Laos - Migration (LIDC)

• Estimated 200,000 - 450,000 illegally trafficked annually from Laos.
• Laos is a Low Income Developing Country (LIDC).
• Laos is a landlocked LIDC of 6.8 million people, located in Southeast Asia.
• Laos has a GDP per capita of around $2,000.
• Around 70% of Laos workers, work in agriculture.
• Laos is a communist state which benefits from economic aid from its Communist neighbours, China and Vietnam.
• Due to being a Communist state, bribery and corruption levels are high which means that trafficking levels are also high.
• In 2013, 1.29 million Laos-born emigrants lived abroad, mainly in Thailand, and only 20,000 foreign-born immigrants, mainly Vietnamese, lived in Laos.
• What is the monthly minimum wage in Laos?

  Around $82
• What is the monthly minimum wage in Thailand?

  $260
• A recent development is the trafficking of under age footballers from Liberia to Laos to play for Champasak United.
• The National Plan of Action for Human Trafficking led by the Laos Government has three strands;

  1. Prevention - Awareness campaigns, education and trying to reduce poverty in order to reduce the need to migrate.
  2. Protection - Reintegration of returning migrants and building shelters for women who may need counselling.
  3. Prosecution - Investigation of trafficking networks, training border officials.

  Plan is at risk from bribery and corruption, partly due to the Communist framework.
• The Laos-Thailand Cooperation Committee has been established; completion of the latest Friendship Bridge which has helped to strengthen communication and trade over the Mekong River.