PROSECUTION
The government continued moderate law enforcement efforts to combat trafficking. As of a 2006 revision to its penal code Article 134, Lao law prohibits all forms of human trafficking and prescribes penalties ranging from five years’ to life imprisonment, fines ranging from 10 to 100 million kip ($1,250 to $12,500), and confiscation of assets; these penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape.The government continued drafting the framework for trafficking-specific legislation, and during the reporting period, it conducted limited consultations with international organizations capable of providing necessary legal expertise. In 2014, authorities reported investigating 38 individuals for suspected trafficking offenses, prosecuting 31, and convicting 21 trafficking offenders. Officials reported convicted traffickers received punishments from five to 15 years’ imprisonment and fines ranging from 10 to 100 million kip ($1,250 to $12,500). The government used various criminal statutes to prosecute cases and did not specify the nature of cases; it is not possible to confirm all reported cases constituted trafficking offenses. Court proceedings lacked adequately detailed record-keeping, and despite initiating broad legal system reform, the Lao judicial sector remained weak and inefficient.The government added anti-trafficking provisions into basic training courses for police, and led donor-funded trainings that reached more than 300 officials.The government reported conducting cooperative investigations with the governments of China and Vietnam, resulting in one extradition. The general

public’s continued reluctance to work with law enforcement and reliance on out-of-court mediation hampered the government’s ability to effectively investigate internal and cross-border trafficking cases. Corruption remained an endemic problem in Laos. Anti- trafficking organizations have reported some local officials may have contributed to trafficking by accepting payments to facilitate the immigration or transportation of girls to Thailand.The government reported investigating an unknown number of cases of officials for producing falsified travel documents—which could have facilitated trafficking—but did not report any prosecutions or convictions of officials for complicity in human trafficking or trafficking-related activities during the year.

PROTECTION
The government did not make progress in proactively identifying victims exploited within the country or among those deported from other countries, and its overall victim protection efforts remained inadequate. It continued to provide modest support to victims identified by the Thai government and repatriated to Laos.The government reported assisting 253 victims in 2014; such assistance could have included temporary accommodation, legal advice, health services, education, or job training. Lao authorities did not follow systematic procedures for the identification of victims, and the government did not complete revisions to a previously developed checklist for the identification of victims among vulnerable groups. Deportees from Thailand were not systematically screened, and front-line officers’ lack of awareness often led to conflation between trafficking and involuntary migration, leaving some victims unidentified.
The government reported allocating 150 million kip ($18,800) to victim services in 2014, though it did not specify whether this funding was disbursed or how it was used. It continued to rely almost entirely on NGOs and international organizations to provide and fund victim services. The government cooperated with an NGO to run a transit center in Vientiane, where victims could stay for approximately one week, and the quasi-governmental Lao Women’s Union operated a short-term shelter for victims of a number of forms of abuse; an unknown number of victims received services from these facilities. In addition, the government referred an unknown number of victims to non-governmental shelters or other providers of medical care, counseling services, and vocational training. In September 2014, the government signed an agreement with the Government of China to cooperate on protecting and repatriating victims of trafficking.A lack of adequate long-term support available in Laos made victims vulnerable to re-trafficking. Although Lao men and boys were subjected to trafficking, the vast majority of services in the country were only available to women.
There were no reports of identified victims being subjected to penalties for acts committed as a result of being subjected to trafficking, and central government officials instructed provincial authorities that they could not fine repatriated victims for immigration violations. However, a lack of proactive victim identification may have led to some unidentified victims being treated as law violators. Lawyers did not always have formal training and victims were not always made sufficiently aware of their legal rights.The government reported encouraging victims to cooperate with prosecutions, and the Lao Women’s Union made efforts to familiarize individual victims with the court process, but an overall lack of incentives for participation in formal legal proceedings, which can be lengthy and costly, led some victims

to choose traditional out-of-court mediation for redress. Unlike last year, there were no reported cases of victims being awarded restitution by the courts.The government did not establish formal legal alternatives to the removal of foreign trafficking victims to countries where they may face retribution or hardship, but reported it would consider such options on a case-by-case basis.

PREVENTION
The government continued modest prevention efforts. On a day the government designated to combat trafficking in December 2014, the prime minister gave a speech to raise awareness of trafficking that reached more than 1,000 individuals. Government- controlled print, television, and radio media carried a variety of pieces to promote anti-trafficking awareness. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to distribute materials about safe migration and the risks of human trafficking to Lao citizens applying for passports.Although the government continued implementation of its national action plan, it reported no notable outcomes from these activities. Officials reported investigating leads from an international law enforcement agency that seven child sex tourists had entered the country, but this did not result in any arrests and no additional action to enforce criminal penalties for child sex tourism were reported. The government did not provide anti- trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel. The government took no discernible measures to reduce the demand for forced labor or commercial sex acts.