Lao dam disaster: UN rights experts call for justice two years on

A group of UN experts* called on governments and relevant businesses to take immediate action to address ongoing human rights violations experienced by survivors of a tragic dam collapse in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic nearly two years ago.

“Thousands of survivors lost everything and continue to face uncertainty and neglect,” the experts said. “Governments, as well as companies and banks, stand to profit handsomely from the hydropower project, yet communities who lost everything have received only broken promises.”

The breach of an auxiliary dam of the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy hydropower project in July 2018 led to destructive flooding that killed at least 71 people and left thousands of people homeless.

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