PREVENTION
The government made efforts to prevent trafficking. During the reporting period, the government created a parliamentary commission to complete an evaluation of the government’s overall anti-trafficking efforts and publicized the need to improve them. In November 2014, a second MLMY employment center was opened in Osh, with funding and support from an international organization and foreign government, to complement the similar center in Bishkek. The centers provided employment services, vacancy advertisement, pre-departure orientation, which included trafficking prevention, and other services for job seekers to ensure safer migration and employment. During the reporting period, MLMY broadcasted videos on its website and two television channels about how to find legal employment abroad and generally avoid trafficking and labor exploitation.Additionally, MLMY carried out an unknown number of trafficking prevention and awareness events in cooperation with local law enforcement and other government agencies. MLMY also monitored the government’s implementation of programs under its 2013-2016 anti-trafficking action plan. The government commission to review and issue permits for private agencies that recruit migrant workers met in August 2014 and canceled permits for four agencies; MLMY disseminated information about the permit status of the agencies online and through the employment centers. The Ministry of Education distributed information on human trafficking among students in public schools and at higher education institutions. The border service provided anti-trafficking information at border crossings. The NGO-run hotline, supported in-kind by the government, provided awareness-raising and general prevention information to callers.The government provided anti-trafficking guidance for its diplomatic personnel.The government did not report efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or forced labor.

LAOS: Tier 2 Watch List 
Laos is a source, and to a lesser extent, a transit and destination country for women, children, and men subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Lao trafficking victims often are migrants seeking work outside the country—sometimes with the assistance of

brokers who charge high fees—who encounter conditions of labor or sexual exploitation after arriving in destination countries, most often Thailand. Many victims, particularly women and girls, some reportedly as young as 11 years old, are exploited in Thailand’s commercial sex trade and in forced labor in domestic service, factories, or agricultural industries. Lao men and boys are victims of forced labor inThailand in the fishing, construction, and agricultural industries. Lao victims of forced labor in the Thai fishing industry have been identified in Indonesian waters. NGOs report individuals offering transportation services near the Thai border facilitate the placement of economic migrants into forced labor or sex trafficking in Thailand.The government reports foreign traffickers increasingly collaborate with local Lao middlemen to facilitate trafficking. Many trafficking victims may be among the more than 17,000 migrants deported or “pushed back” annually fromThailand without official notification, often sent back to Laos in boats across the Mekong River. Vehicle drivers sometimes intercept these migrants when they arrive back in Laos and facilitate their re-trafficking. A small, though possibly increasing, number of women and girls from Laos are sold as brides in China and South Korea and subsequently subjected to sex trafficking. Lao women have been subjected to sex trafficking in Malaysia and possibly Indonesia. A small number of Lao have been subjected to trafficking in Vietnam. Some local officials may contribute to trafficking by accepting payments to facilitate the immigration or transportation of girls to Thailand.
Laos is reportedly a transit country for some Vietnamese and Chinese women and girls who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor in neighboring countries, particularly Thailand. Local organizations reported concerns that some of the Vietnamese men and women working in or near (often illegal) logging and construction areas along the Lao-Vietnam border may be victims of trafficking.They reported similar concerns over Burmese nationals working as manual laborers or involved in the sex trade near the “golden triangle” tri-border area with Burma and Thailand.
There is little data on the scope of trafficking within Laos. Some Vietnamese and Chinese women and girls, as well as girls and boys from Laos, are subjected to sex trafficking in the country, usually in the larger cities or in close proximity to borders, casinos, or special economic zones, reportedly to meet the demand of Asian tourists and migrant workers. Some Lao adults and children are subjected to forced labor within Laos in the agricultural sector. There were reports that child sex tourists from the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States have traveled to Laos intending to exploit children in the sex trade.
The Government of Laos does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.The government continued to prosecute trafficking offenses and convict traffickers, and to provide short- term assistance to some victims with a heavy reliance on support from foreign donors. Despite these measures, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous reporting period; therefore, Laos is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.The government did not provide sufficient case details to establish that all reported cases involved trafficking. The government relied almost entirely on local and international organizations to implement anti-trafficking programs in Laos. It did not make progress in proactively identifying trafficking victims, enhancing the quality of services available to victims, or increasing access to services for male victims.

RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  LAOS:
Implement formal victim identification procedures and train police and border officials to systematically identify trafficking victims, and refer them to care, particularly among migrants “pushed back” from Thailand and domestic victims; increase efforts to address internal trafficking—including children subjected to sex trafficking and adults and children subjected to forced labor in the commercial agricultural sector—by identifying and assisting Lao citizens subjected to trafficking within the country and prosecuting their traffickers; finalize new anti-trafficking legislation that conforms with international law requirements, including organizations with relevant expertise in all stages of the drafting process; improve transparency by collecting information on government anti-trafficking activities, including case details, and share this information with stakeholders; provide incentives for victims to participate in formal legal proceedings, including through restitution awards from the courts; reduce the demand for sex tourism by continuing to increase awareness in targeted locations and enforcing criminal penalties; in partnership with local and international organizations, increase resources and vocational trainings to support victims, including male victims, to reintegrate into their home communities; increase government expenditures on service provision to victims and awareness campaigns to warn of the dangers of human trafficking; and investigate and prosecute public officials alleged to be complicit in trafficking crimes.