Joint Submission for Universal Periodic Review (#UPR49) on Civil Society Space in the Lao People's Democratic Republic

CIVICUS makes UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submission on civil society space in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

The United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States once every 4.5 years.

CIVICUS and its partners have submitted UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submission on Lao-PDR in advance of the 49th UPR session in April - May 2025, in the context of the 4th UPR cycle. The submission examines the state of civil society in the country, including the promotion and protection of the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression (including media freedom), and unwarranted restrictions on human rights defenders (HRDs) since its previous UPR examination in 2019. We further provide an assessment of the State’s domestic implementation of civic space recommendations received during the 3rd UPR cycle and provide a number of targeted follow-up recommendations in relation to core civil society space issues.

Lao  – In this submission on Lao People’s Democratic Republic CIVICUS, Amnesty International, and Forum Asia highlight the government’s ongoing failure to address the unjustified restrictions on civic space, persisting since its last UPR examination. An example of this is the “Decree No. 238 on Associations”, which severely restricts civil society by granting authorities the power to control, prohibit, monitor, and dissolve associations, while also including measures to criminalise and prosecute unregistered associations and their members. Other examples include various legal provisions that restrict freedom of expression through vaguely defined offenses, including “treason to the nation” (2017 Penal Code Article 110), “propaganda against the state” (Article 117) and “defamation, libel and insult” (Articles 205 and 206) and Article 124 which criminalises freedom of peaceful assembly. CIVICUS and the partner organizations also highlight the ongoing pattern of arbitrary detention and killings of individuals who criticise the government. Furthermore, many HRDs have been subjected to enforced disappearances, and the ones who have fled remain at risk of transnational repression. They further underscore how Lao exercises absolute control over the media with legal restrictions aimed at ensuring promotion of government policies like the “Media Act” of 2008 and” Decree No. 377” of 24 November 2015 on Press Activities of Foreign Media Agencies, Diplomatic Missions, and International Organisations. As a result of these issues, civic space in Lao PDR is currently classified as “closed” by the CIVICUS Monitor, indicating the most severe level of civic space restrictions.

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