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Headlines:
UN Rights Group Slams Laos
RFA Lao Shuts Down
Government and Society Going Digital
Vientiane Cables Go Underground
Healthcare Gets Climate-Proofed
Malaria's Days Numbered?
Plans to Reduce a Vaccine Gender Gap
Food Security Shaky After Disasters
Putrajaya Declaration Anti-Corruption Alliance
Mangoes on Rails: Cambodia & Laos Team Up
Malaysia Joins Rail Link Party
Cross-Border Crime Crackdown
France Weighs in to Help Settle Border Dispute
UN Rights Group Slams Laos
The UN says that now it’s the time for Laos to fix some of its longstanding issues like disappearances, curbs on free speech, and indigenous rights shortcomings. Sombath Somphone's case remains a sore point. The Universal Periodic Review coughed up 271 recommendations, including a ratifications of the International Convention against Enforced Disappearance and the formation of an independent human rights organization. Civil society groups are pushing for transparency and protections for human rights defenders, but government appears to be… less than keen to tidy up some of these “loose ends.”
Read more: Laotian Times (engagement/ concerns), News.Az (global perspectives)
RFA Lao Shuts Down
Radio Free Asia has axed its Lao service after 27 years because of a funding cut from the US Agency for Global Media. The closure comes alongside wider layoffs hitting almost 90% of RFA’s US-based staff and other language services. RFA's departure will leave a hole in independent reporting on governance, the environment, and human rights in Laos. Public access to solid info is increasingly in jeopardy, but the organization says that its doing its best to survive and protect staff in dangerous spots.
Read more: Laotian Times
Government and Society Going Digital
A new presidential order pushing has been issued on digital government, society, and the economy. Telecom coverage is at ~98%, and 5G is now available in major cities. They've launched the Gov-X Super App for public services. Next on the list of things to improve is an expansion of access to high-speed internet, the building of unified data exchanges, and increasing digital literacy in the general population.
Read more: GovInsider (strategy), BERNAMA (transport, education)
Vientiane Cables Go Underground
Officials want to burying power, internet, and communication lines, and they have started their work with a 12-kilometer pilot in Vientiane. Electricité du Laos and SISAN International are running the project, which will eventually expand to several Vientiane districts and then to provincial capitals. The upgrade should reduce outages, prevent fires, improve safety, and clear up the clutter from overhead cables, a welcome improvement to quality of life.
Read more: Laotian Times
Healthcare Gets Climate-Proofed
The Ministry of Health has launched a five-year program to try and climate-proof healthcare in seven provinces, with support from the Green Climate Fund and others including Save the Children and the WHO. An estimated 100 health facilities will get climate-related upgrades to the benefit of more than 2.3 million people. Plans include infrastructure improvements, early warning systems, training for health workers, and better response to disease risks like malaria and other sickness that might be made worse by climate change. Also see the next article.
Read more: VietnamPlus (overview), The Star (collaboration)
Malaria's Days Numbered?
Laos wants to end malaria by 2030, celebrating big drops in case numbers from 462,000 in 1997 to a low of 2,300 in 2022. The latest push is targeting especially hard-to-reach forest and border communities. The Ministry of Health, the Global Fund, and foreign diplomatic missions are all participating in the effort that centers on community involvement, innovation, and closing gaps for at-risk citizens.
Read more: The Star
Plans to Reduce a Vaccine Gender Gap
A UNICEF report finds that gender stops women from getting vaccines in Laos, even with high national rates for HPV and COVID-19. Coverage is worse in rural areas, and many women lack the confidence to decide on shots for their kids because they say that men hold the decision-making power. Culture, early marriage, and caregiving are also factors limiting access. Recommendations from UNICEF to close the gap include educating men, supporting female health workers, and setting up mobile clinics.
Read more: UNICEF
Food Security Shaky After Disasters
A joint FAO/WFP report says Laos had solid crop outputs in 2024, with above-average paddy and cassava outputs, but floods and landslides hurt ~35,000 farmers and trashed 368 irrigation projects, screwing up more than 15,000 hectares of farmland. More than a million people are at risk of food insecurity, with especially bad news for southern provinces. Recommendations to shore things up include farmer aid, a better overall social protection net, and more efforts toward climate resilience in agriculture.
Read more: ReliefWeb
Putrajaya Declaration Anti-Corruption Alliance
ASEAN and Mongolia's anti-corruption agencies have agreed to work more closely together, including by participating in annual regional conferences under the new Putrajaya Declaration. Laos has planned its anti-corruption strategy for the next decade in collaboration with the United Nations and regional partners. Most of the work to be done is in shoring up institutions to fight legal changes, transparent hiring processes, more public input, and a Corruption Eradication Academy.
Read more: Laotian Times
Mangoes on Rails: Cambodia & Laos Team Up
Cambodia and Laos are joining forces to support more mango exports. Cambodia's agriculture minister visited Laos last week to seal the deal. Mangoes will ride high on Laos' high-speed rail to international markets, especially China. The deal also covers joint fertilizer production using potash extraction. Both countries want better food security and new trade routes for their produce.
Read more: Construction & Property
Malaysia Joins Rail Link Party
Malaysia's cabinet has given the go-ahed for a direct rail cargo service to Bangkok, kicking off in 2025 as part of a $10 billion China-funded plan. This route will really amp up regional connectivity, eventually connecting Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, China, and Central Asia. US-China trade tensions are an uncomfortable backdrop to the deal, which will also include work to rebuild international passenger rail services that have gone underdeveloped of late.
Read more: SCMP
Cross-Border Crime Crackdown
The Supreme Courts of Cambodia and Laos say they are going to do more work together to combat the scourge of cross-border crime. They say that they are especially keen to stamp out human and drug trafficking, which is also expected to make the continuation of running online scams more difficult. Senior officials say that they are now more effective in sharing judicial information and working together on emerging threats like cybercrime.
Read more: Khmer Times
France Weighs in to Help Settle Border Dispute
Cambodia and Laos have marked off more than four fifths of their 540-kilometer border, but France is still helping both sides to clear up disputes over the remaining stretches. Both countries are using French maps and old documents from colonial times to make their pitch for control of the last bits, and promises between leaders are keeping the ball rolling for a final settlement and border agreement approvals.
Read more: Khmer Times
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading.
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