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On April 29, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva held the interactive dialogue for the fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The UPR is one of the UNHRC’s key mechanisms for assessing the human rights situation in UN Member States and issuing recommendations to ensure their respect. These recommendations arise out of a peer-review process, i.e. they are formulated by other UN Member States, which has made the process dependent on Member States’ engagement and prone to politicization.
From the civil society level, CADAL is committed to the defense of human rights and to a foreign policy grounded in the principles of democratic solidarity. The UPR offers an ideal platform to uphold these principles and to express solidarity with democratic actors and civil society in authoritarian countries. For this reason, CADAL monitors the process in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung as part of their joint program, “señalar y avergonzar” (“naming and shaming”).
The Lao People's Democratic Republic is considered authoritarian (Democracy Index 2024), not free (Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House), and rated as having a closed civic space (CIVICUS Monitor). According to Freedom House, the one-party regime exercises total control over the political sphere and severely restricts fundamental freedoms. Information gathered by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights indicates that the death penalty remains on the books in Lao PDR, including for drug-related offenses; that enforced disappearance is not criminalized; that such disappearances are not properly investigated; and that arbitrary and incommunicado detention is used as a tool of repression against human rights defenders. The report further notes that the legal framework imposes severe restrictions on freedom of expression, including through the criminalization of “anti-state propaganda.” Reprisals against individuals who have cooperated with the UN system have also been documented, and the Lao state exercises strict control over the formation and activities of civil society organizations. In addition, despite government efforts to address it, human trafficking remains a problem.
In this context, 90 of the 193 UN Member States participated in the interactive dialogue, issuing recommendations to the Lao PDR. Twenty-one countries recommended establishing a moratorium on or abolishing the death penalty, including Argentina, Spain, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, Uruguay, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Czechia, France, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Panama, Paraguay, Slovenia, and Italy. Another twenty countries urged action on enforced disappearances or the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. These included Germany, Australia, Canada, Czechia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Gambia, Italy, Japan, Mongolia, Namibia, Paraguay, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Uruguay. At least twenty countries made recommendations related to civic space and political and civil freedoms, among them Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Estonia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Türkiye, and Ukraine.
A report by the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention documented the cases of three individuals arbitrarily detained in Lao PDR: Lodkham Thammavong, Soukan Chaithad, and Somphone Phimmasone. All three had criticized the government on social media, were arrested, and, without due process, sentenced to lengthy prison terms in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and opinion. In a show of solidarity, CADAL asked the Argentine government to urge the Lao PDR during the UPR to release these political prisoners and to end the persecution of former political prisoner Houayheuang Xayabouly, who remains under state surveillance following the completion of her prison sentence. CADAL also recommended that the Lao PDR be urged to conduct thorough investigations into three cases of enforced disappearance, including the well-known case of Sombath Somphone, who disappeared in 2012. His family has been demanding justice for over thirteen years.
In a letter dated April 10, 2025, Gabriel C. Salvia, Executive Director of CADAL, requested that Dr. Ursula Basset, Director of Human Rights at Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, and Worship, include the following recommendation in Argentina’s intervention during the Lao PDR’s UPR:
“Immediately release political prisoners Lodkham Thammavong, Soukan Chaithad, and Somphone Phimmasone; investigate the enforced disappearances of Phetphouthone Philachane, Od Sayavong, and Sombath Somphone; and end the political harassment of activist Houayheuang Xayabouly, ‘Muay’.”
While we welcome Argentina’s participation in the UPR of the Lao PDR, we regret that the delegation did not include CADAL’s proposed recommendation—or any other recommendation—addressing fundamental freedoms and the political and civil rights of pro-democracy actors in Lao PDR.
