The European Union and the Lao PDR held the 13th meeting of their Human Rights Dialogue on 2 July in Brussels, Belgium.

A wide range of topics of civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights were addressed during the dialogue, notably rule of law and governance; access to justice, the death penalty, freedoms of opinion, expression, association and assembly, freedom of religion or belief; gender equality, rights of the child, persons with disabilities and other persons in vulnerable situations, land rights, the implementation of the 3^rd Cycle of Universal Periodic Review (UPR)’s recommendations, preparations for the 4^th Cycle of the UPR; cooperation in multilateral fora, and ratification and reporting under human rights treaties.

The EU and Lao PDR discussed in a constructive, candid and friendly manner, based on mutual respect and the respect for sovereignty of States. They reaffirmed their commitment to protect and promote human rights in line with international human rights conventions and reiterated the importance of preventing human rights abuses and non-refoulement as a fundamental principle of international law. The EU raised individual cases of concern while the Lao PDR provided information on its legal and policy frameworks, as well as measures on safeguarding of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all without discrimination on whichever grounds. The Lao PDR and the EU also discussed information manipulation, reiterating their common commitment to fight the spread of fake news as well as hate speech online that infringe upon human rights and the right to privacy of individuals, while safeguarding freedom of expression and media freedom in accordance with the relevant human rights conventions to which both sides are party.

They look forward to the Lao PDR’s graduation from Least Developed Country status in 2026. With reference to potential access to the GSP+ preferential trade scheme, the EU recalled the importance of compliance with international law, including the need to ratify 27 GSP+ international conventions on human rights, labour rights, environment and good governance, most of which conventions the Lao PDR is already party, and to demonstrate progress in their effective implementation.

The Lao PDR presented its priorities on human rights activities for 2024 including the preparations for the 4th Cycle of UPR, finalisation of a national initial report under the Convention against Torture (CAT), submission of responses to the list of issues under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Committees, adoption of the action plan on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Committee's Concluding Observations; presentation of the national report before CEDAW’s Committee in October 2024. Furthermore, the Lao PDR informed that it was in the process of drafting the 19^th-25^th combined national reports under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) which would be ready for submission to the CERD Committee by end 2025. In this regard, the Lao PDR called upon the EU to continue its cooperation and assistance to help the Lao PDR realise these priorities of its human rights endeavour.

The EU and Lao PDR agreed on a number of concrete deliverables. These related inter alia to sharing timeline and content for the improvement of the decrees governing civil society, cooperating with the UN Special Procedures, delivering on reporting under relevant UN human right conventions that both are a party to, the organisation of a seminar on the death penalty, and implementation of various accepted UPR recommendations.

The Delegation of the European Union was headed by Leila Fernandez Stembridge, Head of Division for South-East Asia and ASEAN at the European External Action Service, while the Delegation from the Lao PDR was led by Ambassador Phoukhong Sisoulath, Director-General of Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting was attended by representatives from several Ministries and Mass Organisations of the Lao PDR, the EEAS and the European Commission.

The next meeting of the EU – Lao PDR Human Rights Dialogue will be held in Vientiane, Lao PDR in 2025.