on domestic implementation, but has also cooperated with the international community and international organizations, including OHCHR and its regional office. Concurrently, the Lao PDR has received assistance from the UN Country Office in the Lao PDR through the LSMP Project, the bilateral cooperation through CEGGA16 program which is under the financial support from the EU and Switzerland, as well as the TCP17 with Australia, and other assistances from UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women, and the World Bank. The Lao PDR has a Human Rights Dialogue on a yearly basis with the EU and biennially with Australia, in order to exchange the lessons learned in terms of implementing the promotion and protection of human rights.
12. The Lao PDR has actively cooperated with ASEAN in enhancing the promotion and protection of human rights, including the development of normative frameworks, the policy, plan for implementation of all ASEAN human rights mechanisms. The Lao PDR also took lead in undertaking the ASEAN Thematic Studies on the Right to Peace and the Right to access to tertiary education.
D. Cooperation with treaty bodies and special procedures (recommendations 66, 68 and 69)
13. The Lao PDR continues its cooperation and communication with the UN human rights mechanisms, including the Human Rights Council and the treaty bodies to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights. During the 2015-2019 period, the Lao PDR has submitted 4 national reports, namely, on ICCPR18; CEDAW19; CRC20; CRPD21; in 2018 it has submitted its national report on its implementation of the OP-CRC-AC and OP-CRC- SC to the relevant Committee and is currently awaiting the review process. At the moment, the Lao PDR is mustering its efforts to expedite the completion of its initial report under the ICESCR and its subsequent submission in haste. In 2020, the Lao PDR will begin the drafting process of its 19-21 report under the ICERD along with its initial report under the CAT.
14. The Lao PDR continues to cooperate with the special procedures, as it has invited and received visits by the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in 2017, and the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in 2019. The Lao PDR will continue to cooperate with the UN Special Procedures including, as appropriate, inviting thematic special rapporteurs which shall be on a case by case basis.
E. Development of rule of law and good governance22
15. The Lao PDR continues to implement the LSMP23 2009-2020. Since 2015 up to present, it has emphasized on improving the Justice Sector, building good governance and public administration, strengthening prevention and anti-corruption.
16. In developing and improving the Justice Sector, the Government focalized its efforts on completing its law making and amendment targets, strengthening the organizations in the Justice Sector, building capacity for the law students and legal professionals, and further promoting the law dissemination campaigns and access to justice. Since 2015, the 8th legislature of the NA24 has adopted 43 new laws and 31 amendments.
17. In order to further strengthen law implementation, the Lao PDR has given importance to dissemination and campaigns on laws, legislations and human rights treaties to which the Lao PDR is party, through many forms including trainings and seminars for State officials from central to local level, law enforcement officers and judicial officials, in order to raise their awareness and capacities specifically on human rights. In addition, the Lao PDR has created a legal database in a form of the “Lao Law Application” for both IOS and Android platforms, allowing the people to access to legal information and encourage their participation in providing their comments to the draft laws. The Lao PDR has frequently disseminated law in some ethnic languages through the national and community radio and television stations.
18. On judicial development, the PSC25 and the OSPP26 have improved their respective organization and subsidiary organs to better match the actual socio-economic conditions.
The laws related to the work of the courts and prosecutor’s offices have also been amended, to enhance the capacities of the judges and prosecutors. As a means to further promote and provide better access to justice for the people, the Government has issued the Decree on Legal Aid and Decree on Legal Aid Fund for the disadvantaged people in 2017. At present, there are 15 Legal Aid Offices across the country, out of which 12 are located in the Provincial Justice Departments, 3 in District Justice Offices, which has increased access to justice for the people.
19. On improving good governance and public administration, the Lao PDR has focused its attention to increasing the effectiveness of its governance and public administration through improving the organizational structure of all public administration levels, to become more lean, robust and consistent with the actual conditions, with an aim to carrying out their roles in macro public administration in a more effective and productive manner. At the same time, the Lao PDR has also improved the local authorities and mechanisms as deemed appropriate, to ensure that the local public administration adheres to the “3 Builds Directive”27. Additionally, the management of State employees has been improved28. 20. The Lao PDR also has put in efforts to improve and modernize its public administration through initiating Personnel Information Management Systems (PIMs) as the mainframe accounting for State officials and issuance of ID cards for State officials across the country which is expected to be completed by 2021. In this regard, the Lao PDR also has made progress in managing its citizen affairs, namely the amendment of the Law on Family Registration 2018, conducted studies to establish a modernized e-database for citizen affairs especially for registration and citizen statistics data gathering.
21. On strengthening the work on prevention and anti-corruption, since 2015, the Lao PDR has adopted many legislations, for instance, the Law on State Inspection 2017, Decree on Ethics of State Officials-Employees 2019, among others29. The State Inspection Authority has conducted Assets Declaration of all State officials and employees 2 times in the 2016-2017 period. The Lao PDR continues to implement its Strategic Plan on Anti- Corruption until 2020, Plan of Actions (POA from here onwards) on Prevention and Anti- Corruption 2016-2025 which has been integrated into its 8th NSEDP. Furthermore, anti- corruption inspection has been conducted in a strict and momentous manner, particularly in monitoring and inspecting corrupt behaviors of Government officials, State authorities, business men and entrepreneurs with re-education, disciplinary measures, criminal and compensatory or parity measures based on the severity of offense of each case. In 2018, there were 1,002 persons of suspicious behaviors, out of which 113 persons have been
prosecuted, 55 persons have been found guilty by the courts. These include State officials and businessmen.
F. Political and civil rights
1. Right to freedom of expression and media30
22. The rights to freedom of Lao citizens to speech and writing has been guaranteed in the Constitution Article 44. In this regard, in order to further build upon those substance and aspiration, the Lao PDR has also adopted many relevant laws. The rights to freedom of expression in criticizing persons through the media in a creative manner, legal persons and organizations and the rights to express opinions towards the current affairs, both domestic and international, and the rights and freedom to access information, have all been stipulated in the Law on Media31 and other laws32. Any violation of a person’s rights and freedom to lawful expression in speech or writing is a criminal offense according to Article 221 of the Penal Code 2017. However, in exercising the rights and freedom of expression must take into account the obligations and accountability to the reputation and dignity of others, national security, social orders, social harmony and other values as provisioned in the ICCPR’s Article 19 (3). In line with the said provision, the Lao PDR has stipulated limitations in the Law on Media and the Law on Combating and Preventing Cyber Crime with a view to preventing the media from promoting violence and any advertisement for the purpose of war, distorted information or disinformation, slandering or libels against the reputation and dignity of individuals, legal entities and organizations, prohibition of any advertisement of crime and allurements which lead to ruin, damaging to the national security, peace, social order, the fine culture and traditions of the country. Through the Gap Analysis conducted by an international law expert from the CEGGA program, a report was presented on 27 June 201833, it was observed that the domestic laws are in line with the limitations provided for in Article 19 number 3 of the ICCPR, and are not in violation of the basic principles of international human rights law including those relating to freedom of expression and media.
23. The rights to expression of the citizen has been promoted in many forms such as seminars on related themes, expressions through conventional medias (prints, radio and television) as well as online social media with 2.5 million people as registered users of Facebook which has become the main platform of the public, individuals and organizations alike are freely engaged in expressing their opinions that are lawful. In addition, the Lao PDR also promotes Digital Economy, in late 2018 ICT services in urban and rural areas has enabled the people to access and use them conveniently34.
2. Right to association (recommendation number 152, 153 and 154)
24. The Government considers the associations and foundations as well as civil society organizations of both domestic and from abroad as important contributors to the national building and development. The Government has laid out the policy, improved and adopted a number of legislations35 with an aim to better facilitate the approval processes of registration and activities of Lao associations. The MOFA has issued a Guideline in 2018 on detail implementation of Article 55, para 2 of the Decree 238 on granting of approval for associations and foundations to receive funds, properties and experts from overseas. In order to further facilitate the work of the associations, MOHA36 has published a Handbook on operations of associations and various paperwork required for establishing an association or foundation as a reference for the State agencies and the people in general, it has disseminated those said legislations to line ministries and relevant sectors across the country, including any citizen who might be interested in forming an association or foundation, representatives of CSOs who have been officially approved across the country.
In an attempt to facilitate the approval of associations in a more timely manner in accordance with the new Decree, the Government assigns line ministries and equivalent organizations to take ownership in considering and approving of associations of any economic, vocational, technical or innovative nature. As for foundations, MOHA, Provincial Governors, City Mayors are the ones who consider and approve in accordance with the working scope of each foundation. The same Decree also provided for the roles
and duties of local authorities as well as the more lucid coordination among central and local authorities. At present, the Lao PDR has approved a total of 163 associations and 25 foundations. The Government has established a mechanism to link between the State agencies and representatives of CSOs and other development partners to exchange the lessons learned from implementing various activities and relevant legislations.
25. The Lao PDR has creates a good environment and conditions for the operations of INGOs that are working in the Lao PDR, based on the Prime Minister’s Guideline in 2015 to further explain in detail the Decree 013 of 2010 on Management of International Non- Governmental Organizations, with an aim to productively managing the operation of INGOs. These two legislations have been disseminated to the relevant sectors and local authorities, with an aim to promote better understanding and harmonized implementation across the country. In this regard, the Lao PDR has also set up a discussion platform between the Government and NGOs and donors, to meet quarterly and monitor the implementation and discuss on how to best tackle the challenges. At the moment, the Lao PDR has granted Operation Permits to 167 NGOs.
3. Rights to freedom of religion37
26. The Lao PDR respects and protects the rights and freedom of the people to believe or not to believe in religion as enshrined in Article 43, and prohibits all acts of division among religions and people in Article 9 of the Constitution. Decree number 92/PM38 of 2002 has been amended and replaced by Decree number 315/GOV in 2016, based on consultations with relevant sectors, various religious leaders, and other stakeholders. The new Decree consist of many new provisions on principles, regulations and measures concerning the matter, in order to enable monks, priests, preachers, believers and religious organizations to conduct their activities in accordance with the law, regulations, legitimate interpretation and preaching of each religion, with an aim to protecting, maintaining and enhancing the national culture, promoting national harmony among believers while also contributing to the nation’s safeguarding and building. MOHA has been conducting a number of dissemination workshops and campaigns and wide consultation with an aim to gathering of comments from religion believers and local authorities, and religious organizations across the country towards the implementation of the said Decree. The largely prevailing views are that this Decree is most suitable for the current state of affairs.
At the same time, as the responsibilities of MOHA and LFND39, who have their administrative networks from central to local level, have formed a mechanism for protection and promotion of the rights and freedom to religion across the country.
4. Right to fair trial40
27. Article 53 of the Constitution stipulates that “Lao citizens are all equal before the law irrespective of their gender, social status, education, beliefs and ethnic group.” In order to ensure that all Lao citizens enjoy the right to fair trial and protection of the right to contest and argue evidence against him and present evidence in his favor, the Lao PDR has rolled out a number of legal instruments41, all of which provided the basic principles of criminal and civil procedures that guarantee equality of all citizens before the law and courts and guarantee of the following right42. Especially criminal proceedings must be conducted in an open manner; the judges must be independent, impartial and adjudicate cases in accordance with the laws. Article 65 of the Criminal Procedure law clearly stipulates on the rights of the accused, for instance the rights to be informed of the charge(s) against him and contest the charge (s), rights to receive explanations of their rights and obligations in case proceedings, rights to provide evidence and testimonials, rights to request to be released on bail, rights to access the investigation order, prosecution order and statement of the Head of the Office of People’s Prosecutors, rights to access the case files, rights to be represented by and meet a lawyer or protector, rights to object and request a change of judges, experts or interpreter, rights to make a counterclaim on the acts or orders that are deemed as wrongful made by the Head of the Investigation Organization, investigating officers, the Head of the Office of People’s Prosecutors or the officials or staffs, rights to appeal against and request for revocation of the orders made by the Head of the Investigation Organization or the Head of the Office of People’s Prosecutors.
28. In order to provide assistance and protection of rights of the accused who may be a disadvantaged citizen, the Government has adopted the Decree on Legal Aid in 2018 and assigned the Ministry of Justice, Provincial Department of Justice, City Authorities, District Justice Offices, LBA’s43 Legal Aid offices to be providers of free legal aid. the LBA’s Legal Aid Office in Vientiane Capital has been established and provided free legal advice to the public between 2015-2020 in a total of 150 times, with 96 cases, out of which 30 were criminal cases, 41 civil and 25 family cases.
5. Against torture, treatment of inmates and arbitrary arrests44
29. Torture and degrading treatment are criminal offenses, according to Article 212 of the Penal Code45. Article 87 of the same law also provides any individual who physically assaulted or tortured a sentence-serving prisoner is punishable by 3 months to 3 years imprisonment or correctional measures without imprisonment and fines.
30. Article 257 of Criminal Procedure Law and Article 10 number 7 and Article 54 of the Law on Office of People’s Prosecutor 2017 provide that the Offices of People’s Prosecutor has the right to inspect the conducts of officers in charge of detention and holding facilities, correctional and detention centers and other judgment enforcement facilities. All those facilities mentioned above must abide by the Orders from the Head of OPP46 of their respective jurisdiction in accordance with the law. Article 55 of the latter law further stipulates that all complaints, comments received from detainees must be forwarded to the OPP within 48 hours. In order to ensure the inspection of all holding and detention facilities, the Government has established a coordination and cooperation mechanism among MPS, MOJ and OSPP47, designating officials from each organization to be stationed at those facilities, at the moment such a mechanism has been implemented in 2 pilot provinces48. Other provinces are expected to follow suit in due time.
31. The Government attaches attention to a policy for humanitarian treatment of prisoners, aimed at improving the living conditions in prisons. As such, the Government has allocated a budget to steadily upgrade and improve the conditions of detention facilities, through infrastructure development of many correction-detention facilities across the country with an aim to reducing the crowdedness of prisoners. A new prison has been constructed at Tarnpiao village, Vientiane Province, not only with a more spacious facility but also one that has its own modern clinic for prisoners. Furthermore, the Government also has other humanitarian treatment for prisoners49. On special occasions of the Nation, the Government also grants clemency or pardons such as reduction of sentence or early release50. Since 2015-2018 there were a total of 4,864 prisoners who received clemency, out of which 1,001 were female. As for 2019, there are currently 1,842 prisoners under consideration for clemency, out of which 349 prisoners are being considered for release.
32. Arrests and holdings made by officers must be done on the basis of an order from the Chief of the IIO or the OPP or PC51. Arbitrary holding, arrest or detention is a criminal offence under Article 217 of the Penal Code. The Law on Juvenile Procedure, Article 14 stipulates on prohibition against violating the rights and freedoms of children, prohibits acts of unlawful holding, arrest, detention, property or physical search of the child, offenders shall be prosecuted and subject to criminal liabilities as well as compensatory fines. The Law52 also provides that if necessary it is permissible to hold a child in custody for 48 hours if the offense is serious, which carries a maximum sentence of 3 years imprisonment or more, provided that there are strong and sufficient evidence, and the officers must notify the parents on the grounds for holding the child and inform them of their legal rights.
6. Anti-trafficking in persons53
33. Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is defined as a criminal offense in the Lao PDR in accordance with the Law on Anti-TIP 2015 and the Penal Code in 2017, with the same definition of TIP as stipulated the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, all of which the Lao PDR is party. At the moment, the Government is implementing its National Plan on Anti-TIP Phase 2 for 2016-2020, with allocated national budget and assigned the National Steering Committee on Anti-Human Trafficking as the main implementing agency, in
collaboration with relevant government agencies and stakeholders. The Lao PDR has established bilateral cooperative platforms with 4 neighboring countries and multilateral cooperation at sub-regional and regional level, as well as cooperation with international organizations.
34. In order to address the root causes of human trafficking, the Government considers prevention and suppression as the main tasks, expediting the awareness raising campaigns on the danger of human trafficking for all members of society especially women and children and focusing on the people living in border areas and high-risk villages. Up to present, the campaigns have reached 83 target areas, covering 451 villages, amounting to 17,274 people including 8,805 women. Awareness raising campaigns on the danger of human trafficking were conducted through many means and platforms such as: radio and television programs, brochures, dramas, short films, music contest and many other activities. Trainings were organized for the mass media to enhance the effectiveness of advertisements against human trafficking and illegal migration, Annual events were held on the World Day against Trafficking in Persons with participation from government agencies, stakeholders and the general public.
35. In strengthening the capacity of law enforcement officers from central to local level which is the top priority for preventing and combating of human trafficking, the Lao PDR emphasizes on dissemination the relevant treaties along with relevant domestic laws and national POA in efforts to strengthen village authorities and those working in the area of anti-human trafficking at local level, to have a clear and common understanding of this important work. Furthermore, the Government also strongly emphasized training on victim identification, providing of first instance assistance with victim’s rights and interests oriented approach, human trafficking specific investigation-interrogation techniques, dissemination on the UN treaty bodies concluding observations concerning human trafficking, ethics of officers concerning human trafficking proceedings, in a total of 13 training session across the country, with 622 participants, including 115 women.
36. The Government attaches a great attention to the protection and assistance of victims as priority by giving prominence on the rights and interests of the victims and provide all necessary assistance to the victims of TIP54. The Government has assigned these tasks to the Lao Women’s Union (the Counseling and Protection for Women-Children Center) as the main organization. Their works also include providing free physical and psychological rehabilitation, phone counseling and hotline service 1362 that also receives reporting of human trafficking cases. They have also set up Counseling Offices for Women and Children in all 17 provinces and one in the Capital City of Vientiane, as well as 148 districts across the country. In addition, in response to the needs of the victims, the Government has established another temporary Shelter Center for victims of TIP in Louangnamtha Province. Furthermore, the Government has also improved the coordination among state agencies and CSOs in a more harmonious manner in order to provide urgent and timely assistance to the victims.
7. Enforced disappearance
37. The Government has taken all necessary measures through the specifically established Investigation Committee to solve the alleged disappearance case as per the UPR recommendations 121.96, 98, 99 and 100 which were supported by the Lao Government.
The Investigation Committee has notified the INTERPOL and ASEANAPOL for assistance and providing of information relevant to the case and stands ready to receive any useful and relevant information from all parties. The search for the truth and bringing perpetrators to face justice according to the law is a responsibility of the Government. At the moment, the said committee continues to conduct their work in investigation, compiling and analyzing of information and evidence, among others. The Head of the Committee also met with members of the Diplomatic Corps and family members of the disappeared person to brief them of the progress of the investigation. The Government, through the Investigation Committee is looking into all aspects that may provide leads to the causes of the disappearance.
G. Protection of specific groups
1. Rights of women and family protection55
38. The Government has put in place the policy on gender equality promotion which is another priority. The Constitution Article 37 provides for equality of all Lao citizens of all gender in terms of political, economic, social, cultural and family rights. Anyone who discriminates, divides, obstructs or limits women from participation in political, economic, scientific, cultural, social and family activities is committing a criminal offense under Article 224 of the Penal Code and shall be punished accordingly. Furthermore, the Lao PDR has adopted numerous laws that protect, develop and promote women56. In order to further enhance gender equality, the National Assembly in the process of considering adoption the Law on Gender Equality by the end of 2020.
39. In order to further develop and empower women in all aspects, the Government has adopted and implemented a number of plans57. The Lao PDR has reported on the implementation of each aspect of work through its 8th-9th National Report under the CEDAW and its Report on implementation of the Beijing Declaration. Through the implementation, it is observed that gender equality in the Lao PDR has been steadily developing and enhancing, which according to the 2018 Global Gender Gap Index the Lao PDR ranks 26th out of 149 countries across the world, in comparison to 2013 GGGI where the Lao PDR ranked 60th, thus reflecting significant progress made.
40. In 2018, the total number of female government officials was 22,530 which accounts for 32.25% of the entire government workforce, comparing to the target of 50% it can be observed to be on track towards achieving by 2020; women in management level positions are provided in detail as follows: 68 women or 7.35% were at minister and equivalent level;
190 women were at vice minister or vice governor and equivalent level which accounted for 12.63%; 798 women were at director general level covering 15.16%; a deputy director level was at 17.54%; in summary the target for at least 30% of management level positions to be occupied by women has been reached at Central level. At district level 2.75% were women and deputy district mayor level reached 14.28%. In the election for the 8th legislature, 41 of the elected members were women, amounting to 27.5% of the total 149 members which falls short of the 30% target, but comparing to the 7th legislature it is a 2.5% increase. There are currently 116 female members of the People’s Provincial Assemblies, which is 32% of the total 360 Members, a successful achievement of the 30%
target.
41. The Lao PDR is composed of multiple ethnic groups, rich and diverse in traditions, customs and cultures. However, some ethnic groups living in remote areas continue to uphold the odd traditions that may post a risk to women in terms of violence, discrimination and obstacles to their development. On this issue, the Government has employed measures that are inclusive for the ethnic communities to be involved in elimination of those beliefs, the mindset and behaviors that posts risks of violence against women and children are sensitively being addressed through awareness raising on the dangers and ill effects of those old traditions against the wellbeing of women and their development. The campaigns also included dissemination on the National POA on Combating and Elimination of Violence against Women and Children (2014-2020).
2. Family protection58
42. The Lao PDR continues to provide effective protection to families, as a natural and fundamental unit and foundation of society, through the implementation of relevant laws59. In addition, the LWU60 has issued a Decision on Family Building and Women’s 3 Righteous initiative which is related to the 3 Builds initiatives in line with the Decree number 348/GOV on Poverty Graduation and Development Criteria 2016-2025, along with the creation of the Handbook on those said topics. During 2018-2019, the campaign reached 56 districts and 65 villages across the country, covering 12,433 houses and 17,207 households.
43. The prohibition for women aged below 18 years of age from marriage has been stipulated in Article 17 of the Law on Development and Protection of Women.
Furthermore, coercion of children aged under 18 into marriage and marriage with person under the age of 18 are criminal offenses, prescribed in Article 268, Para 3 and Article 269 of the Penal Code. Other than legal measures, the Lao PDR, through the financial support from international organization, has organized campaigns on the ill effect of pre-mature marriage to the youths, including family planning for healthy parents, safe and good lifestyle, with community involvement approach. Another project was initiated on building networks and sharing of life experiences from young mothers, as well as translation, publication and free-distribution of the handbook on inclusive health services, among other activities.
3. The right of the child61
44. The Lao PDR attaches attention and importance to the protection of the rights and interests of the child i.e. their development through its policy, legal measures and national mechanisms. Other than the Law on Protection of the Rights and Interests of Children adopted in 2006, since 2015, the National Assembly has adopted many laws in relation to the rights of the child62. The Lao PDR adopted a number of the National POAs63. At the same time, further attention has been given to implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols that the Lao PDR is party to. In this regard, the MOES64 and MOH65 have integrated those POAs into their respective work plans.
45. Children and Health: access to care and fundamental health services for mothers and children is another important task of the Health Sector. The Government has adopted the National Strategic Plan on Reproductive Health, Services for Mothers and Newborns and Child Healthcare 2016-2025. Furthermore, the Government has adopted the National POA on Mothers and Children 2016-2020 with an aim to reducing under 5 child mortality rate of and malnutrition of children aged below 5 years old. In order to achieve the said POA, the Government has put in place the policy healthcare for mothers and child, with free of charge birth and treatment for children aged below 5 years old, across all healthcare or public health services across the country, and it also has put in place and implemented plans to strengthen capacity of the serving midwives. Through implementing those POAs, many progresses have been made in reducing the rate of stinted children age 5 years and below who weighted below standards to 20.5% which is a success compared to the POA’s target of 22%; infant mortality rate was on track and reduced to 41/1000 infants (2017) compared to the POA target of 30/1000 by 2020; under 5 child mortality was at 45/1000 in 2017 comparing to the 5 year POA target at 34/1000 children. In general, there have been good progresses made leading to estimation of all targets being achieved by 2020.
46. Children and Education: the Lao PDR continues to improve its legislations and reform education to guarantee of reaching all children across the country and address the issue of children abandoning schools. In terms of legislation, Article 28 of the Law on Education has provided that mandatory education is necessary for Lao citizens to complete;
Article 45 of the same law further stipulates that students from families in poverty, disadvantage, of disabilities, of great talent or excellent students especially girls and ethnic students shall receive allowances according to the regulations. The Education Sector has implemented the Strategic Plan for Gender Equality and Mothers and Children and integrated it to the 8th 5-year POA on Education and Sports 2016-2020, the 10-year Strategic Plan for Gender inclusive and Mothers-Children 2016-2025.
47. In order to address the issue of children abandoning schools, the Lao PDR has implemented a policy to reduce the child-education costs for parents with allocation subsidies for management costs in schools from kindergarten to upper-secondary schools across the country; provided textbooks for children from kindergarten to lower-secondary schools; subsidies all school costs for lower-secondary school children in 60 schools;
scholarships for students from poor families, and the disadvantaged in a total of 1,495 recipients including 807 girls and constructed 75 new high schools. The Government also has adopted special measures such as waiver of school fees, allowances, building dormitories and provided summer schools for failing students; provided supplementary education for target groups aged 6-14 years old who lack opportunities and those living in remote areas or areas without schools in 15 provinces, which accounted for 4,819 students, including 2,131 girls and 2,688 boys. At the same time, the Government allocated 1,2
billion $ US from the State Budget for the Free-Lunch Program. In addition, the development partners have contributed to the program at kindergartens, pre-primary schools and primary-secondary schools in total of 2,164 locations, with 214,914 children as beneficiaries. the rate of enrollment of children at the age of five has risen above 60%, from 116 districts in 2016 to 126 in 2018; the number of districts with gross rate of new enrolments of 95% or higher has increased from 114 districts in 2017 to 124 in 2018.
48. The Lao PDR continues to make new legislations to protect child labour in line with the ILO Convention to which the Lao PDR is party, especially Convention No. 138 on minimum age for employment and 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour. Additionally, the Lao PDR has a Tri-partite mechanism, issued a Guideline Order on Light Work List, Hazardous Work List to protect the laborers in accordance with the ILO, ensuring their full rights and interests and utilized a labor monitoring mechanism.
49. Article 3 of the Law on Protection of the Rights and Interests of Children clearly stipulates that all children have the fundamental right to birth registration. The Law also provides that the birth certificate should be issued within 5 working days since a request has been filed. In order to ensure a wider coverage of the service, reaching children in remote areas, the Lao PDR has included the awareness raising tasks on the importance of birth registration into its National POA on Mothers and Children 2016-2020 and its projects.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Home Affairs has implemented the free of charge mobile birth registration initiative, reaching out to the population in remote areas on important occasions such as the Children’s day.
4. Rights of persons with disabilities66
50. The Lao PDR attaches importance to the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. The National Assembly has recently upgraded a Government’s Decree on Persons with Disabilities to be a law in 2019 to strengthen the protection of their rights and interests, eliminate all forms of discrimination against them, provide conditions for their self-development, self-reliance and able to access social services, enjoyment of political, economic, cultural, social and family rights and equality before the law.
Additionally, detailed regulations have been published, such as handbook on basic facilitation for persons with disabilities, handbook for parents and guardians of PWD- children and handbook for village authorities and those working with PWD-children’s projects. Awareness raising campaigns on the rights of the PWD were regularly held across the country, with the support from development partners, and reached 2,950 participants and will continue in the future. At present, the Government is considering adopting the national POA specifically for PWDs 2021-2025.
51. In addition, the Government also has other projects , namely, the project for social inclusive and small enterprises for PWDs; study project on better access to socio-economic services for PWD; project on promotion of employment for PWDs phase II; project on improving the livelihood and strengthening PWDs; national project for promotion of PWD’s capacity, equality and full participation phase II; project on improving the living conditions and vocational training for persons with mental disabilities; project on promoting social cooperation and income generating activities for PWDs especially women; project for strengthening of the deaf and promotion of sign language; project on transportation for PWDs; and project on power of the PWD’s voice. The implementation of those projects have been funded and supported by the Lao government and international development partners.
52. The Government has also enhanced the rights of disadvantaged groups including PWDs into its 8th NSEDP with strategic plan and POAs of relevant sectors, such as Labor and Social Welfare, Education and Sports, Public Health, among others. The same effort shall be preserved for the 9th NSEDP.
5. Racial discrimination67
53. The Lao PDR is composed of 50 ethnic groups, living in peace and harmony. All ethnics are equal before the law and have duty to equally contribute to the safeguarding and building of the nation. Article 8 of the Constitution stipulates that the State shall implement
policies for harmony and equality among ethnic groups and prohibits all acts of racial and ethnic discrimination. Article 35 and 37 further emphasized that all Lao citizens, without discrimination based on ethnicity are all equal before the law and have political, economic, social, cultural and family rights on the same footing. The Lao PDR, as stipulated in Article 118 and 227 of the Penal Code, has also criminalized acts of discrimination or promotion of hatred against any ethnic group, acts of division, obstruction, and limitation from participation or double standard practices based on ethnicity. Articles 66 para 3 of the Law on Media stipulates that “no advertising of division, hate speech among ethnic groups and disruption of national harmony is allowed”. Furthermore, the Law on Combating and Preventing Cyber Crimes also prohibits incitement of racial division and discrimination.
54. In order to provide equal access to education, Article 6 of the law on Education provides that “all Lao citizens, regardless of ethnicity and race, have equal rights to access quality education, lifelong learning in accordance with the law and regulations”. The same law also stipulates that families in poverty, disadvantaged groups and ethnic groups shall receive additional support.
55. The Law on Hygiene, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 2011, the Law on Healthcare 2015 and the Law on Health Insurance 2019 all provide for equal rights of all ethnic groups to access healthcare and treatments.
H. Economic, social and cultural rights
1. Development and poverty reduction68
56. The Lao PDR considers poverty reduction as a top priority with an aim to graduating from LDC status by 2024 and achieving the SDGs by 2030. In order to achieve those ambitions, the Government has adopted a number of legislations to facilitate the implementation, for instance, the Law on Resettlement and Occupation 2018; Amended Decree on Criteria for Graduation from Poverty and Development 2017. The Lao PDR has also adopted a Vision 2030 on development steps towards becoming a middle-income nation, based on its socio-economic and intellectual society in a green and sustainable manner. At the moment the Lao PDR has achieve 2 out of 3 criteria for LDC graduation69, according to the UNTAD assessment conducted in 2018, the Lao PDR is on track towards LDC graduation by 2024. Lao PDR has also adopted a number of plans for poverty reduction70. The NSEDP 2016-2020 also incorporates poverty reduction and SDGs indicators into the said plan. Relevant sectors and local authorities have integrated poverty reduction into their respective annual work plans. The Lao PDR has adopted 3 focal development priorities for 2016-2020 namely: (1) Rural Development and Poverty Elimination; (2) Permanent habitation for the people and (3) building big villages into small towns. There were 485.02 billion Kips of allocated budget for those priorities.
57. The Lao PDR continues to implement its poverty reduction efforts through its Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF) Phase III for 2017-2019 with a total budget of 54 million USD allocated for 1,169 projects in 5 main sectors71 across 10 provinces, 43 districts, and 263 groups of villages summing to 1,820 villages and covering more than 850,000 of its population. During 2017-2018, the Lao PDR implemented 683 projects in 666 villages, with total budget of 14,73 billion US$. Out of which, 20,68 billion USD were from Government’s PRF and 1,55 billion USD or 15% were community contributions, which directly benefited more than 580,000 of the Lao people, 50% of which were women. In addition, the PRF was utilized in activities to improve the living conditions and nutrition programs in the amount of 1,22 billion USD in 2 provinces, 7 districts as a pilot for poverty alleviation at family level, before rolling out across the country in the future. Through the implementation up to 2018, poverty has decreased by 62,384 households or 5.13%, number of poverty villages reduced by 1,433 villages or 16.97%, and 23 districts or 15.54%.
2. Rights to education72
58. The Government attaches priority to education in its socio-economic and cultural development, through improving and adopting new legislations73, the Education and Sports Development Plan 2016-2020 and Education Vision 2030. The Government has attempted
