The International Service for Human Rights has prepared a briefing paper on the human rights situation in Laos:

Human rights defenders prefer to be known as ‘community workers’ and are afraid of reprisals if they are associated with regional and international human rights organisations.

As Laos is scheduled to undergo a Universal Periodic Review in January 2015, below are some recommendations to improve the country's human rights record:

…the development of specific policies for the recognition and protection of the work of human rights defenders and the removal of judicial restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, along with the decriminalisation of defamation and ‘misinformation’.