© Lao Voices
The "Asia-Europe Meeting" will bring together 48 EU and Asian countries on Don Chan island in the centre of Laos's capital, Vientiane. To allow the construction of 50 villas and two conference centres, the authorities have moved 102 families who once lived on the island and worked its green paddy fields. The new facilities will be used for this and future summits.
The former inhabitants have been dumped 15 miles away, with minimal compensation, at a new location without enough fertile land to replace their old livelihoods. "I cannot produce rice and other crops for survival," said one person who was displaced. "How can my family and I live? Other people have the same problems as well. I do not have a stable income - my land is grabbed and I cannot grow crops."
Land seizures of this kind are a growing problem in Asia, where booming economies have spurred unchecked development. In total, about 15 per cent of the entire surface area of Laos, a country of 6.2 million people in South-East Asia, has been seized for development. In the process, tens of thousands of people are believed to have been displaced.
