The Asia Foundation

In a news brief for the Lao News Agency detailing a lecture held in Vientiane entitled, “Evolving East Asian Regionalism and the Role of the United States in the Asia-Pacific Region: National Interests and Strategic Imperative,” The Asia Foundation is credited with co-organizing the event with The Lao Institute of Foreign Affairs. Read the full article: “US foreign policy for Asia-Pacific disseminated.”

Vientiane

Read this press release in the Lao language.

At a ceremony held today in Vientiane, The Asia Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Lao Women’s Union (LWU). The new agreement will allow The Asia Foundation to expand programs that ensure women’s rights and personal security, increase women’s participation in public life, and advance women’s economic opportunities. For over two decades, The Asia Foundation has formed valuable, long-standing relationships with Lao government bodies and local organizations.

“On this important occasion, The Asia Foundation is pleased to reaffirm its commitment to the Lao people and the Lao Women’s Union in their dedicated work to improve social and economic opportunities for women and society as a whole,” said Ms. Gretchen A. Kunze, Laos Country Director for The Asia Foundation. “We look forward to the opportunity to continue our partnership with the Lao Women’s Union and government of the Lao PDR in shared efforts to support development and growth for the entire nation.”

For 20 years, the Foundation has partnered with Lao Women’s Union to implement activities promoting gender equality and the prevention of human trafficking and violence toward women. For instance, in 1995, The Asia Foundation provided financial support to LWU representatives to participate in the Women’s World Conference held in Beijing. In 2003, the Foundation supported the LWU in drafting the Law on Development and Protection of Women, including carrying out a survey on domestic violence to provide data. More recently, the Foundation contributed funds for the construction of a Counseling and Protection Center for Women and Children, as well as technical support for training and upgrading legal knowledge of LWU staff. In addition, The Asia Foundation supported leadership skills training for women political leaders.

Read more about The Asia Foundation’s programs in Laos.

For media inquires, please visit our Press Room.

Delegates Will Meet with The Asia Foundation’s Legal Aid Program and Thai Legal Organizations

Bangkok, Thailand

Senior Law Experts from Laos to Visit Thailand Twelve delegates from the Lao Bar Association and associated legal groups will arrive in Thailand on Sunday, May 4, 2008, to begin a four-day observation trip of The Asia Foundation’s legal aid program in tsunami-affected areas and legal organizations in Thailand.

The trip is part of a recently-launched comprehensive legal aid and legal education program in Laos — supported by The Asia Foundation and funded by The McConnell Foundation — to help the Lao Bar Association improve its services, provide legal aid for poor and rural citizens, and increase professional and public understanding of laws and rights under Lao law. To expand services to rural areas and foster awareness about rights, the program will establish legal aid clinics in Champasak and Udomxai, and will also create the country’s first-ever mobile legal aid service and community legal educators to enhance legal education and outreach.

“This observation trip is an important preliminary step toward establishing a comprehensive legal aid system in the Lao PDR,” says Ms. Gretchen Kunze, Deputy Country Representative of The Asia Foundation. “We are extremely pleased to have such a distinguished group of professionals demonstrate their interest in improving legal services for all Lao citizens.”

The delegates will spend the first two days of their trip visiting The Asia Foundation’s Tsunami Rights and Legal Aid Referral Center (T-LAC) in southern Thailand, which will serve as the model for the new project with the Lao Bar Association. Since 2006, T-LAC has provided free legal aid outreach to over 5,750 people in tsunami-affected areas, offering services which include applications for death certificates of family members who have been missing since the tsunami, adoption or legal guardianship of tsunami orphans, settling land disputes and inheritances, and acquiring legal identity for unregistered Thai nationals.

“We learned many important lessons from creating a mechanism to help poor and rural citizens in Thailand gain access to legal assistance after the devastation of the tsunami,” says Ms. Ruengrawee Pichaikul Ketphol, a Senior Program Coordinator for The Asia Foundation. “We hope that through sharing ideas and information this delegation will learn about what has worked here, and then adapt the program to meet the specific needs of Laos.”

The core of the trip will be the delegates’ exposure to T-LAC’s successful formula of training community members to become paralegal volunteers. Though these volunteers have no prior legal education, T-LAC training workshops enable them to assist clients in rural areas where the number of lawyers is inadequate and knowledge of legal remedies is low – conditions which are similar to those in Laos. Using locally-based paralegal volunteers is an effective and sustainable way of providing communities with trusted sources of legal knowledge and advice that will continue long after the program formally ends.

At T-LAC’s office, the delegates will meet T-LAC staff and be introduced to the center’s legal services, strategies, and lessons learned. They will then travel through tsunami-affected areas meeting legal aid beneficiaries and learning about specific legal cases. At one provincial public prosecution office, the delegates will observe paralegal volunteers as they assist clients with legal procedures and help lawyers during a judge’s inquiry. They will also have a chance to hear first-hand experiences on legal matters from clients, lawyers, and T-LAC paralegal volunteers.

In Bangkok, the delegates will meet with the Women Lawyers Association of Thailand, who will provide an overview of the association’s wide range of family mediation, alternative dispute resolution, legal counseling, and legal aid services which focus mostly on family matters and violence against women. Delegates will also meet with the Law Society of Thailand to learn about organizational development and program implementation. Finally, the trip will culminate with a session with the Department of Rights and Liberty Protection at Thailand’s Ministry of Justice for an overview of the department’s legal aid services, legal education, and community-based justice volunteers program.
Lao delegates taking part in the trip are as follows:
- Head of the delegation team, Mr. Phoumi Sioudomphanh, President of the Lao Bar Association;
- Mr. Bouathong Changthamalinh, Head of Cabinet at the Supreme Court;
- Mr. Thongkham Savanhphet, Judge at the Vientiane Municipality Court;
- Mr. Somphay Keosouvanh, Head of the General Inspection Department at the Office of the Supreme People’s Prosecutors;
- Mr. Phimmasone Chanthachit, Legal Expert at the Department of Law Dissemination, Ministry of Justice;
- Mr. Vikone Bounvilay, Legal Expert of the Judicial Administrative System, Ministry of Justice;
- Mr. Vilasay Songvilay, Attorney of the Lao Bar Association;
- Mr. Bounthavy Khorayoke, Attorney of the Lao Bar Association;
- Mr. Somphou Keomounmany, Member of the Lao Bar Association Executive Committee;
- Ms. Douangmala Khamsongka, Law Professor at the National University of Laos;
- Mr. Onesy Bounmany, Head of the Investigation Division, Ministry of Public Security; and
- Ms. Thoummaly Vongphachanh, Director of the Counseling and Protection Center for Women and Children, Lao Women’s Union.

Lao Bar Association Receives Grant from The Asia Foundation to Improve Access to Justice

Vientiane

In recent years, the Lao government has given increased attention to improving the rule of law. Yet the public still has a limited understanding of existing laws, citizen rights, the legal system, and the role of lawyers. This is especially true in remote areas of the country and among ethnic community populations where there is very little awareness about the formal justice system or how it can help people in their daily lives. In response, The Asia Foundation, the premier non-profit organization devoted to Asia’s development since 1954, announced today a grant to the Lao Bar Association (LBA) for a three-year access to justice project to conduct the nation’s first-ever mobile legal aid clinic and to support the creation of community legal advisors.

The project, which is modeled on The Asia Foundation’s successful post-tsunami legal aid program in Thailand and adapted to the specific circumstances and needs of Laos, will strengthen access to justice and the rule of law, especially for the most vulnerable and marginalized groups of people across the country.

In Laos, people tend to consult relatives and friends, rather than lawyers, regarding legal matters. While this may be useful in small civil conflicts, it has not proven effective when confronting larger legal issues, especially those that involve criminal charges. In many such cases, even though there are laws to protect the rights of the accused, violation of rights still occur and many people do not know they have any form of redress. Two legal aid clinics, one in Champasak and one in Udomxai, will serve as bases for nationwide mobile legal assistance and outreach to southern and northern regions of the Lao PDR. Coordination and oversight will be conducted by the LBA in Vientiane, which will also provide legal aid services to those in central Laos. To reach rural citizens, the LBA will conduct mobile legal aid clinics where trained legal volunteers will travel to villages to talk to citizens about their legal issues. These clinics and legal education efforts will provide even the most rural areas with essential information about the law and legal sector.

“Lao citizens often do not have the financial resources to obtain a lawyer even when they recognize that they have a legal problem; particularly if they live in a remote area. The LBA therefore needs both provincial clinics and mobile legal aid clinics to ensure that all citizens have access to justice,” said Dr. James Klein, country representative of The Asia Foundation.

Another core element of this project is to enhance the institutional capacity of the LBA itself. In order for the Bar to conduct the legal aid program effectively and efficiently, The Asia Foundation will provide technical support and adaptation of best practices from relevant legal aid projects in other countries. Support will include establishing efficient methodology to conduct legal surveys and expertise in program management.

“The project will also train volunteers from different parts of Laos in basic legal procedures and systems. Although they will not become lawyers, they will have a practical understanding of the legal system in Laos and, perhaps most importantly, know how to access help,” said Mr. Phoumy Sioudomphanh, President of the Lao Bar Association. “Therefore, even when this program ends, communities throughout the country will still have a valuable resource –a community-based advocate— so that they are able to help themselves long into the future,” he added.

The Asia Foundation has a long history in the Lao PDR, maintaining an office in Vientiane from 1958 to 1975. The Foundation’s current program in Laos, managed from its Bangkok office, was launched in 1989. Prior to this program, the Foundation supported the LBA’s institutional and staff capacity building with the purchase of equipment as well as providing training in program design and report writing.

This new access to justice initiative complements the support provided to the LBA by other donors such as the UNDP, European Commission and AusAID. Effective donor collaboration and liaison will ensure that the LBA can increase its capacity to deliver access to justice to the most vulnerable communities in Lao PDR.

About the Lao Bar Association

The Lao Bar Association (LBA) is a professional organization that represents lawyers in the Lao PDR. It was established to clarify the organization of lawyers, their training and qualifications, and the rights and responsibilities of lawyers in this country. It has both male and female lawyer members. Decree 64 Pertaining to the Organization and Operation of the Bar Association of the Lao PDR was signed and took effect on February 21, 1996. For more information, please visit:
www.laobar.org.

San Francisco

Asian Scholars to Participate in Berkeley’s Environmental Leadership Program

With increasing attention on critical global environmental concerns, improved coordination and dialogue between key stakeholders and decision makers will be essential in international efforts to safeguard natural resources. The Asia Foundation, the premier non-profit organization devoted to Asia’s development since 1954, has awarded two fellowships and a travel grant to three Southeast Asian environmental professionals to attend the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program (ELP), a three-week summer certificate course in Sustainable Environmental Management conducted by the Center for Sustainable Resource Development of the University of California, Berkeley. The Beahrs’ ELP course brings together environmental leaders from around the world to study under UC Berkeley faculty and specialists and share best practices among peers.

“Asia’s environmental leaders will play a critical role in promoting sound global environmental management in the coming decades. We’re very pleased to be able provide three of Southeast Asia’s emerging leaders with the opportunity to experience a world-class, multidisciplinary educational program in sustainable environmental management,” said Chris Plante, The Asia Foundation’s Director of Environment Programs.

Recognizing the complex economic, social, and political challenges facing environmental professionals, the Foundation has identified scholars from the neighboring countries of the Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam to participate in the Beahrs ELP. Each Fellow has demonstrated commitment to his or her field and will bring a unique perspective to the natural resource and environmental management discourse.

Since 2001, the ELP has graduated 190 environmental leaders from sixty-two countries. For more information about the Beahrs’ ELP course, see http://beahrselp.berkeley.edu. The course began on Sunday, June 24.

The Asia Foundation Responds to Urgent Need for Women’s Refuge and Services

San Francisco and Vientiane, Laos

The Asia Foundation, the premier non-profit organization devoted to Asia’s development since 1954, today announced the opening of the first safe shelter in the Lao PDR for women and children victims of domestic violence and trafficking. As one of the poorest countries in the world, Laos consistently ranks among the lowest on education, unemployment, infant mortality, and other social and economic indicators. These desperate conditions, along with a lack of resources and public information, create an environment ripe for human trafficking and domestic abuse. In response, The Lao Women’s Union and The Asia Foundation planned and constructed a state-of-the-art, multi-use shelter designed to protect and empower Lao women and girls. This shelter is a direct result of groundbreaking Lao legislation to protect these vulnerable populations, and a growing awareness of violence against women.

The new full-service shelter, located near the capital city of Vientiane, features long-term housing for as many as 50 women and children; on-staff counselors and trained women’s advocates; and an array of wellness services. In order to maintain a high level of protection for its occupants, the shelter, currently comprised of three buildings, is located in the outskirts of the city and is surrounded by a security wall. Transportation to the shelter is provided by the Lao Women’s Union.

“Since 1954, The Asia Foundation has advanced the lives of women and girls in Asia,” said Carol Yost, director for The Asia Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment Program. “The Laos shelter is the culmination of a massive effort in Laos to end violence against women and trafficking crimes and to help women and girls find legitimate, safe jobs.”

In 2004, The Asia Foundation and the Lao Women’s Union released the first-ever research survey on violence against women in Laos. The findings — an alarming occurrence of violence against women, a lack of resources for victims, and little to no assistance from family members or community groups — immediately triggered the first anti-trafficking and domestic violence legislation in the history of the nation, the Development and Protection of Women Act.

“For the bill to be successful, for women and children to truly be safe and to develop skills that would earn them independence, we knew that shelter, counseling services, and training programs must simultaneously be made available to victims in a secure, supportive environment,” adds Yost.

In 2005, as a result of this new legislation and recommendations made by the Lao Women’s Union and The Asia Foundation, construction of the new shelter began on the plot of land donated by the Lao government. Through the assistance of Give2Asia, a charity founded by The Asia Foundation to promote private philanthropic giving to Asia, The Asia Foundation provided major support for the planning and construction of the shelter. UNICEF and the Japanese Embassy in Laos funded the construction of two buildings on the premises.

Currently, the fourth building, a vocational training center, is being planned with funds from The Asia Foundation and Give2Asia. This training facility — both for shelter residents and at-risk women and girls — will offer women new job skills, such as handicrafts, sewing, and basic business management. These new skills will empower women to find work, support themselves, and establish their freedom from violence.

A speech was delivered by Gretchen A. Kunze, Assistant Representative of The Asia Foundation in Thailand at the opening ceremony of the first shelter for women in Laos. Read more about the shelter.

To find out how to make a contribution to the Laos shelter or to other important projects like it, please visit Give2Asia at www.Give2Asia.org.

For more information please see the Press Room.