Lao PDR (Laos) 1

LPDR I.Background.  Population 6,5 million, which divided into 3 groups, Lao Loum, Lao theun and Lao Suang and about 47 ethnic groups. Official language is Lao. Around 80% of the population are farmers and live in rural area.  Is a landlocked country, bordered by Burma and China- northwest; Vietnam- east; Cambodia – south; and Thailand –west.  Laos is a communist single-party. The capital city is Vientiane  Laos become a member of ASEAN in 1997 and the WTO IN

Women’s Empowerment in Laos  All citizens have equal rights.  A new constitution was adopted in The constitution and number of laws have been amended to bring attention to and comply with the right of women.  The role of women in the family and the society is increasing. Women enjoy better protection of their rights, and have increased opportunities and favorable conditions for self-development.  Women are actively contributing to the development of the society. 3

Women’s Empowerment in Laos  The government has adopted measures to enable women to have access to credit, poverty reduction funds and land; more women are engaging in business and taking on tasks related to the family’s income generation.  More then ever, women are participating in decision making at all levels of society. The electorate has chosen more women than ever before to the National Assembly.  Women play very important role in social-economic development as well as in political. 25% of the National Assembly members are women 4

Two key institutions play a significant role in Women’s Empowerment in LPDR, promoted women’s right Lao Women’s Union (LWU) National Commission for the Advancement of Women (NCAW) 5 - Only woman who is member -No political power -Bring cordiality for all women -Working with women only -Both man and woman who are member -Political power to support gender equality -Ensure gender justice in all aspects of society

TAF program on Women’s Empowerment and access to justice in LPDR.  Sustainable Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Program,  Combatting Human Trafficking  Women Scholarship and;  Legal Aid and Legal Education ”Improving Access to Justice”. Each program work to help vulnerable people meet their needs and access justice particularly vulnerable women in Laos. - Law on development and protection women and children; Family law; Criminal law; Land law and Civil law.The Constitution and number of laws have been amended to bring attention to and comply with the rights of women. 6

Some issue related to women situation Access to information and claim their right (in village level) Customary law discriminated indigenous women - Women no right to inheritance (Hmong and Khmur) - As Woman was not little in the decision making position accept that related to the kitchen. Domestic Violence - Women was taught that not to bring issue inside house to outside so they are internalized living with violence as normal. -All cases of domestic and criminal occurred in the village will go to relative system first then village mediation unit which lack of gender perspective so women were more vulnerable when come to judgment process 7

Some issue related to women situation Land grabbing/through land concession => Food security/ Food sovereignty => Migration => human trafficking Girls are expected to be good daughter (Indigenous girls) so they need to responsible family situation (Hmong word that daughter is not our child when she got married she will be other child so we won’t provide her so much and during she still stay with us she had to help as much as possible so her life will start when she got husband) Reproductive health - Due to early marriage - Difficult access to public health service and information - A lot of responsibilities in reproductive, productive works 8

Access to information - In principle all Lao citizens have equal rights including right to access justice and participate in any development issue.  Barrier to access to justice. Lacking of information and limited access to legal information No opportunity (economic access to finance) Traditional, culture barrier Trust and believe Education, illiteracy Infrastructure (road access) Geographical (mountainous) 9

The main cases face by vulnerable (women):  Family cases, including domestic violence  Human trafficking and labor migration  Land use (Land concession) and  Criminal cases 10

Challenges.  Traditionally women are expected to obey men/husband/parent  Women do not know about law enforcement mechanism and do not know where advice/how/from whom to seek.  Women have limited access to information, making it difficult to protect themselves about their legal rights.  Villagers, especially the poor, do not have the opportunity for self-development; difficult to access credit loan, education, health care, etc.. . 11

Challenges Although the Lao government has made progress in many aspect on women’s empowerment, it has been faced with the following challenges:  Stereotype attitudes and detrimental traditional still exist in the society  Law enforcement concerning women is not strong enough as there remains loopholes between principles and practice  Government officials have limited awareness and understanding of law concerning women and of gender mainstreaming 12

Statistic in

THANK YOU! 14