Objectives and Context
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) is a land-locked least developed country poised for integration into regional and world markets, and committed to achieving development by 2020 . The Government of Lao PDR has prioritized establishing rule of law to support the socio-economic transition from a centralized bureaucracy toward a market-based economy, and is eager to be regarded as a full fledged member of the international community. This is reflected in the government’s increasing engagement with international development partners on the role of human rights. Though human rights have not been traditionally applied in Lao PDR development practice and discourse, international law is seen as “a source of best practices for Lao PDR to develop its legal system,” and human rights are understood to facilitate the development of a coherent, credible and predictable legal framework needed for accelerated economic growth with equity and attainment of the MDGs. A human rights based approach to development would be expected to effectively address disproportionately disadvantaged groups such as the rural poor, women and ethnic groups.
Links, Strategies and Tools
The International Law Project aims to support
the country’s transition to a market economy by incorporating
international treaties into domestic law. In this
regard, international human rights treaties
are considered instrumental for the country’s
socio-economic development, both for general improvements
to the rule of law, and for the instrumentality of rights
based approaches in achieving specific development goals.
Establishing a casual link between human rights and
specific development goals opened up political “spaces”
for advocating with various government officials and
in a variety of contexts. For example, at
the Roundtable on the Right to Education, convened with
officials from the Ministry of Education in October
2006, participants agreed on the instrumental value
of a rights based approach in achieving the Millennium
Development Goal on universal primary education, as
this approach would facilitate the provision of primary
education to children in remote provinces, where drop
out rates are high due to a variety of reasons, including
poverty.
This is especially relevant as human rights have not traditionally been an established element of development or political discourse in Lao PDR. A key strategy to realizing the broad participation of government in various human rights oriented activities, was partnering with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordination capacity was very effective in securing the participation of other government representatives, and lent the activities a political legitimacy that they may not have otherwise had. Among other activities, the project has held a series of workshops on human rights based approaches to development, intended to promote understanding and build government capacities on selected themes related to human rights, such as the Roundtable on the Right to Education, mentioned above.
The International Law Project has also benefited from interacting with complementary programmes at programming and awareness raising events, which provide a useful opportunity to exchange experience and expertise.
Process and Status
In its 1st Phase (2001-2004), the International Law Project promoted the ratification of international human rights treaties. UNDP partnered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to strengthen the process of signing, ratifying, implementing and monitoring international legal instruments in the Lao PDR. Significant progress was made in raising awareness on issues related to the ratification of international legal instruments. The 2nd Phase (2005-2008) focuses on improving national incorporation, implementation, enforcement and monitoring of international law in the Lao PDR, and shifts from a general focus on international law to a specific focus on particular bodies of international law, including international human rights instruments. This Phase also includes training for government officials on human rights content and rights based approaches to development. A series of workshops have been held: a general workshop on rights based approach, human rights indicators and the Human Development Report in Lao PDR; a roundtable on the right to education; and provincial workshops on selected themes in international law, including various human rights-related topics. Workshops on the right to food, the right to work, and the right to health are planned for 2007. Preliminary discussions for the formulation of a new project are currently underway, in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Impact
In order to build national capacity for the progressive realization of human rights, the International Law Project and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have convened a series of awareness-raising workshops on selected human rights themes for government. Government had previously not participated in human rights workshops hosted by the UNDP, but workshops organized in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have enjoyed a much higher degree of government engagement. The Roundtable on the Right to Education, for example, was attended by officials from the Ministry of Education both at the central and provincial level. This has effectively introduced human rights as an acceptable element of national development discourse. While government actors do not all understand links between human rights and development in the same way, and there remains a serious need for capacity development, especially in the provinces, UNDP Lao PDR regards this as an important development.
These workshops also helped towards the establishment of a working group to develop human rights indicators for the Sixth National Socio-Economic Plan (2006-2019). A pilot activity is tentatively planned to implement the 6th National Socio-Economic Plan through rights-based programming in the Bokeo Province, beginning in 2007.
The project has also supported accession to the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, ratified by the Lao government in December 2006, by providing organizational support to the inter-ministerial body charged with preparing for the Covenant’s ratification.
Challenges
The most relevant challenge faced by the InternationalLaw Project in linking human rights to the MDGs remains the way in which human rights are perceived and understood by government officials. The introduction of human rights into national development discourse is an important moment for this link, but it is not conclusive. There remains a need for further capacity building development since the concept of human rights has only just been introduced to the country. Though government officials engaged the concept of a human rights based approach from the very first workshop, the way in which this concept is understood varies significantly, and some issues, such as the split between generations of rights, are politically challenging. Maintaining the integrity of rights based approaches without reliance on international technical assistance, may be a further challenge to the International Law Project.
Lessons Learned
This project has been an exercise in the gradual
introduction of human rights language and concepts
into national development discourse, by progressively
asserting human rights language with key partners and
at key phases. Partnering with the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs has been essential is this regard, and
the Ministry’s capacity to coordinate and advocate with
other ministries, projects and sub-national agencies
has been a great benefit to the project. This
partnership largely enabled broad government participation
in human rights oriented workshops, and subsequent consensus
on the importance of human rights based approaches to
development in Laos PDR. These experiences also
suggest limits to the power of human rights
language, however. Rights based approaches
remain largely understood in the context of economic
and social rights, and no arrangements have been
made for international technical assistance. Nevertheless
the introduction of human rights to the national development
discourse is regarded by UNDP Lao as an important step
in the countries development.
