A/HRC/41/39/Add.4 17. Under the heading “4. The Xe Pian Xe Namnoy Dam and the future of hydropower” para 4 (the last sentence) This is the previous vision of the Government and it’s no longer relevant to the current Government’s vision. 18. Under the heading “5. Challenges” subheading “Gender” para 1 (the last sentence) The comments of the said official is not in line with the National Policy and does not reflect an accurate perspective of the Lao Government towards women and thus must be removed. Women are encouraged to take steps towards their advancement and take up management positions based on merits just as men. Affirmative action in favour of women is selectively practiced in the country, where deemed appropriate and necessary. 19. Under the heading “5. Challenges” subheading “Gender” para 4 (the last sentence) In the People’s Provincial Assemblies, women make up 31.75 percent of the total members. In addition, the President and a Vice-President of the National Assembly are also female. 20. Under the subheading “Ethnic minorities and indigenous people” The subheading itself is problematic, as it is well noticed by the Special Rapporteur that the Lao PDR does not apply such terms, but rather “ethnic groups” is used throughout the country and all of its documents. The rights of the Lao multi-ethnic people are protected by the Constitution and subsequent laws and regulations. The term “indigenous” is not applicable for the reason that all ethnic groups in the Lao PDR would qualify as indigenous. The Country highly values its national unity and harmony among all its people, any acts of division is prohibited by the Constitution and laws. The Lao PDR recognizes that the term “minority” would rather create division among its people in a demeaning and useless manner, thus the term is not preferred. The Lao PDR does use the term “ethnic groups with smaller population” instead, to avoid the said negative cognition. At the moment, the Ministry of Home Affairs is in the process of drafting the Decree on Ethnic Affairs, with the aim to further the advancement of ethnic groups and protecting the rights and interests of all ethnic groups. 21. Under the subheading “Ethnic minorities and indigenous people” para 5 The teachers who have been trained can teach in their own language by translating from the official Lao language into their own mother-tongue, although some challenges may arise as some ethnic language has no written alphabets. This might be a misunderstanding of the Special Rapporteur during his meeting with the Ministry of Education and Sports. Thus, the sentence should be rephrased. 22. Under the subheading “Rural poverty” The government issued the National Poverty Line and the Development critiria for families, villages and districts along with focus areas for rural development according to Prime Minister’s Decision No.65 on focus area for rural development, land allocation and consolidating cluster villages into small districts in the rural areas for 449 focus areas and conduct surveys, create data bases, using project-based approach to raise funding for 5