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U.S. - Lao Relations 2009
2009 Country Reports on Advancing Freedom and Democracy
Bilateral Trade Agreement
U.S. Assistance to Laos
Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation
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Trafficking in Persons Report on Laos - 2009
Letter from Secretary Hillary R. ClintonDear Reader: Since President Clinton issued the first U.S. Government policy against human trafficking in 1998, we have seen unprecedented forward movement around the world in the fight to end human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery. A majority of the world’s countries now have criminal legislation prohibiting all forms of trafficking in persons, and global awareness has been immeasurably raised. Yet much remains to be done, particularly in identifying and addressing the root causes of trafficking, including policies and practices that contribute to the trafficking of vulnerable populations. From girls denied schooling or coerced into under-aged marriages, to ethnic minorities without citizenship or birth registration, to migrant workers forced to work against their will by employers who abuse legal processes – the effectiveness of long-term prevention efforts will require us to look carefully at causal factors and commit to relevant reforms. The ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem. The human trafficking phenomenon affects virtually every country, including the United States. In acknowledging America’s own struggle with modern-day slavery and slavery-related practices, we offer partnership. We call on every government to join us in working to build consensus and leverage resources to eliminate all forms of human trafficking. This year, there is new urgency in this call. As the ongoing financial crisis takes an increasing toll on many of the world’s migrants – who often risk everything for the slim hope of a better future for their families – too often they are ensnared by traffickers who exploit their desperation. We recognize their immense suffering, and we commit to aiding their rescue and recovery. As we move forward to meet the challenges of today, I am committed to sharing the lessons learned from our past efforts, and I offer our collective expertise to collaborate with you in bringing relief to victims, justice to perpetrators, and hope to future generations currently in peril. Bringing an end to the global trade in people is a priority for the United States in keeping with American values that place a premium on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. I am confident that together we can make a difference, all over the world, in the lives of people deprived of their freedom. Sincerely, 
Hillary Rodham Clinton -------------------------------------
Introduction
Profiles
VICTIMS’ STORIES The victims’ testimonies included in this report are meant to be representative only and do not include all forms of trafficking that occur. These stories could take place anywhere in the world and illustrate the many forms of trafficking and the wide variety of places in which they occur. No country is immune. Many of the victims’ names have been changed in this report. Most uncaptioned photographs are not images of confirmed trafficking victims, but they show the myriad forms of exploitation that define trafficking and the variety of cultures in which trafficking victims are found.
Purpose
The Department of State is required by law to submit each year to the U.S. Congress a report on foreign governments’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. This is the ninth annual TIP Report; it seeks to increase global awareness of the human trafficking phenomenon by shedding new light on various facets of the problem and highlighting shared and individual efforts of the international community, and to encourage foreign governments to take effective action against all forms of trafficking in persons. The United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), as amended, guides efforts to combat human trafficking. The most recent amendments to the TVPA were enacted in December 2008. The purpose of the law is to punish traffickers, protect victims, and prevent trafficking from occurring. Freeing victims from this form of modern-day slavery is the ultimate goal of this report—and of the U.S. Government’s anti-human rafficking policy. Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional issue. It is a crime that deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, increases global health risks, fuels growing networks of organized crime, and can sustain levels of poverty and impede development in certain areas. The impacts of human trafficking are devastating. Victims may suffer physical and emotional abuse, rape, threats against self and family, and even death. But the devastation also extends beyond individual victims; human trafficking undermines the health, safety, and security of all nations it touches. A growing community of nations is making significant efforts to eliminate this atrocious crime. The TVPA outlines minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons. Countries that do not make significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards receive a Tier 3 ranking in this report. Such an assessment could prompt the United States to withhold nonhumanitarian, non-trade-related foreign assistance. In assessing foreign governments’ efforts, the TIP Report highlights the “three P’s”— prosecution, protection, and prevention. But a victim-centered approach to trafficking also requires attention to the “three R’s”—rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration. Sharing the best practices in these areas will encourage governments to go beyond the initial rescue of victims and restore to them dignity and the hope of productive lives. Human Trafficking Defined The TVPA defines “severe forms of trafficking” as: a. sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or b. the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. A victim need not be physically transported from one location to another in order for the crime to fall within these definitions. The Scope and Nature of Modern-Day Slavery
The common denominator of trafficking scenarios is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for profit. Traffickers can subject victims to labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, or both. Trafficking for labor exploitation, the form of trafficking claiming the greatest number of victims, includes traditional chattel slavery, forced labor, and debt bondage. The common denominator of trafficking scenarios is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for profit. Traffickers can subject victims to labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, or both. Trafficking for labor exploitation, the form of trafficking claiming the greatest number of victims, includes traditional chattel slavery, forced labor, and debt bondage. Trafficking for sexual exploitation typically includes abuse within the commercial sex industry. In other cases, individuals exploit victims in private homes, often demanding both sex and work. The use of force or coercion can be direct and violent or psychological. A wide range of estimates exists on the scope and magnitude of modern-day slavery. The International Labor Organization (ILO)—the United Nations agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues—estimates that there are at least 12.3 million adults and children in forced labor, bonded labor, and commercial sexual servitude at any given time. Of these victims, the ILO estimates that at least 1.39 million are victims of commercial sexual servitude, both transnational and within countries. According to the ILO, 56 percent of all forced labor victims are women and girls. Human traffickers prey on the weak. Targeting vulnerable men, women, and children, they use creative and ruthless ploys designed to trick, coerce, and win the confidence of potential victims. Very often these ruses involve promises of a better life through employment, educational opportunities, or marriage. The nationalities of trafficked people are as diverse as the world’s cultures. Some leave developing countries, seeking to improve their lives through low-skilled jobs in more prosperous countries. Others fall victim to forced or bonded labor in their own countries. Women, eager for a better future, are susceptible to promises of jobs abroad as babysitters, housekeepers, waitresses, or models—jobs that traffickers turn into the nightmare of forced prostitution without exit. Some families give children to adults, often relatives, who promise education and opportunity but instead sell the children into exploitative situations for money. But poverty alone does not explain this tragedy, which is driven by fraudulent recruiters, employers, and corrupt officials who seek to reap profits from others’ desperation. Focus of the 2009 TIP Report
The TIP Report is the most comprehensive worldwide report on governments’ efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons. It includes countries of origin, transit, or destination for trafficking victims. It represents an updated, global look at the nature and scope of trafficking in persons and the broad range of government actions to confront and eliminate it. The 2009 TIP Report covers the period of April 2008 through March 2009. During this time and since the passage of the TVPA, the fight against trafficking passed an important milestone, as more than half of the world’s countries have enacted criminal legislation prohibiting all forms of trafficking in persons. Over the last year alone, 26 countries enacted new anti-trafficking legislation, some going beyond the minimum standards of the TVPA and the 2000 UN TIP Protocol by offering the victims of trafficking restitution through court proceedings and other protections. The last year was marked also by the onset of a global financial crisis, which has raised the specter of increased human trafficking around the world. As a result of the crisis, two concurrent trends—a shrinking global demand for labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take ever greater risks for economic opportunities—seem a recipe for increased forced labor cases of migrant workers and women in prostitution. Because trafficking likely extends to every country in the world, the omission of a country from the report may indicate only a lack of adequate information. The country narratives describe the scope and nature of the trafficking problem, and the government’s efforts to combat trafficking. Each narrative also contains an assessment of the government’s compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking as laid out in the TVPA and includes suggestions for additional government actions. The remainder of the country narrative describes each government’s efforts to enforce laws against trafficking, to protect victims, and to prevent trafficking. Each narrative explains the basis for ranking a country as Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, or Tier 3. In particular, if a country has been placed on Tier 2 Watch List, the narrative will contain a statement of explanation, using the special criteria found in the TVPA for the Watch List. Methodology The Department of State prepared this report using information from U.S. embassies, foreign government officials, nongovernmental and international organizations, published reports, research trips to every region, and information submitted to tipreport@state.gov. This e-mail address allows NGOs and individuals to share information on government progress in addressing trafficking. U.S. diplomatic posts reported on the trafficking situation and governmental action based on thorough research that included meetings with a wide variety of government officials, local and international NGO representatives, officials of international organizations, journalists, academics, and survivors. To compile this year’s report, the Department reviewed credible information sources on every country and assessed each government’s antitrafficking efforts. In prior years a “significant number” (defined to be 100 or more) of trafficking victims had to be documented for a country to be ranked in the TIP Report. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA of 2008) eliminated this requirement, thereby expanding the scope of countries included in this year’s report. Some countries have held conferences and established task forces or national action plans to create goals for anti-trafficking efforts. While such activities are useful and can serve as a catalyst toward concrete law enforcement, protection, and prevention activities in the future, these conferences, plans, and task forces alone are not weighed heavily in assessing country efforts. Rather, the report focuses on governments’ concrete actions to fight trafficking, especially prosecutions, convictions, and prison sentences for traffickers as well as victim protection measures and prevention efforts. Although critical to increasing anti-trafficking efforts, the Report does not give great weight to laws in draft form or laws that have not yet been enacted. In general, the Report does not focus on governmental efforts that have indirect implications for trafficking, such as general efforts to keep children in school or general economic development programs, though the Report is making a stronger effort to identify trafficking vulnerabilities and measures taken by governments to prevent trafficking that may result from such vulnerabilities. Similarly, this report attempts to identify systemic contributing factors to particular forms of human trafficking. These include particular policies or practices, such as labor recruiters’ charging of excessive fees to prospective migrants and governmental policies allowing employers to confiscate passports of foreign workers—factors that have been shown to contribute to forced labor. Tier Placement The Department places each country in the 2009 TIP Report onto one of the three tier lists as mandated by the TVPA. This placement is based more on the extent of government action to combat trafficking than on the size of the problem, although that is also an important factor. The Department first evaluates whether the government fully complies with the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking (detailed on page 314). Governments that fully comply are placed on Tier 1. For other governments, the Department considers the extent of efforts to reach compliance. Governments that are making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards are placed on Tier 2. Governments that do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so are placed on Tier 3. Finally, the Department considers the Special Watch List criteria and, when applicable, moves Tier 2 countries to Tier 2 Watch List. The TVPA lists three factors by which to determine whether a country should be on Tier 2 (or Tier 2 Watch List) versus Tier 3: (1) the extent to which the country is a country of origin, transit, or destination for severe forms of trafficking; (2) the extent to which the country’s government does not comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards including, in particular, the extent to which officials or government employees have been complicit in severe forms of trafficking; and (3) the government’s resources and capabilities to address and eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons.
Tier 2 Watch List The TVPA requires that certain countries be placed on a Special Watch List. This includes countries in which:
a. The absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing;
b. There is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes; increased assistance to victims; and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials; or
c. The determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional steps over the next year. Countries that meet one of these three criteria are placed onto what the Department of State has termed the “Tier 2 Watch List.” There were 40 countries on Tier 2 Watch List in the June 2008 report. Two additional countries were reassessed as Tier 2 Watch List countries in November 2008. The Department of State included these 42 countries in an “Interim Assessment” released on January 27, 2009. Of these 42 countries on Tier 2 Watch List at the time of the Interim Assessment, 11 moved up to Tier 2 in this report, while four fell to Tier 3 and 27 remain on Tier 2 Watch List. Countries on Tier 2 Watch List in this report will be re-examined in the next Interim Assessment, which will be submitted to the U.S. Congress by February 1, 2010. Amendments made by the TVPRA of 2008 provide that any country that has been ranked Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years (beginning with the 2009 Report) will be ranked Tier 3, unless the President waives application of this provision based on a determination that, among other things, the government has a written plan for meeting the TVPA’s minimum standards. Penalties for Tier 3 Countries
Pursuant to the TVPA, governments of countries on Tier 3 may be subject to certain sanctions, whereby the U.S. Government may withhold nonhumanitarian, non-trade-related foreign assistance. Countries that receive no such assistance may not receive such assistance and, in addition, may not receive funding for government employees’ participation in educational and cultural exchange programs. Consistent with the TVPA, governments subject to sanctions would also face U.S. opposition to assistance (except for humanitarian, trade-related, and certain development-related assistance) from international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Imposed sanctions will take effect October 1, 2009; however, all or part of the TVPA’s sanctions can be waived if the President determines that the provision of such assistance to the government would promote the purposes of the statute or is otherwise in the national interest of the United States. The TVPA also provides that sanctions can be waived if necessary to avoid significant adverse effects on vulnerable populations, including women and children. Sanctions would not apply if the President finds that, after this report is issued but before sanctions determinations are made, a government has come into compliance with the minimum standards or is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance. No tier ranking is permanent. Every country can do more, including the United States, which has a significant human trafficking problem. All countries must maintain and increase efforts to combat trafficking. How the Report Is Used
The TIP Report is a diplomatic tool for the U.S. Government to use to encourage continued dialogue and to help focus resources on prosecution, protection, and prevention programs and policies. In the narrative of each ranked country, the Report provides specific recommendations to facilitate future progress. The TIP Report is a diplomatic tool for the U.S. Government to use to encourage continued dialogue and to help focus resources on prosecution, protection, and prevention programs and policies. In the narrative of each ranked country, the Report provides specific recommendations to facilitate future progress. The TIP Report is a diplomatic tool for the U.S. Government to use to encourage continued dialogue and to help focus resources on prosecution, protection, and prevention programs and policies. In the narrative of each ranked country, the Report provides specific recommendations to facilitate future progress. The Department of State will continue to engage governments on the Report’s contents in order to strengthen cooperative efforts to eradicate trafficking. In the coming year, the Report will inform programs that will address all aspects of trafficking, administered not only by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, but also tapping the longstanding expertise of others in the U.S. Government, such as the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the Departments of Labor, Justice, and Health and Human Services. The Department hopes this report will be a catalyst for increased government and nongovernment efforts to combat human trafficking around the world. MAJOR Forms of Traffic king in Persons Forced Labor The majority of human trafficking in the world takes the form of forced labor, according to the ILO’s estimate on forced labor. Also known as involuntary servitude, forced labor may result when unscrupulous employers take advantage of gaps in law enforcement to exploit vulnerable workers. These workers are made more vulnerable to forced labor practices because of high rates of unemployment, poverty, crime, discrimination, corruption, political conflict, and cultural acceptance of the practice. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable, but individuals are also forced into labor in their own countries. Female victims of forced or bonded labor, especially women and girls in domestic servitude, are often sexually exploited as well. Forced labor is a form of human trafficking that is often harder to identify and estimate than sex trafficking. It may not involve the same criminal networks profiting from transnational sex trafficking. Instead, it may involve individuals who subject workers to involuntary servitude, perhaps through forced or coerced household or factory work. Bonded Labor One form of force or coercion is the use of a bond, or debt, to keep a person under subjugation. This is referred to in law and policy as “bonded labor” or “debt bondage.” U.S. law prohibits debt bondage, and the UN TIP Protocol includes it as a form of traffickingrelated exploitation. Workers around the world fall victim to debt bondage when traffickers or recruiters unlawfully exploit an initial debt the worker assumed as part of the terms of employment. Workers may also inherit debt in more traditional systems of bonded labor. Traditional bonded labor in South Asia, for example, enslaves huge numbers of people from generation to generation. A January 2009 report by Anti-Slavery International, a London-based NGO, concluded that this form of forced labor, traditionally more prevalent in villages, is expanding into urban areas of the region, rather than diminishing on an aggregate level, as the result of development and modernization. Debt Bondage Among
Migrant Laborers
The vulnerability of migrant laborers to trafficking schemes is especially disturbing because the population is sizeable in some regions. There are three potential contributing factors: (1) abuse of contracts; (2) inadequate local laws governing the recruitment and employment of migrant laborers; and (3) intentional imposition of exploitative and often illegal costs and debts on these laborers in the source country, often with the support of labor agencies and employers in the destination country. The vulnerability of migrant laborers to trafficking schemes is especially disturbing because the population is sizeable in some regions. There are three potential contributing factors: (1) abuse of contracts; (2) inadequate local laws governing the recruitment and employment of migrant laborers; and (3) intentional imposition of exploitative and often illegal costs and debts on these laborers in the source country, often with the support of labor agencies and employers in the destination country. The vulnerability of migrant laborers to trafficking schemes is especially disturbing because the population is sizeable in some regions. There are three potential contributing factors: (1) abuse of contracts; (2) inadequate local laws governing the recruitment and employment of migrant laborers; and (3) intentional imposition of exploitative and often illegal costs and debts on these laborers in the source country, often with the support of labor agencies and employers in the destination country. Abuses of contracts and hazardous conditions of employment do not in themselves constitute involuntary servitude. But the use or threat of physical force or restraint to keep a person working may convert a situation into one of forced labor. Costs imposed on laborers for the “privilege” of working abroad can make laborers vulnerable to debt bondage. While the costs alone do not constitute debt bondage, when they become excessive and involve exploitation by unscrupulous employers in the destination country, they can lead to involuntary servitude. Involuntary Domestic Servitude A unique form of forced labor is that of involuntary domestic workers, whose workplace is informal, connected to their off-duty living quarters, and not often shared with other workers. Such an environment is conducive to exploitation since authorities cannot inspect private property as easily as they can inspect formal workplaces. In some countries, large numbers of local children, often from less developed rural areas of the country, labor in urban households as domestic servants. Some of them may be vulnerable to conditions of involuntary servitude. Foreign migrants, usually women, are recruited from less developed countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America to work as domestic servants and caretakers in more developed locations like the Gulf States, the Levant, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Europe, and the United States. But many of these places do not provide domestic servants the same legal protections that they provide for foreign workers in other sectors. Without protections, foreign domestic workers may have fewer options for seeking help when faced with their employer’s threat of or use of force. If they are confined to a home, either through physical restraint or through the confiscation of identity and travel documents, they may find it very difficult to reach out to NGOs or public authorities for assistance due to lack of awareness and fear of their employers. This high degree of vulnerability calls for a vigorous law enforcement and victim protection response when domestic servants are found in conditions of involuntary servitude in a home. Those domestic servants who choose to escape from abusive employers are sometimes termed “runaways” and seen as criminals, though they should be considered as possible victims of trafficking.
Forced Child Labor Most international organizations and national laws recognize that children may legally engage in light work. There is a growing concensus, however, that the worst forms of child labor should be eradicated. The sale and trafficking of children and their entrapment in bonded and forced labor are among the worst forms of child labor. Any child who is subject to involuntary servitude, debt bondage, peonage, or slavery through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, is a victim of human trafficking regardless of the location of that exploitation. Indicators of possible forced labor of a child include situations in which the child appears to be in the custody of a non-family member who has the child perform work that financially benefits someone outside the child’s family and does not offer the child the option of leaving.
Child Soldiers Child soldiering is a unique and severe manifestation of trafficking in persons that involves the unlawful recruitment of children—often through force, fraud, or coercion—for labor or sexual exploitation in conflict areas. Perpetrators may be government forces, paramilitary organizations, or rebel groups. While the majority of child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18, some of whom may have been unlawfully recruited and used in hostilities, others are as young as 7 or 8, which is unlawful under international law. Although it is impossible to accurately calculate the number of children involved in armed forces and groups, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers estimates that there are many tens of thousands of children exploited in conflict. Child soldiers exist in all regions of the world. According to the UN, 57 armed groups and forces were using children in 2007, up from 40 in 2006. Many children are abducted to be used as combatants. Others are made unlawfully to work as porters, cooks, guards, servants, messengers, or spies. Young girls are forced to marry or have sex with male combatants. Both male and female child soldiers are often sexually abused and are at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Some children have been forced to commit atrocities against their families and communities. Child soldiers are often killed or wounded, and survivors suffer multiple traumas and psychological scarring. Their personal development is irreparably damaged, and their home communities often reject them when they return. Child soldiering is a global phenomenon. The problem is most critical in Africa and Asia, but armed groups in conflict areas elsewhere also use children unlawfully. All nations must work together with international organizations and NGOs to take urgent action to disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate unlawful child soldiers.
Sex Trafficking Sex trafficking comprises a significant portion of overall human trafficking. When a person is coerced, forced, or deceived into prostitution, or maintained in prostitution through coercion, that person is a victim of trafficking. All of those involved in recruiting, transporting, harboring, receiving, or obtaining the person for that purpose have committed a trafficking crime. Sex trafficking can also occur alongside debt bondage, as women and girls are forced to continue in prostitution through the use of unlawful “debt” purportedly incurred through their transportation or recruitment—or their crude “sale”—which exploiters insist they must pay off before they can be free.
Child Sex Trafficking and Related Abuses Analysis of child trafficking often leads to the consideration of other categories of child exploitation. The following guide attempts to clarify what is addressed in the TIP Report:
Child Sex Trafficking: According to UNICEF, as many as two million children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial sex trade. International covenants and protocols obligate criminalization of the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The use of children in the commercial sex trade is prohibited under both U.S. law and the UN TIP Protocol. There can be no exceptions and no cultural or socioeconomic rationalizations that prevent the rescue of children from sexual servitude. Sex trafficking has devastating consequences for minors, including long-lasting physical and psychological trauma, disease (including HIV/ AIDS), drug addiction, unwanted pregnancy, malnutrition, social ostracism, and possible death. Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) is the sexual exploitation of children for the commercial gain of some person(s). CSEC includes all child prostitution as well as child pornography. This is not human trafficking per se, as some forms of CSEC such as child pornography are not always a form of human trafficking. Most forms of CSEC, however, are forms of human trafficking, such as child sex trafficking. Child Sex Tourism (CST) is one form of “demand” for victims of child sex trafficking. It involves people who travel from their own country—often a country where child sexual exploitation is illegal or culturally abhorrent— to another country where they engage in commercial sex acts with children. CST is a shameful assault on the dignity of children and a form of violent child abuse. It often involves trafficking, as a trafficking crime likely was committed in the provision of the child for the sex tourist’s exploitation. Addressing Child Sex Tourism in the TIP Report: Efforts by a government to prevent its nationals from traveling abroad to engage in child sex tourism—including by prosecuting alleged child sex tourists for conduct they committed overseas—is cited in that country’s narrative under the Prevention section. Likewise, efforts by a “destination” government to punish foreign nationals for alleged child sex tourism offenses are cited in the Prevention section of that country’s narrative as an effort to “reduce demand for commercial sex acts” in general. Efforts by the same destination government to punish the trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation by any persons – foreign sex tourist or local resident – are credited in the Prosecution section of that country’s narrative. LAOS (Tier 2) Laos is primarily a source country for women and girls trafficked primarily to Thailand for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor as domestic or factory workers. Some Lao men, women, and children migrate to neighboring countries in search of better economic opportunities but are subjected to conditions of forced or bonded labor or forced prostitution after their arrival. Lao men who migrate willingly to Thailand are sometimes subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude in the Thai fishing and construction industry. Women who migrate to Thailand are more likely to rely on recruitment agents and incur debt, increasing their likelihood of becoming trafficking victims. A small number of female citizens were also reportedly trafficked to China to become brides for Chinese men. Ethnic minority populations in Laos are particularly vulnerable to trafficking because of their lack of Thai language skills and unfamiliarity with Thai society. Laos is increasingly a country of transit for Vietnamese, Chinese, and Burmese women destined for Thailand – including trafficked women – due to the construction of new highways and the acceleration of infrastructure projects linking the People’s Republic of China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia through Laos. There were new reports of Vietnamese women trafficked to Laos by Vietnamese organized crime gangs for forced prostitution in the Vietnamese community. Internal trafficking is also a problem that affects young women and girls who are forced into prostitution in urban areas. The Government of Laos does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. During the last year, the government increased efforts to investigate trafficking offenses and prosecute and punish trafficking offenders. It also sustained collaboration with international organizations and NGOs to provide training for government and law enforcement officials, repatriate and reintegrate Lao victims, and conduct public awareness campaigns. A severe lack of resources, poor training of officials, and an ongoing corruption problem remain key impediments to the government’s ability to combat trafficking in persons. The government continued to be largely dependent upon the international donor community to fund anti-trafficking activities in the country, though it continued to restrict greatly the activities of NGOs, which impeded progress in antitrafficking efforts. Recommendations for Laos: Increase efforts to combat internal trafficking, including the prosecution of traffickers and identification of Lao citizens trafficked within the country; create and implement formal victim identification procedures and train police and border officials to identify trafficking victims; increase efforts to combat trafficking-related complicity; implement and support a visible anti-trafficking awareness campaign directed at clients of the sex trade; and improve collaboration with international organizations and civil society to build capacity to combat trafficking in persons.
Prosecution The Lao government demonstrated some progress in its anti-trafficking law enforcement during the reporting period. Laos prohibits all forms of human trafficking through Penal Code Article 134, which was revised in 2006. The prescribed penalties under Article 134, which are five years to life imprisonment, are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those punishments prescribed for rape. In 2008, Lao judicial authorities convicted 15 individuals of trafficking. Several sentences imposed on convicted traffickers during 2008 consisted of one year’s imprisonment. An additional 53 cases are currently under investigation. Police corruption, a weak judicial sector and the population’s general distrust of the court system impede anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. Corruption remains a problem with government officials susceptible to involvement or collusion in trafficking in persons.
Observers of trafficking in Laos believe that at the local level, it is almost certain that some officials are involved in facilitating human trafficking, sometimes in collusion with their Thai counterparts. There is also evidence that border officials permit smuggling of all kinds, including of humans. However, no government or law enforcement officials have ever been disciplined or punished for involvement in trafficking in persons. The Lao government collaborated with international organizations and NGOs to increase law enforcement capacity through training for police, investigators, prosecutors, and customs and border officials. Through legal aid clinics, the Lao Bar Association is currently assisting 10 victims of trafficking.
Protection The Lao government demonstrated a mixed record in ensuring trafficking victims’ access to protective services during the year. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MLSW) and Immigration Department continued to cooperate with IOM, the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), and a local NGO to provide victim assistance. The MLSW, with NGO funding, also continued operating a small transit center in Vientiane, where identified victims returning from Thailand remain for one week before returning home. Victims not wanting to return home are referred to a long-term shelter run by the Lao Women’s Union or to a local NGO. Victims repatriated to Laos by Thai authorities are accompanied by case files written in Thai, which Lao officials are sometimes unable to read. The government does not penalize victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of their being trafficked. During 2008, 235 formally identified victims of cross-border trafficking were identified in Thailand and repatriated to Laos. The government did not identify any victims of internal trafficking. The government provides medical services, counseling, vocational training, and employment services for victims in its transit shelter in Vientiane. While domestic trafficking victims can also be referred to the transit shelter, there were no victims identified by Lao authorities who stayed in the shelter. During the reporting period, at least two Vietnamese women who were sex trafficking victims were identified by Savannakhet provincial units of the anti-trafficking police, and referred to NGOs for assistance and shelter after being housed in a local prison clinic for two weeks. The government subsequently returned seven Vietnamese sex trafficking victims, including one minor, to the establishment where they had been exploited and government officials withheld their passports after the victims told authorities they did not want to be repatriated to Vietnam. Four of the victims later returned to the police, requesting repatriation assistance. They were repatriated, but Lao authorities refused to follow established Vietnamese procedures meant to ensure the safe and voluntary returns of Vietnamese victims. The government did not prosecute or convict any traffickers in this case and the victims did not agree to testify. Although the government encouraged victims to participate in investigations and prosecutions of trafficking offenders, it did not provide foreign victims legal alternatives for their removal to countries where they may face hardship or retribution (e.g., Vietnam) if they testify, and the Lao government did not offer incentives for foreign victims to participate in court proceedings. The Lao government occasionally provides office space, land for shelters, and staff to assist in monitoring assistance programs run by NGOs and international organizations.
Prevention The Lao government continued efforts to prevent trafficking in persons with assistance from international organizations and NGOs. With foreign funding, the government sponsored media messages on the dangers of trafficking. Also, in December 2008, the Lao Youth Union held a day-long event with workshops, puppet shows, and plays to address child trafficking. The event was led by the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of National Defense who spoke about the dangers of trafficking. The Government of Laos demonstrated limited efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex acts through periodic raids of nightclubs and discos used as fronts for commercial sex. Due to the rise in tourism in Laos and the efforts in neighboring countries to crackdown on foreign pedophiles’ sexual exploitation of local children, Lao government officials and NGOs estimate that child sex tourism is likely to grow in Laos. Laos continued a national campaign to publicize the dangers of child sex tourism in the country, which included the training of tourism sector employees to report suspicious behavior and the display of NGOcreated public awareness posters in international hotels.
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