A/HRC/41/39/Add.2
the light of the social and environmental risks. The results of the review should be made
public and should include the following:
(a)
A comprehensive cumulative assessment of environmental, ecological and
human rights impacts of existing and planned hydropower projects, including on
livelihoods and food security for affected communities upstream and downstream from
hydropower projects, taking into account the impact of climate change;
(b)
An assessment of the regional power market with up-to-date supply and
demand projections;
(c)
An analysis of the extent, nature and implications of public debt taken on to
finance hydropower projects, revenue generated as a result of each project and future
projections, as well as the use of revenue to date;
(d)
Transboundary impacts;
(e)
An assessment of investor, developer and operator compliance with domestic
law and international standards.
41.
In addition to establishing the oversight body proposed in paragraph 37 above, all
hydropower project-related documents, such as impact assessments and environmental and
social monitoring and management plans, and information that describes how projects
contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development should be made available to
the public.
42.
The Government should review the situation of those affected by the Xe-Pian XeNamnoy dam collapse, including displaced people who remain in temporary
accommodations and who have reported delays in receiving promised financial support.
Although the Government maintains that the allegations of delay are untrue, the Special
Rapporteur received consistent, independent reports of delays in monetary compensation
from residents of different camps. People should promptly receive compensation for loss of
their productive land and property. Although the Government has indicated that it intended
to provide people with information about the response timeline and to meaningfully consult
with them about potential plans, many interlocutors reported that they had had little or no
information and had not been consulted. The Government should also provide psychosocial
support, especially to women.
43.
The international actors that remain optimistic about the hydropower sector should
justify the sustainability of specific projects, in the absence of a thorough cumulative, rather
than one-off, assessment of the environmental and social impacts of all existing and
planned projects. The World Bank should consider how the hydropower sector will in fact
contribute to poverty reduction, in the light of low revenue generation, lack of transparency,
limited regulatory monitoring and enforcement capacity, minimal job creation and flagging
investment in social services.
IV. Key social protection programmes
44.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic does not have a functioning comprehensive
social protection system, and people must often rely on networks based on kinship, village,
ethnicity or patronage. Where support programmes are in place, such as for people in the
formal economic sector, they are not always functional. In addition, the Special Rapporteur
has received consistent reports of schools and hospitals charging informal fees, which deter
people in poverty from acquiring access or make doing so impossible. The Government
should monitor those issues, take action to end such bribery, including by holding people
accountable and realigning funding arrangements to eliminate any need for supplementary
income sources. It should halt the practice of paying government employees late or asking
teachers to work without pay. 30
30
Bertelsmann Stiftung, “BTI 2018: Laos country report”, Transformation Index BTI. Available from
www.bti-project.org/en/reports/country-reports/detail/itc/LAO.
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