Summary

The Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights conducted a visit to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic from 19 to 29 November 2024. The purpose of the visit was to discuss, in a spirit of cooperation and constructive dialogue, how the Government implements cultural rights. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur underlines strengths in, and obstacles to, realizing cultural rights in the country, with a specific focus on the impact of development policies. In the State’s policies and practices to foster development and improve the livelihoods of people, a cultural rights-based approach is lacking, with important consequences for the most marginalized. The right of people to meaningfully take part in the decision-making processes that have an impact on their cultural rights is largely reduced to information and mitigation processes, far from the right to free, prior and informed consent that they should enjoy. A shift in perspective is needed, in order to understand culture from a bottom-up, rather than a top-down, approach. The latter approach feeds a worrying process of assimilation currently under way in the country at various levels. Space for civic expression and participation needs to be enlarged and cultural diversity valued without bias against non-Lao-Tai ethnic groups.