CEDAW/C/2005/I/CRP.3/Add.5/Rev.1
Advance Unedited Version
15 February 2005
Original: English
Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Thirty-second session
10-28 January 2005
Concluding
Comments: Lao People’s Democratic Republic
1. The Committee
considered the combined initial, second, third, fourth and fifth
periodic reports of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
(CEDAW/C/LAO/1-5) at its 675th and 676th meetings, on 19 January
2005.
Introduction
by the State party
2. In introducing the
report, the representative pointed to the many political and socio-economic
challenges the country had faced prior to and since gaining independence
in 1975. Women had been considered inferior and were deprived
of their right to freedom of expression and their right to enter
political life. Approximately 80 per cent of the country’s
multi-ethnic population continued to live in rural and remote
areas.
3. The Government was
carrying out comprehensive reforms of the economy and of political
institutions to address poverty and to exit from underdevelopment.
Women had made a significant contribution to national development.
A domestic legal framework based on the rule of law was being
established that included provisions for the protection of women’s
rights. The Constitution of 1991 and its amendment of 2003 guaranteed
equal rights between women and men in all sectors. The Law on
the Development and Protection of Women of 2004, which was subsequently
promulgated by presidential decree, further enhanced the rights
of women and the responsibility of the State, society and family
vis-à-vis women. The law’s aim was to eliminate discrimination
against women, combat violence against women and trafficking in
women and children and to create an enabling environment for women’s
participation and empowerment. The Lao Women’s Union played
a dominant role in safeguarding women’s rights and in forging
solidarity among Lao women from all walks of life.
4. Women occupied leadership
positions at all levels. The number of women in the National Assembly
had increased from 8 deputies in 1992-1997 to 25 deputies in the
fifth legislature (2002-2007), or 22.9 per cent. For the first
time, a woman from the Hmong ethnic group was serving as Vice-President
of the National Assembly.
5. The Government had
given priority to education and aimed to achieve nationwide compulsory
primary education by 2010. Due attention was given to increasing
the literacy rate of women, which had increased from 48 per cent
in 1995 to 60 per cent in 2000 for women above 15 years of age.
Primary school enrolment rates for girls had increased from 68
per cent in 1995 to 75 per cent in 2000. The Government had set
targets for girls’ enrolment and women’s literacy
rates for the years 2010 and 2020.
6. Initiatives to increase
women’s access to primary health care, particularly in rural
and remote areas, had been undertaken, and the network for medical
treatment had been expanded. These included an increase in women’s
access to information about health care for themselves and projects
on nutrition, safe motherhood and birth spacing, and sanitation.
As a result of those efforts, the aggregate fertility rates, as
well as maternal, under-five and infant mortality rates, had decreased
significantly between 1995 and 2000.
7. The Government’s
national growth and poverty eradication strategy was aimed at
national development in pursuit of the Millennium Development
Goals. The Lao Women’s Union had been instrumental in developing
various subprojects under this strategy, including on microfinance
and microcredit, women’s capacity building, the promotion
of agricultural and handicraft production and small and medium-sized
enterprises. Village development funds had been established on
a pilot basis to enhance access to credit.
8. A National Commission
for the Advancement of Women had been set up to assist the Government
in the formulation and implementation of a national policy and
strategy for the advancement of women. It also worked on the follow-up
to the Beijing Platform for Action and coordinated with local
and foreign agencies. The Commission was in the process of drafting
a national strategy for the advancement of women for the years
2005 to 2010. All ministries and local administrations had been
instructed to establish a unit for the advancement of women within
their respective institutions.
9. The representative
noted that although results had been achieved initially, many
difficulties and obstacles remained in the implementation of the
Convention, including the general low level of education, the
lack of detailed information about the situation of women and
the existence of backward customs and traditions and entrenched
stereotypes.
10. In concluding,
the representative reiterated the Government’s commitment
to the elimination of all forms of discrimination and to promoting
the advancement of women through the implementation of the Convention
and the Committee’s concluding comments. Together with the
support of the international community, the remaining challenges
would be overcome to ensure the enjoyment by women in the Lao
People’s Democratic Republic of their equal rights with
men.
Concluding
comments of the Committee
Introduction
11. The Committee commends
the State party for ratifying the Convention without reservations
amd expresses its appreciation to the State party for its combined
first, second, third, fourth and fifth periodic reports, while
regretting that they were overdue. The Committee expresses its
appreciation to the State party for its written replies to the
list of issues and questions raised by the pre-session working
group and for the oral presentation and further clarifications
offered in response to the questions posed orally by the Committee.
12. The Committee commends
the State party for its delegation and expresses its appreciation
for the constructive dialogue held between the delegation and
the members of the Committee.
Positive
aspects
13. The Committee appreciates
the adoption of the Law on the Development and Protection of Women
in 2004.
14. The Committee welcomes
the establishment of the National Commission on the Advancement
of Women, which strengthens the national machinery for gender
equality.
15. The Committee commends
the State party for increasing considerably the proportion of
women in the National Assembly, from 9.4 per cent in the third
legislature (1992-1997) to 21.1 per cent in the fourth legislature
(1997-2002) and to 22.9 per cent in the fifth legislature (2002-2007).
16. The Committee notes
with appreciation the various efforts to combat trafficking in
women and children, including the establishment of the National
Committee on the Fight against Human Trafficking under the Deputy
Prime Minister, regional and bilateral agreements on cooperation
with neighbouring countries and a new mechanism to provide services
for victims of trafficking.
Principal
areas of concern and recommendations
17. The Committee notes
the State party’s obligation for the systematic and continuing
implementation of all the provisions of the Convention. While
noting that the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is one
of the least developed countries, the Committee expresses its
concern that the lack of development should not be an excuse for
continuation of discrimination against women. At the same time,
it is the Committee’s view that the concerns and recommendations
identified in the present concluding comments require the State
party’s priority attention between now and the submission
of the next periodic report. Consequently, the Committee calls
upon the State party to focus on those areas in its implementation
activities and to report on action taken and results achieved
in its next periodic report. It calls on the State party to submit
the present concluding comments to all relevant ministries and
to Parliament so as to ensure their full implementation.
18. The Committee is
concerned that the status of the Convention vis-à-vis domestic
legislation is unclear. While noting that the legal framework
of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is relatively new,
the Committee is concerned that no definition of discrimination
against women exists in national laws.
19. The Committee recommends
that the State party take measures to bring the Convention into
the domestic legal system and ensure that it can be invoked in
the courts. It also recommends that the definition of discrimination
against women as set forth in article 1 of the Convention be incorporated
in the Constitution or other appropriate legislation.
20. While noting the
establishment of the National Commission on the Advancement of
Women as the new national machinery, the Committee expresses its
concern about the inadequate institutional structure and financial
resources available to the secretariat of the Commission for gender
mainstreaming and implementation of the policies of gender equality,
as well as the heavy reliance on the Lao Women’s Union,
which is a mass organization without executive power.
21. The Committee recommends
that the State party strengthen its national machinery by providing
adequate human and financial resources as well as setting up mechanisms
to strengthen gender mainstreaming in all ministries and at all
levels of the Government. While recognizing the important work
of the Lao Women’s Union in advancing the status of women,
the Committee recommends that the State party not relegate its
obligation to implement the Convention only to a mass organization.
It also recommends that it create governmental supervisory bodies
at all levels to monitor the implementation of the national strategic
plan for the advancement of women for 2005-2010.
22. While noting that
80 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, the Committee
is deeply concerned about the pervasive poverty and underdevelopment
of women, especially in rural and ethnic minority communities.
The Committee is also concerned that ethnic minority women, without
having any alternative sources of income, depend on production
of opium poppies for their livelihood. While welcoming the reinvestigation
into the matter of land titling, the Committee is concerned that
the current reinvestigation and the reissuance of land titles
are limited to nine provinces. The Committee is also concerned
that while rural women carry out more than half of total agricultural
production in every field, the additional workloads of housework
and child-rearing also fall primarily on the shoulders of women.
The Committee is very concerned that rural women are not fully
represented in important decision-making regarding development
programmes, nor on the village council.
23. The Committee urges
the State party to accelerate its plan to eradicate poverty among
women, especially rural and ethnic minority women, by more actively
seeking international assistance and at the same time by applying
gender perspectives in all development programmes and fully integrating
women into decision-making on those programmes, as well as in
their implementation processes. The Committee also urges the State
party to step up its efforts to provide ethnic minority women
who depend on opium poppy production with alternative and sustainable
means of livelihood. The Committee recommends that the reinvestigation
and re-registration of land titles be carried out in all provinces,
with the expected result of eradicating discrimination against
women, and requests the State party to provide detailed information
about the results achieved in its next report. The Committee also
recommends that the State party take measures to ease the double
burden of women, including by providing new technologies for women
farmers and educating men regarding the sharing of family responsibilities.
The Committee strongly recommends that the State party ensure
the full and equal representation of rural women on the various
committees at the village level.
24. Despite some progress,
the Committee is alarmed at the still very high illiteracy rate
of women, 40 per cent, and the large discrepancy between male
and female literacy rates and between urban and rural women’s
literacy. The Committee is especially concerned at the extremely
low literacy rate among ethnic minority women. The Committee is
concerned that the initial plan to make primary education compulsory
was postponed from 2000 to 2010.
25. The Committee urges
that the State party immediately take all appropriate measures,
including temporary special measures in accordance with article
4, paragraph 1 of the Convention and the Committee’s general
recommendation 25 on temporary special measures to reduce the
illiteracy rate of women and to provide education to women, both
formal and informal, and for all age levels, especially in rural
areas and including ethnic minority women. The Committee also
calls on the State party that free and compulsory primary education
at the national level be implemented as soon as possible. It further
recommends that the State party consider seeking international
assistance for these purposes.
26. While noting improvement
during the past years, the Committee is seriously concerned about
the very high maternal and infant mortality rates and the high
fertility rate, especially among women in rural and remote areas
and among ethnic minorities. The Committee is concerned about
the lack of health-care facilities and medical professionals in
rural villages and remote areas as well as the lack of awareness
among women and adolescents regarding reproductive health and
family planning, including contraceptives and birth spacing.
27. The Committee recommends
that the State party accelerate the implementation of its national
population policy, focusing on expanding its network of health-care
facilities and personnel throughout the nation and reaching out
to rural and remote areas, inter alia to the benefit of ethnic
minority women; to enhance its educational programmes, not only
for women, but also for men and adolescents, on reproductive health
and family planning; and to make contraceptives easily available.
28. The Committee is
concerned about the prevalence of traditional gender-role stereotyping,
which leads to disparities in leadership and decision-making in
all spheres, including in the family, the community and in public
life.
29. The Committee recommends
that a concerted nationwide campaign be undertaken to eliminate
the pervasive traditional gender role stereotyping and to promote
public awareness on issues of gender equality in all spheres of
life.
30. The Committee is
concerned that the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is increasingly
exposed to the danger of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases, in particular along construction and trade routes.
31. The Committee recommends
that the State party take all measures necessary to raise awareness
among men and women, especially in rural areas, around construction
sites, and existing and emerging trade routes, to the risk of
HIV/AIDS infection.
32. While recognizing
the new measures to combat the increasing incidents of trafficking
in the nation and the region, including the strengthened law enforcement
system, cooperation with neighbouring countries and the establishment
of the service mechanism to assist and protect victims of trafficking,
the Committee is concerned that no substantial information was
provided on how the mechanism works and its impact on combating
trafficking in women and girls. It is also concerned about the
increasing occurrences of such trafficking. The Committee is concerned
about the exploitation of prostitution of women and at the lack
of information on the prevalence and magnitude of the problem.
33. The Committee requests
that the State party provide detailed information on the impact
of various measures to combat trafficking in women and girls,
including the number and trends of arrests of traffickers, the
number of victims and the manner in which they benefited from
the return and repatriation services, as well as information on
any additional measures to combat trafficking. The Committee also
recommends that the State party collect information and carry
out studies on the extent of exploitation of prostitution and
take more proactive measures to address the problem, including
through discouraging the demand for prostitution.
34. The Committee is
concerned about the generally low representation of women in the
administration, at both the national and local levels, and in
the judiciary. Considering the fact that 80 per cent of the population
lives in rural areas and that the village chief and the village
council handle most everyday matters, the Committee is very concerned
that less than 1 per cent of the village chiefs are women and
only one member of the Lao Women’s Union represents women
in the village council.
35. The Committee recommends
that the State party take measures to increase the representation
of women in administrative, and judicial organs at the national,
provincial and village levels, in accordance with the Committee’s
general recommendation No. 23 on women in political and public
life. It also recommends that the State party introduce temporary
special measures, in accordance with article 4, paragraph 1, of
the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation
No. 25 on temporary special measures, to increase the percentage
of women at all levels of decision-making and to make sure that
the interests of women are fully reflected and that gender equality
is guaranteed at all levels of decision-making. The Committee
urges the State party to take measures to empower village women
so that they can equally participate in village matters.
36. The Committee is
concerned about the situation of women in the employment and labour
areas, for which insufficient information was provided, especially
about women’s ability to take advantage of new economic
opportunities and to benefit fully from the State party’s
reforms towards a market-based economy and its integration into
the regional and world economy.
37. The Committee recommends
that the State party study the impact of its economic reforms
on women, with a view to improving equality between women and
men in the labour market, including strengthening formal and informal
mechanisms for the resolution of labour disputes through appropriate
representation of women. It recommends that targeted measures
be taken to upgrade and improve women’s entrepreneurial
skills and their access to technology and to create opportunities
for women in trade and commerce on the basis of equality between
women and men. It also calls upon the State party to assess and
to take remedial measures regarding any disadvantageous impact
on women of economic reforms, including on women in the civil
service.
38. The Committee is
concerned that there is a lack of awareness or recognition of
domestic violence, including marital rape, as a form of discrimination
against women and as a violation of their human rights. The Committee
is concerned that domestic violence is considered to be fairly
normal by young people, both boys and girls, and the Criminal
Law grants exemption from penal liabilities in cases of physical
violence without serious injury or physical damage. The Committee
is also concerned that the traditional attitudes on gender-role
stereotyping keep women and girls in a subordinate position, preventing
them from getting equal education and life opportunities, especially
in rural areas.
39. The Committee recommends
that the State party undertake measures to increase awareness
of all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence
and marital rape. It recommends that domestic violence and marital
rape be criminalized and that more studies and data be collected
on various forms of violence against women, especially domestic
violence. The Committee also recommends that the State party take
more active and proactive measures to bring about changes in the
traditional patriarchal attitudes on gender-role stereotyping.
The Committee draws the State party’s attention to its general
recommendation No. 19 on violence against women in support of
its effort to prevent and combat all forms of violence against
women.
40. The Committee is
concerned that the law allows marriage under the age of 18 in
“special and necessary cases” and that a considerable
percentage of women do marry before they reach the age of 18.
41. The Committee recommends
that the State party prohibit under-age marriage in all circumstances.
The Committee also recommends that the State party provide in
its next report information on the results of the data collected
on-site regarding early marriages and measures taken to prevent
them.
42. Noting the essential
role of active women’s and human rights organizations for
the effective implementation of the Convention and the achievement
of gender equality, the Committee is concerned that the Lao People’s
Democratic Republic is lacking lively, autonomous and active women’s
and human rights organizations.
43. The Committee recommends
that the State party introduce measures, including legislative
and administrative measures as necessary, to create space for
autonomous women’s and human rights organizations.
44. The Committee encourages
the State party to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention
and to accept, as soon as possible, the amendment to article 20,
paragraph 1, of the Convention concerning the meeting time of
the Committee.
45. The Committee requests
the State party to respond to the concerns expressed in the present
concluding comments in its next periodic report submitted under
article 18 of the Convention. The Committee invites the State
party to submit its sixth report, which was due in September 2002,
and its seventh report, due in September 2006, in a combined report
in 2006.
46. Taking account
of the gender dimensions of the declarations, programmes and platforms
for action adopted by relevant United Nations conferences, summits
and special sessions, such as the special session of the General
Assembly for the overall review and appraisal of the implementation
of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on
Population and Development (twenty-first special session), the
special session of the General Assembly on children (twenty-seventh
special session), the World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance and the Second
World Assembly on Ageing, the Committee requests the State party
to include information on the implementation of aspects of those
documents relating to relevant articles of the Convention in its
next periodic report.
47. The Committee notes
that States’ adherence to the seven major international
human rights instruments, namely, the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,
the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child
and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, enhances
the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms
in all aspects of life. Therefore, the Committee encourages the
Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to consider
ratifying the treaties to which it is not yet a party, namely,
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment and the International Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of
Their Families.
48. The Committee
requests the wide dissemination in the Lao People’s Democratic
Republic of the present concluding comments in order to make the
people of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, including
government officials, politicians, parliamentarians and women’s
and human rights organizations, aware of the steps that have been
taken to ensure de jure and de facto equality for women and the
future steps required in that regard. It also requests the State
party to continue to disseminate widely, in particular to women’s
and human rights organizations, the Convention and its Optional
Protocol, the Committee’s general recommendations and the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as the outcome
of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled
“Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for
the twenty-first century”.
