State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2013 - Laos

Laos, a single-party state, nominally allows for freedom of religion, so long as worshippers adhere to one of the state-sanctioned groups within four recognized religions: Bahá'i, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Evidence from rights monitors shows authorities continued to harass and repress those who attempted to exercise their rights outside of these parameters, particularly in rural areas.

The US-based Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF) highlighted a number of cases throughout the year. In February, for example, HRWLRF says local officials threatened to expel 10 Christian families in northern Laos' Luang Prabang province, unless they renounced their faith. The organization says Lao authorities have cracked down in particular on new Christian converts in Savannakhet province.

A joint 2012 report between the Lao Movement for Human Rights (MLDH) and Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) noted that many Christians in Laos come from already marginalized ethnic minority groups. The report stated, 'Repression against Christians has not diminished and has even intensified in 2012.' The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) listed Laos as a 'watch list' country because of 'serious religious freedom abuses'.

Ethnic diversity in Laos is expansive; officially, the government recognizes 49 separate groups, but there are likely quadruple the number. Rights groups say the Hmong continue to be among the most persecuted, because of Hmong leaders' support of the United States during the Vietnam War. Of particular concern are a group of 4,700 that Thailand forcibly repatriated to Laos in late 2009 – a group that included 158 who had already been granted refugee status before their deportations. Other than a tightly controlled visit in 2010, neither rights monitors nor aid workers have been granted access to the camps where the returned Hmong were held. According to the MLDH, 'repatriated Hmong have been victims of imprisonment, re-education and discrimination'.

Unanswered questions also remain about prisoners detained in Vientiane's Somsanga drug detention centre – ostensibly a facility for treating drug addiction that critics say is more of a prison for undesirables. HRW researchers say there is evidence that Hmong have been detained there.

Landmines or other unexploded ordnance (UXO) still kill or injure about 100 people each year in Laos, one of the most heavily bombed countries on earth. The government itself acknowledges that assistance to landmine and UXO survivors is 'still inadequate'. As the International Campaign to Ban Landmines notes, 'Most survivors come from the poorer remote areas, belong to ethnic minorities, and are disproportionately disadvantaged by the existing limitations in the provision of service.'

This is representative of Laos's overall struggle to bring adequate health care to remote communities, where many minority groups live. A World Health Organization (WHO) profile of the health sector noted that the government claims 93 per cent of the population lives within an average walk of 90 minutes to the closest health facility, but there are 'major differences' in accessibility compounded by ethnicity and gender.

A separate WHO/Ministry of Health report on the mental health system noted a large gap in the distribution of health professionals between urban and rural settings. All the country's psychiatric treatment centres are located in the capital, Vientiane, rendering it highly prohibitive for ethnic minorities living in the highlands to access them. The report concluded, 'Inequity of access to mental health services for other minority users ... is a major issue in the country.'

A study published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health in November examined health inequalities in the country. The authors found highland Mon-Khmer minorities reported 'significantly worse health, even after making adjustments for their living in inaccessible areas'.[9] While the government is attempting to reduce the geographic inequalities in the health system, the results have been slow in some cases. For example, a July news report from Inter Press Service (IPS) showed that many rural minorities were unaware of a new mobile midwife programme – a year after health authorities had launched it.

Land issues in the country continued to place pressure on minority communities. In a January report submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) warned that land concessions for rubber plantations were stripping Hmong people of their land with inadequate compensation.

During 2012, Laos broke ground on its controversial Xayaburi hydropower dam. The 1,285 megawatt dam would be the first project on the mainstream of the Lower Mekong River and have adverse effects for the food supply downstream. About 2,000 people around the area are expected to be displaced – a number that includes many indigenous Lao Theung families. Conservationists say the project, and others planned on the Mekong, could decrease fish supplies and have a major impact on food security in the future.

In December, prominent human rights activist Sombath Somphone went missing. Supporters believe Sombath was abducted. The government has denied involvement, but international rights groups and diplomats have expressed grave concern.

Notes

9. Andersson, M. and Lundin, A., 'Socioeconomic inequalities in global and relative self-rated health in Laos: a cross-sectional study of 24 162 men and women', Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, 27 November 2012, retrieved June 2013, http://aph.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/11/22/1010539512466566.