A/HRC/61/49/Add.1 85. The Special Rapporteur cannot, on the basis of a one-day trip to the Park and brief discussions with authorities and village residents, assess the authenticity of the communities’ agreement. In addition, she found it challenging to elicit people’s true thoughts. She warns, however, about the thin line that exists between building an agreement on the one side, and convincing communities to agree to a project and do what they are told to do on the other; the latter approach seems to be widely applied in other parts of the country. In this equation, the possibility to say no within a framework that guarantees freedom of expression and access to information is a guarantee for building an authentic agreement. V. Conclusions and recommendations 86. On its road to development, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic can no longer ignore the relevance and importance of cultural rights, which it has recognized through the ratification of key international instruments, in particular the two International Covenants on Human Rights. The cultural rights aspect of development policies must not be forgotten, their impact on ways of life must not be overlooked, and people must be informed accordingly. 87. The Special Rapporteur makes the recommendations set out below. 88. The Government should: (a) Reassess its efforts to protect cultural rights, to ensure that the diversity of expressions, views, visions, priorities and opinions is respected, protected and encouraged, using a notion of culture that is defined and understood as an inclusive concept encompassing all aspects of human existence and ways of life. A bottom-up approach to understanding culture (the expressions through which people express and live their world views), should replace the current top-down approach (designating which cultural practices are to be promoted or discarded to ensure development and reduce poverty, for example); (b) Adopt a general anti-discrimination law consistent with the definition of discrimination as set out in international human rights law, including de facto and indirect discrimination, and with due respect for cultural diversity; (c) Further recognize the ethnic diversity in its territory, including through the recognition of the lived realities of Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities, which should be accorded the protection they deserve under international human rights law; (d) Reassess the extent to which various policies and laws create a system of assimilation of ethnic groups into the main Lao-Tai group; decisions as to which practices are supported and which are not should be informed by a participatory process without prejudice against specific communities; (e) Move away from the concepts of “bad” and “good” culture, to embrace cultural diversity more fully and without bias; in particular, the Government should address the bias against subsistence and nature-based livelihood systems, seen as obstacles to development rather than assets, which results in the importance of these systems, both for the people and for sustainable development, being overlooked; (f) Fully respect the right to freedom of opinion and expression for all, and lift restrictions that do not comply with the strict requirements of article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; in this regard, the Government should revise or clarify legal provisions, such as article 50 of the Law on Resettlement and Vocation, that may be used to prohibit people from opposing resettlement plans and development operations, and issues relating to development policies, businesses and relationships with China, among others, should be discussed freely in the country; (g) Further revise Decree No. 536, on associations, to introduce clear and narrowly defined grounds for restrictions, independent oversight and effective remedies, and lift the prohibition on the establishment of associations by ethnic groups; GE.26-01463 17