Church in Vientiane, Laos

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects the 2008 Religious Freedom Report released on September 19 by the US Department of State accusing the Lao government of restricting people's religious practices.

In response to the accusation, the Lao Foreign Ministry on September 25 released a statement to confirm the government's unchanged policy on promoting the freedom of religious practice in Laos .

“The government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic always respects its citizens' freedom to believe or not to believe in a religion and these rights are clearly defined in Articles 9 and 43 of the constitution of the Lao PDR,” the statement said.

The statement also explained details of Prime Ministerial Decree No. 92, which was released in 2002. It explained the decree aimed to manage and protect the freedom of people to believe or not to believe in a religion.

The statement also explained the meaning of some of the words used in the decree. It explained that “management” meant encouraging believers in a religion to practise their religion in accordance with religious principles and to promote morals and good deeds among worshipers. “Protection” meant the promotion of the choice of belief or non-belief in a religion to strengthen the solidarity of the Lao people.

The government also has other policies, laws and legal documents concerning religion to promote the freedom of religious belief and non-belief. At the same time these rules condemn the use of all forms of force and bribes to convince people to believe in a particular religion.

The statement explained that the government respects and protects religious practices that encourage devotees and religious leaders to participate in activities that benefit society and the nation. The government prohibits any movement that aims to discriminate against people of any particular ethnic group or religion.

Based on the situation in Laos , the government can confirm that it ascribes importance to every religion in Laos .

The Lao Front for National Construction has been assigned as the body to manage the religion and unity of the entire people.

The number of believers in different religions in Laos proves that the Lao government treats all religions equally.

There are currently 4 million Buddhists and 4,937 Buddhist temples, and eight Mahayan temples. Laos is also home to 120,000 Christians and 552 churches, 550 Muslims and two mosques, and 8,000 believers of the Baha'i faith and five places of worship. A further 1.2 million people believe in a mix of animism and Buddhism and some do not follow any religion.

The statement explained that previously the authorities had taken measures against wrongdoers who infringed the country's laws.

This is general practice and other countries, including the US , also take such action against people who break the law. Therefore, the accusation of the US Department of State in saying that Lao local authorities have arrested Christians in some provinces is untrue. In any such case, the authorities base their actions on the law in investigating a case and consider all cases according to the law without discrimination based on religious belief, because all people are equal before the law.

By vientiane times