Directive Notice of the Governor of Bolikhamxay Province on Halting the Establishment of Spontaneous Settlements

Article 1

Basis: Article 14, Paragraph 8, Chapter 3 of the Law on Local Administration No. 03/NA, dated October 21, 2003, concerning the implementation of local citizen management work.
Basis: Prime Minister's Directive No. 04/PM, dated April 12, 2002, on arranging stable occupations and permanent residences for the people.
Basis: The actual situation of citizens migrating without authorization in violation of legal provisions.

"ສະນຳ" (spontaneous settlement) is a local term, with meanings varying due to geographical differences across countries. For example, in Thailand, it is called "ສະລຳ," referring to large, dense communities in urban centers; whereas in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, especially in mountainous areas, "ສະນຳ" refers to groups of people who move to remote rural areas and settle without authorization in violation of the law.

In the past, the Party and the government, specifically the Party Committee and Administration of Bolikhamxay Province, have begun implementing the Party and State's policies and guidelines, particularly by deploying key leading cadres and professional technical personnel to the grassroots level to build political foundations, comprehensively develop rural areas, arrange stable occupations, arrange permanent residences, and merge small villages into larger ones to facilitate management and comprehensive development, benefiting the people of the entire province. This is an important policy plan of the Party and the State.

Through practical implementation in Bolikhamxay Province, we have observed: All localities have strived to formulate development plans and designate areas for occupational placement and permanent residence for the people; they have closely coordinated and cooperated with local Party committees and administrations, achieving results in many aspects, leading to basic stability across the province, continuous growth and expansion of the economy and society, development of infrastructure, and gradual integration of rural areas into towns. The merger of small villages into larger ones reduced the number of villages from 1,392 in 2006 to the current 296, a decrease of 36 villages (Note: The original text's figures may contain errors; translated as is), thereby gradually transforming many large rural villages into towns, with continuous improvement in the people's material and spiritual well-being; households not yet lifted out of poverty decreased from 13,904 in 2006 to only 2,256 currently, accounting for 4.82% of the total 46,742 households in the province.

Alongside the above achievements, many difficulties remain in practical work, such as: In some areas, the people's livelihoods remain unstable; some people leave their families, relocate entire households, and build houses in various places, forming spontaneous settlements (ສະນຳ) in some village clusters and locations with inconvenient transportation, under the pretext of engaging in production and making a living; among them, some are local residents from within the district, and some come from neighboring provinces along the border, showing a trend of scale and increasing frequency. Additionally, some people migrate without complying with legal provisions, causing considerable disruption to local Party committees and administrations, particularly in areas such as household registration management, school-age children not attending school, and vaccination coverage rates failing to meet targets, providing opportunities for bad elements to oppose the Party and State's policies and guidelines, disobey the law, create difficulties for public officials in management, destroy forests, illegally occupy land, and engage in drug trafficking, among other issues.

To reduce the above situation and subsequently bring it to a complete halt, enabling people of all ethnic groups to earn a legitimate livelihood in line with the Party and State's policies and guidelines and to be properly resolved, the Governor of Bolikhamxay Province hereby issues the following directive: