2005 Programs and Events

American Bar Association Visit (July 5, 2005)

Attorney Alice Thomas of the Washington D.C.-based American Bar Association (ABA) visited Laos June 30-July 5 to look at the possibility of establishing ABA projects aimed at assisting the Lao judicial sector. During her stay in Vientiane, Ms. Thomas met with Embassy personnel and with officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the National University, and the Lao Bar Association. In addition, Ms. Thomas met with a range of international organizations, NGO's and embassies involved in providing assistance to Laos' ongoing legal sector reform.

Through its Asian Law Initiative (ALI) in Bangkok, the ABA has already been active in legal sector reform in Laos. The head of the ALI office in Bangkok, Charles Caruso, has provided training to Lao officials on the creation of a Law on Corruption. The National Assembly passed this new law, Laos' first specifically anti-corruption law, in its April session this year. The ALI conducts a number of programs to assist countries in the region in their anti-corruption efforts.