Civic space in Laos is rated ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. The fundamental freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly remain severely restricted while impunity persists in cases of enforced disappearance, attacks and extrajudicial killings of human rights defenders and activists.
On 7th June 2024, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, following a brief visit to the Lao capital Vientiane, stated that the government of Laos must ensure protection of human rights in its budget allocations to avoid undermining development and increasing inequality.
Turk also stated that the government's ability to address issues depends on the active participation of those most affected and a diverse civil society. He urged the government to better protect civil society from intimidation, violence or legal harassment, emphasising that people should be able to express their views on public issues without fear. He also urged authorities to continue investigating enforced disappearances, including that of Lao activist Sombath Somphone.
In August 2024, the UN Human Rights Committee raised concerns around the restrictions to the right to participation in public affairs and the right to vote. It said that reports indicate the continued restriction of a multi-party system and that all candidates must be approved by the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party or a State-sponsored mass organisation and the exclusion of ethnic minorities like the Hmong from politics and public life.
In recent months, there have been reports of increased surveillance and controls around an ASEAN meeting, while a UN body has highlighted the lack of progress by the government in addressing enforced disappearances. Myanmar anti-junta activists in Laos have been arrested and forcibly deported and there are ongoing attacks on Lao Christians.
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Increased surveillance and controls around ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting
In July 2024, there were reports that the Lao government had intensified surveillance over local movements, particularly those critical of its role as ASEAN chair, during the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane from 21st - 27th July 2024.
Deputy Prime Minister Saleumxay Ghormasit confirmed that the government has increased security and control over all activities in the country during its chairmanship of ASEAN, including closely monitoring social media, both domestically and internationally, and taking immediate action if any content criticised the Lao government's role and activities as ASEAN chair.
This heightened control occurred despite discussions by the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) on its role in promoting and protecting human rights under the chairmanship of Yong Chanthalansi, Lao PDR’s representative to the AICHR.
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UN body highlights lack of progress in addressing enforced disappearances
There have been ongoing concerns raised by civil society about the failure of the Lao government in addressing enforced disappearances of activists, especially of human rights defender Sombath Somphone, who was abducted in December 2012 after he criticised the government on land deals which risked leaving thousands homeless in Laos.
On 6th August 2024, the CCPR released its report on the follow-up to the Concluding Observations it had adopted on 23rd July 2018, after the review of Laos’ initial report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The Committee said it regretted that no measures had been taken to effectively criminalise enforced disappearance in accordance with international standards. It also raised concerns about the alleged lack of thorough, impartial and transparent investigations into cases of enforced disappearance, including that of human rights defender Sombath Somphone, and that impunity for such crimes has persisted. The Committee also noted slow progress towards ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Further, the Committee regretted the lack of information on specific steps taken during the reporting period to ensure that victims and their families are regularly informed of the progress and results of investigations and that they are provided with full reparation.
Myanmar anti-junta activists arrested and forcibly deported
There are concerns that the Lao authorities are assisting the Myanmar junta in pursuing anti-junta activists in the country
On 8th May 2024, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that the Lao police had handed over 17 Myanmar nationals to junta soldiers at a border checkpoint in the Golden Triangle region. The Myanmar military junta had provided Lao authorities with a list of names, accusing the individuals of supporting a People’s Defence Force, the armed group formed by mainly youth and pro-democracy activists. The Myanmar nationals were then taken to the junta’s Golden Triangle Command headquarters in Kengtung township, Shan state in Myanmar where they were interrogated.
However, RFA reported that the activists were actually raising funds for people displaced by fighting in Laos’ Ton Pheung in April 2024. Ton Pheung lies directly across from Thailand on the Mekong River and is about eight km downriver from Myanmar. This incident marks the first time Laos has arrested and transferred activists to the junta.
Previously, as documented, in September 2023, Chinese human rights defender and lawyer Lu Siwei was forcibly deported to China by the Lao authorities after he was detained at the Thanaleng railway station near the Lao-Thai border as he was about to board a train to Thailand where he was scheduled to take a flight to the United States to reunite with his family. UN experts has issued a call for his release as he was at risk of torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance.
Human Rights Watch published a report on 16th May 2024, highlighting disturbing trends of transnational repression involving Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. The report revealed that these countries are engaged in abductions, forced disappearances and forced returns of dissidents to their home countries, where they risk torture, persecution or death.
Ongoing attacks on Lao Christians
Lao Christians, who account for around two percent of the seven million population, consistently face discrimination, particularly in rural areas. Some have been arrested for holding prayer services and have faced harassment from the authorities as well as attacks from non-state actors.
According to the Lao Times, on 5th August 2024, Pastor Thongkham Philavanh, a Khmu tribal leader and provincial head of the Lao Evangelical Church (LEC), was shot seven times by two masked men on motorcycles behind his house in Vanghay village, northwestern Laos. He had been under close surveillance and received multiple warnings to cease his “Christian activities.”
In late May 2024, a prominent Christian leader from the Baw tribe in Khammouanne Province, central Laos, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by government agents. Local sources revealed that he was alerted by a family friend about the authorities' plans to kidnap and possibly kill him, prompting him and his wife to flee when they saw men waiting outside their home.
As previously documented, in February 2024, village authorities in Kaleum Vangke, Savannakhet Province, attacked a makeshift church, demolishing it and burning bibles and other religious documents.
Human rights defender released after five years in prison
#Laos: Government critic Houayheuang Xayabouly aka Mouay released after five years of arbitrary imprisonment https://t.co/pesIacLi3K
— AG (@ag_fidh) September 12, 2024
On 12th September 2024, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that human rights defender Houayheuang Xayabouly (aka Mouay) had been released from prison. She was met by family members just after walking out of Banglieng prison in southern Champasak province.
As previously documented, Mouay has repeatedly used Facebook to criticise the Lao government, from instances of corruption to the mishandling of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam collapse in Attapeu Province.
In September 2019, she was arrested after condemning on Facebook the slow response of authorities in Laos’ flooded southern Champassak and Salavan provinces. She was charged for ‘propaganda against the state’ (article 117 of the 2017 Penal Code) and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
In June 2021, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) determined that her arrest and subsequent imprisonment was arbitrary and in violation of international law.