|
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
After a period as a French protectorate, the country gained its independence in 1954 as a constitutional monarchy. Years of conflict soon followed as the country was drawn into the war that engulfed the Indochina region, leading to a civil war that saw the monarchy overthrown by communist forces in 1975. Political power today rests with the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP), the only legal political party in the nation.
Lao PDR remains one of the region’s poorest countries. It continues to be ranked among the least developed countries (LDCs) of the world – a status the government has pledged to change by 2020. Tentative reforms and an opening up of its economy in the 1990s led to some progress, and in recent years, Lao PDR has experienced relatively good economic growth and has taken some positive steps forward towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. This has helped the country move up to the ‘medium human development’ category of the UN’s Human Development Index, ranking it 130th out of 177 countries.
It still ranks poorly on the Human Poverty Index however – 70th among the 108 countries the index has been calculated for. Life expectancy is about 63 years and the adult illiteracy rate is high at 31 percent. At least 40 percent of children (aged 0-5) are underweight for their age, and an alarmingly high 49 percent of people live without access to an improved water source – underscoring the deep levels of poverty evident throughout the country1.
Lao PDR is heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture, which accounts for about half of its GDP. Over 80 percent of the population live in rural and remote areas without access to basic infrastructure and services, while an estimated 32 percent live below the national poverty line. A highly dispersed population, a lack of rural infrastructure, and a lack of arable land has contributed to low agricultural development – most of the population depends on subsistence rice production for survival and insufficient access to food remains a critical problem. The number of urban poor is also increasing rapidly as people move from rural to urban areas in search of work, putting immense strains on the carrying capacity of cities2.
Women and girls generally have less opportunities and access to resources and services than men and boys in Lao PDR. This is particularly pronounced in the rural and remote areas, and among ethnic minority communities. Illiteracy among women is extremely high, as is school drop out rates for girls, as many are taken out of school to help with household tasks and agricultural production. Maternal and infant mortality rates are also high due to a lack of healthcare facilities and medical personnel, and poor knowledge about reproductive health3.
Food insecurity, especially in rural and ethnic minority communities, has a particularly harsh impact on women because of their central role in food collection and management. Lao women are traditionally responsible for collecting non-timber forest products, weeding, and managing family food stores among other tasks – carrying out more than half of total agricultural production in every field. This labour intensive work exacts a heavy burden from women, who are also primarily responsible for housework and childrearing.
Despite their responsibilities, rural women are poorly represented in village decision-making. They have limited access to new agricultural technologies, to micro-credit and revolving funds, although they have managed to form a major part of micro-entrepreneurs in the informal economy4. They are also facing discrimination in terms of access to land and land titles, despite the country’s traditional matrilineal inheritance system. This is a problem that the Lao government has recognised and an investigation on land allocation is currently underway5.
Violence against women is a widespread, although largely ‘hidden’, problem in Lao PDR.
Incidence of human trafficking seems to be on the rise, along with exploitation of prostitution of women, although concrete data is lacking. The CEDAW Committee has also expressed concern about the lack of awareness or recognition of domestic violence, including marital rape, as a form of discrimination against women and a violation of their human rights6.
1. UN Human Development Report, 2007/2008 6. The Committee has expressed concern that domestic violence is considered to be fairly normal by young people, and that the Criminal Law grants exemption from penal liabilities in cases of physical violence without serious injury or physical damage. CEDAW Committee Concluding Comments: Lao PDR, January 2005.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lao PDR