LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

A 2011 Human Rights Watch report documented beatings and other inhuman and degrading punishment in Somsanga Center, where drug users, homeless people, street children and people with mental disabilities were detained. The report was based on interviews with 12 former detainees, four of whom were children at the time of their detention, and 8 current or former staff members of international organisations.

(Human Rights Watch, 2011, Somsanga’s Secrets: Arbitrary Detention, Physical Abuse, and Suicide inside a Lao Drug Detention Center)

A UNICEF report published in 2010 states that 74% of children aged 2-14 experienced violent discipline (physical punishment and/or psychological aggression) in 2005-2006. Nearly half experienced physical punishment, while a smaller percentage (17%) of mothers and caregivers thought that physical punishment was necessary in childrearing, and non-violent discipline was also widely used: experienced by 79% of children. Eight per cent of children experienced severe physical punishment (being hit or slapped on the face, head or ears or being hit over and over with an implement) and 64% experienced psychological aggression (being shouted at, yelled at, screamed at or insulted). Boys were slightly more likely than girls to experience violent discipline: 75% compared to 72%. Children aged 5-9 were more likely to experience violent discipline than those of other ages: 78% of children aged 5-9 compared to 74% of children aged 2-4 and 69% of children aged 10-14. Children living in larger households were more likely to experience violent discipline: 75% of children in households of 6 or more people compared to 63% of children in households of 2-3 people. The statistics also suggest that children with more siblings are more likely to experience violent discipline in most countries involved in the study (p. 72). No significant differences in children’s experience of violent discipline were found according to level of education of adults in the household or engagement in child labour. 

(UNICEF, 2010, Child Disciplinary Practices at Home: Evidence from a Range of Low- and Middle-Income Countries, NY: UNICEF)

According to statistics from UNICEF on violence in the family, in 2005-2006 eighty-one per cent of girls and women aged 15-49 thought that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife under certain circumstances.

(UNICEF, 2009,  Progress for Children: A report card on child protection, NY: UNICEF)

In a study reported in 2003, 30% of detained children reported experiencing physical or mental punishment, including beating, crawling, sitting in the sun and withholding meals.

(Sandvik-Nylund, 2003, Regional Assessment: Violence against children in East Asia and the Pacific region, Bangkok: UNICEF, cited in Nogami, N., 2005, Discipline and punishment of children: a rights-based review of laws. attitudes and practices in East Asia and the Pacific - Save the Children Sweden Southeast Asia and the Pacific, regional submission to the UN Secretary General's Global Study on Violence against Children, Stockholm, Save the Children Sweden)