Laos

Villagers in Laos say a Chinese-owned banana plantation has unfairly acquired the land of 46 families in the northern part of the country, many of whom were coerced by authorities into selling for a miniscule compensation package.

The Laos government has awarded land concessions to foreign and domestic companies for the use of about 11.7 million hectares. “But the amount of land actually being used for development is about 549,248 hectares,” Chairman of the Assembly’s Committee on Economy, Technology and Environment said.

Villagers detained for defending their lands from land grabs were beaten and subjected to electric shocks in the days following their arrest, with another later reported to have died in custody.

Threats of and actual displacements of rural communities in the Mekong have been on the rise amid increasing land deals for corporate plantations, mining, logging, biofuels, food crops for exports.

Nine Lao villagers held for over two years for protesting the loss of land awarded by the government to a Vietnamese rubber company have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to six years.

Le RCEP changera la manière dont les gouvernements décident des droits fonciers et qui a accès à la terre. Il pourrait par conséquent intensifier l’accaparement des terres en Asie. Nouvel article de GRAIN.

RCEP will not just change rules on the export and import of goods and services; it will change how governments decide on rights to land and who has access to it.

A Chinese-backed firm is growing bananas on 2,000 hectare of land promised by the government of Laos as compensation to survivors of a 2018 dam collapse.

Vinamilk, Vietnam’s largest dairy company, has teamed up with Lao and Japanese businesses to build an organic dairy farm and resort in Xieng Khuang province, Laos. The first phase of the farm will cover 5,000 ha and the second phase is expected to expand the farm to 15,000-20,000 ha.

A Lao villager held in jail since 2011 as a leader of a land protest in the country’s Salavan province has died in custody. The seizure of land for development or agricultural use has been a major cause of protest in Laos and other authoritarian Asian countries

Concessions of land made by the government of Laos to Chinese banana farms are leaving villagers in one northern district without enough land of their own to feed their families, RFA sources say

Lao authorities have released a villager held since 2017 for protesting the loss of land awarded by the government to a Vietnamese rubber company, but 11 others remain in detention, with another reported to have died in custody last year.