LAO/031
Programme de soutien à la formation et à l’enseignement juridiques ainsi qu’à la promotion du concept de l’État de Droit au Laos

Dernières nouvelles

• Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs visited the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the National University of Laos

  Publié le 14 Juin 2018    Par Reginald M. Pastrana   

  His Excellency, Mr. Jean Asselborn, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, arrived at the campus of the National University of Laos on June 13, 2018, amidst an enthusiastic and cheering crowd of students of the FLP.  

  Prof. Dr. Somsy Gnophanxay, President of the National University of Laos, and Associate Prof. Viengvilay Thiengchanhxay, Dean of the university’s Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLP), led the welcoming committee in warmly receiving the Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs.

  Dr. Gnophanxay, in his introductory remarks, announced that Minister Asselborn’s visit was serendipitous as it came at a time “when the entire Lao people are joyfully celebrating many special occasions, namely: the 43rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic and the 21st anniversary of diplomatic relations between Laos and Luxembourg”. He also acknowledged that Luxembourg has provided more than 50 million Euros to support the health, rural development, vocational education and governance sectors of Lao PDR.

  He stated that Luxembourg has been working on increasing cooperation with the Lao people, as evidenced by the official launch of the Luxembourg Embassy and the LuxDev regional office in Vientiane in 2016 and the establishment of a project office for LAO/031 at the Faculty of Law and Political Science – “The Luxembourg funded project LAO/031 which will run from 2017 to 2022 has been designed to support legal training and teaching and promote the rule of law in the Lao PDR. This project continues and expands on LAO/023 which was implemented between 2010 and 2015”

  It’s important to note that in order to achieve the overall objective of promoting the rule of law in the Lao PDR, the project will focus on developing legal institutions, upgrading standards and improving the enabling legal environment. The project is currently developing the legal research capacity of teachers and supporting the development of an adapted law curriculum.

  

  

  During an open forum with the students of the FLP, Minister Asselborn was asked by students of varied questions involving foreign policy issues, such as the future of the LAO PDR-Luxembourg relations, the problem of international terrorism and rule of law, and the lessons learned in EU integration vis-à-vis ASEAN Economic Community. To their delight, the Luxembourg Foreign Minister always answered the issues raised within the context of what he said were sound foreign policies of Luxembourg. On one question, the Foreign Minister said that there is a need to promote the rule of law and respect for the human rights in order that Lao PDR can sustain peace and promote more prosperity.

  The visit was witnessed by the Vice-Presidents of NUOL, the Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Science, the  Head of International Relations Department, representatives from Ministry of Education and Sports, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vice-Deans, Heads of Department, Divisions, university members, members of the diplomatic corps, Olivier Hecquet, Resident Representative of LuxDev - Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency, representatives from the Institute of Legal Studies and Technical Assistance (ILSTA), the team members of LuxDev Project LAO/031, headed by its Chief Technical Adviser, Reginald M. Pastrana, students and other guests.

• Legal Research Plays Significant Role in Legal Development and Promotion of the Rule of Law in the Lao PDR

  Publié le 24 Mai 2018    Par Reginald M. Pastrana   

  As new laws are being adopted by the Lao National Assembly and the various People’s Provincial Assemblies, including administrative decrees, the need to study, interpret and apply these new laws to effectively protect the rights of citizens and promote the rule of law, has never been greater. Thus, project LAO/031 was launched to improve the quality of legal education, strengthen the capacity of legal sector stakeholders and raise awareness on access to justice.

  ^{Delivering the basic legal research training certificates for FLA faculty members}

  Project LAO/031 emphasizes the improvement of legal research skills among teachers of the Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLP) of the National University of Laos (NUoL), the teachers of the Faculty of Law and Administration (FLA) of the Champassak University and legal practitioners as a first step in strengthening the capacity of legal sector stakeholders. The project has conducted a series of seminars/workshops on basic legal research with teachers of the FLP and FLA.

  ^{The CTA of Project LAO/031, Reginald M. Pastrana, conducting a lecture on basic legal research with various faculty members of the FLA, National University of Laos in Vang Vieng district}

  The basic legal research seminar workshops have further increased legal sector knowledge of NUoL and Champassak University faculty members and have played an important role in fine tuning their teaching skills as well as supporting them in course development and academic research.

  More specifically, faculty members were better able to take advantage of the various research methodologies to develop research proposals. These improved research skills paved the way for a clearer understanding of the inner workings of the law, notably in terms of enabling faculty members to carry out the necessary readings on how laws are made and imparting this knowledge to their students. As aptly stated by Champassak University faculty member – “It is the first time we have had a legal research training programme in our university and for this I’m very thankful. With this new skill, I now have the capacity to search out many laws and determine which are the most appropriate to the needs of our students”.

  ^{The Dean of the FLA of Champassak University, faculty members and the CTA of LuxDev LAO/031, Reginald M. Pastrana, posing for a souvenir photo at Moung Khong, Champassak during their seminar workshop on basic legal research}

   

   

   

   

   

• Laos - Curriculum Development on Legal Education takes off in the Lao PDR

  Publié le 5 Avril 2018    Par Reginald M. Pastrana   

  Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) is a sovereign country which adopted its first Constitution in 1991. Several constitutional amendments were introduced thereafter which fostered big improvements in the LAO PDR’s fledgling legal system, particularly in the rule of law, prominent of which is the crafting of the Legal Sector Master Plan (LSMP), the framework for developing effective institutions in the legal sector of the Lao PDR as a foundation for rule of law.

  

  The new Constitution also gave birth to the Lao PDR National Assembly (NA), which has evolved into a great institution of government in shaping laws. To comply with the mandates provided in the LSMP, the NA played a critical role in introducing legislations to promote the rule of law. Notwithstanding significant institutional structures set up by the NA, numerous areas on legal development for the promotion of rule of law must still take the centre stage.

  According to the 2015 UNDP Public Justice Survey Report, implementation of law is still seen as being weak. Different stakeholders observed that the lack of budget for enforcement, apathy in non-enforcement and a lack of knowledge on laws, contribute to the weak implementation of laws. Moreover, customary law rather than the formal law is still followed in many cases.

  Indeed, among the legal profession, the necessary expertise for laws, legal concepts and judicial processes need to be consolidated and strengthened from the base. There is insufficient number of law professions with adequate expertise. Training opportunities are rare, mostly conceived on an ad hoc basis and not adapted for law professionals. They also tend to focus on specific technical areas identified by donors according to a global thematic agenda. The lack of tailored projects has prevented until now the badly needed implementation of general basic legal training.

  It is in this light that LAO/031, a Laos-Luxembourg cooperation project under the auspices of the Luxembourg Development Cooperation  Agency (LuxDev), and a follow up to its predecessor LAO/023, was initiated. Its purpose: “The Support Project to Legal Teaching and Training and to the Promotion of the Rule of Law Concept in Lao PDR”.

  To attain this, LAO/031 gives priority attention to the improvement of the curriculum in legal education in Lao PDR to come up with the current global trends and ASEAN standards.

  Thus in March 2018, the project formally kicked off to formulate various strategies and processes that would pave the way for the improvement of the law curriculum in the two law schools in Laos: the Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLP) of the National University of Laos (NUoL); and the Faculty of Law and Administration (FLA) of Champassak University.

  

  In the Faculty of Law and Political Science, LAO/031 launched its curriculum development through a three-day seminar-workshop, from March 15-17, 2018. LuxDev Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) Reginald Pastrana delivered significant lectures on the various core subjects in law among ASEAN universities. He also conducted important discourses on several procedural steps, procedures and strategic initiatives for taking the various ways on curriculum development in legal education.

  

  In addition, project LAO/031 was even extended to the southern part of Laos: to the Champassak University. During the courtesy visit of the Dean of the FLP of NUoL and the CTA of LAO/031 in March 2018, the Acting President and the Dean of the FLA of Champassak University were very delighted for this support. Indeed, the Champassak University was willing to receive such support and to lend their hands for the success of project LAO/031.

  

  It must be pointed out that promoting the rule of law through legal education should not be underrated, for the need to support legal education is always a highly relevant rule-of-law project. Project LAO/031, through its vital component of improving the legal curriculum in Lao PDR, is a significant step towards realising the promotion of rule of law in this country.