Laos aims to strengthen its rule of law
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Laos has set an ambitious goal to build a rule-of-law state to facilitate national development and ensure social justice and more transparency with everybody having equal access to legal services.
Deputy Minister of Justice Ket Kiettisak told Vientiane Times on Wednesday that “to become a rule-of-law state, we need to have a full set of laws covering all sectors with a majority of people respecting them”.
Ket said the Party’s policies should be translated into laws, but he was unable to confirm when Laos will become a rule of law state nor how many more laws were needed in order to realise this goal.
“I think we are now at the basic level to build a rule-of-law state and I cannot tell you when we will achieve that goal,” he said, saying that some countries took generations to build a rule-of-law state.
Last week, the Justice Ministry and its development partners launched a new US$3.9 million (Bt128 million) comprehensive support programme for the legal sector to assist Laos on its journey in becoming a rule-of-law state.
Of the $3.9 million, the United States will contribute $350,000 to the project, while the EU will provide $2.4 million. These funds will be in addition to the $600,000 from the UNDP and $548,000 already committed by France.
The three-year project is designed to help the country execute the Legal Sector Master Plan adopted in 2009 and is also aimed at improving people’s access to justice and the law and encouraging the creation of more clear, consistent, and responsive laws and regulations. Another key component of the support programme is to introduce legal-aid clinics and a justice fund for the general public in order to improve their understanding of their legal rights.
Ket said from now until 2020, Laos will focus on formulating its legal system and other related issues in order to create a foundation for the country to move towards a rule of law state in the future.
Since national liberation in 1975 the National Assembly (NA) has passed more than 100 laws, which is seen as insufficient to govern the state and society and to respond to the nation’s development needs.
The NA wants to pass more laws in order to respond to these needs and facilitate economic growth despite the insufficiency of law enforcement in Laos and the fact that many people fail to respect the laws.
