Christians in Laos, second class citizens? 18/05/2012
“Everything that has happened is because of your faith. You have religious freedom in Laos but Katin village does not want religious freedom so you cannot go back unless you renounce your faith.” A Religious Affairs Official to villagers in Katin village
CSW’s Laos report highlights restrictions on Christians
CSW’s latest report on Laos, which is based on testimonies from those living in the country, indicates that despite evidence of an improvement in the levels of religious freedom, violations of the rights of Christians to meet and practise their faith together are still widespread.
This report has been sent to policy-makers around the world, including the US and UK Governments, the EU and ASEAN, to encourage them to put pressure on the Lao Government to improve their religious freedom record. CSW has also briefed the office of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief who is able to raise these issues directly with the Lao Government.
A small country in South-East Asia, Laos receives little international attention and the treatment of its Christian communities is not well known. However, as relations with the EU and other Asian countries improve, Laos is gaining an increasingly higher profile and it is vital that Lao Christians are not forgotten.
Lao Christians living at the whim of officials
The Lao Constitution protects religious freedom to an extent, but the vagueness of some of its provisions has allowed local officials to violate the religious freedom of Christian communities. For Christians living in Katin village, for example, this resulted in them being driven out of their homes and forced to live in the woods surrounding the village.
Lao Officials continue to apply the law arbitrarily, and rather than arrest individuals on the charge of ‘being a Christian’, they apply more spurious charges, as in the case of one pastor who was recently detained on human trafficking charges.
‘Decree 92’ encourages suspicion of Christianity
In 2002, the Lao Government passed ‘Decree 92’ which states that all religious believers must act to “preserve and expand historic traditions, cultural heritage and Lao national unity”. The vagueness of the provision has led to lack of respect for minority religious believers. There are many reported incidents where Christians are forced to sign documents stating they belong to a “foreign religion” or an “enemy religion” which is not proper to Laos.
Hope for the future
However there are glimmers of hope and a sign that our advocacy is having an impact for Christians in the country. In January, Pastor Wanna and Pastor Yohan were released from prison after serving a year-long sentence in which they were repeatedly asked to renounce their Christian faith.
Read more in CSW’s latest report on Laos