III. may earn the right to be rewarded with citizenship if they "exert great contribution in the protection and building of the nation". 29. The clause on earning the right to be rewarded with citizenship after a great contribution to the nation has been added with the 2015 amendment of the Constitution. Decree of the President - On the Promulgation of Law on Lao Nationality 30. Citizenship laws in Lao PDR are largely governed by the Decree of the President (No 35/PO) entered into force on 15 June 2004, "On the Promulgation of Law on Lao Nationality" (Decree).26 Lao PDR does not authorise Lao citizens to hold multiple nationalities.27 31. The Decree generally does not discriminate on the basis of gender, with references primarily being to each "spouse", "parent" or "husband or wife", or otherwise in generally inclusive terms. 32. A number of elements in the Decree are designed so as to prevent a person from becoming stateless by virtue of circumstances outside of the person's control. For example: I. II. III. IV. V. VI. marriage or divorce does not alter the person's nationality;28 an individual forfeiture of nationality does not affect the nationality of the person's husband, wife or children;29 where only one parent of a child is a Lao citizen, that child will receive Lao citizenship if one of the following applies: i. they are born in Lao PDR; ii. the other parent is stateless; iii. one parent has a permanent address in Lao PDR; or iv. if neither parent has a permanent address in Lao PDR, the parents choose for the child to have Lao citizenship;30 where the parents of a child are both stateless, the child will receive Lao citizenship upon request of the parents, provided that the parents permanently reside in Lao PDR and are integrated into the Lao society and culture;31 where the identity of a child's parents is unknown, any child found in Lao PDR will be considered a Lao citizen (unless evidence can be found that the parents are foreign citizens);32 foreign children adopted by married couples where one spouse is a Lao PDR citizen, may hold Lao citizenship if agreed to by the adoptive parents.33 33. While the Decree has been commended as being comprehensive in dealing with citizenship, there are still a number of potential areas where the framework may unnecessarily render a person stateless. Some of these risks are set out below: I. In various situations where a child is born to parents without (or who relinquish) Lao citizenship (or where only one parent has Lao citizenship), the child's citizenship is tied to 26 Decree On the Promulgation of the Law on Lao Nationality, No. 35/PO (25 May 2004), accessed at http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/Laws%20in%20English/10.%20Law%20on%20Lao%20Nationality%20(2004)%20Eng.pdf. 27 Ibid, article 3. 28 Ibid 27, article 4. 29 Ibid, article 17. 30 Ibid, article 11, also see article 23. 31 Ibid, article 12. 32 Ibid, article 13. 33 Ibid, article 25. 7