Country: Laos

Group: Tai

Date Finalize: 4/13/2020

Team: Gabrial Cardenas (lead), Thomas Chia, Ray Gerard Regorgo

The Tai are an ethnic group in Laos that are composed of multiple smaller ethnic sub groups, mostly defined by their geographic location. Although the Laos government has implemented laws to guarantee human rights and protections, the government has also ratified laws that allow the resettlement of Laos’ people with compensation (Evrard & Goudineau, 2004; Open Development Laos, 2019). In 2010, the construction of the Nam Theun 2 Dam displaced Tai villages on the Nakai Plateau, where 6,200 people resided (Minority Rights, n.d.). Compensation and the promise to provide adequate livelihood opportunities was not met by the Laos government. Since the overall data quality is low (1), and specific references to the Tai people are scarce, we could confidently determine that with the evidence presented, conclude that the Tai people have faced deliberate measures of ethnocide.  

Sources

  1. Evrard, O., & Goudineau, Y. (2004). Planned resettlement, unexpected migrations and cultural trauma in Laos. Development and change, 35(5), 937-962.
  2. Singer, J., Pham, H. T., & Hoang, H. (2014). Broadening stakeholder participation to improve outcomes for dam-forced resettlement in Vietnam. Water resources and rural development, 4, 85-103
  3. Open Development Laos. (2019, June 3). Ethnic minorities and indigenous people. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://laos.opendevelopmentmekong.net/topics/ethnic-minorities-and-indigenous-people/
  4. Minority Rights (n.d.).Tai and other hill peoples. Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/tai-and-other-hill-peoples/