Scope of the Problems with Landmines, UXO and Clustermunitions

Scope of the Problem: Thailand is affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW),both abandoned explosive ordnance and unexploded ordnance (UXO), as a result of conflicts on all four of its borders with Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Malaysia. A Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) completed in 2001 identified 530 communities in 27 provinces and more than 500,000 people as mine-affected. It estimated the area of contaminated land at approximately 2,557 square kilometers, three-quarters of it on the 700-kilometer border with Cambodia.Thai authorities believe this figure will be drastically reduced by technical survey. Contamination along the Cambodian border, which was used as a base by Cambodian guerrilla groups in the 1980s and 1990s, affected 297 communities. In addition to landmines, the border is contaminated by artillery and mortar shells fired by Vietnamese and Cambodian government forces and caches of abandoned mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition left by Cambodian guerrilla groups. The LIS found that mines and UXO prevented use of forest resources, cropland and pasture, and that water sources were often reported as affected. The border with Cambodia also accounted for 195 (56 percent) of the 346 casualties recorded in the two years preceding the LIS. Thailand has concentrated demining efforts on the Cambodian border, but has made little progress reducing the area of contamination since the survey. The LIS found that all but one of the remaining casualties occurred on the border with Burma, where 139 affected communities and 240 contaminated areas were identified in 2001.The periodic spillover of fighting from Burma into Thailand has deterred efforts to clear landmines along that border. Also, contamination there is said to have increased as a result of mine-laying by Burmese or ethnic minority Wa combatants on the Thai side of the border in northern Chiang Rai province, Mae Fa Luang district. Mines have had less impact on Thailand’s northern border with Laos and negligible impact on its southern border with Malaysia.

Scope of the Problem: Lao PDR is among the world’s most heavily UXO-contaminated nations. During the 1963-1975 war, extensive aerial bombing and ground battles led to more than two million tons of ordnance being dropped on the country, with up to 30 per cent not detonating on impact. Bombing records and results from the 1996 Socio-Economic Impact Survey carried out by HI–Belgium indicate that over 87,000 square kilometres of land could be contaminated. In the absence of a systematic ongoing data collection system, the number of UXO victims cannot be established with certainty. Since 1975, however, there have been an estimated 11,000 UXO-related casualties, with the total increasing at an estimated rate of at least 200 to 400 per year. There was a marked jump in casualties from 109 in 2003 to 194 in 2004, possibly related to the increased value of scrap metal and the consequent salvaging of UXO. In 2005, the number dropped back to a total of 164 victims, but the number of separate incidents increased from 90 in 2004 to 98 in 2005. Besides harming victims, UXO prevents access to agricultural land, disturbs traditional land use patterns and causes increased pressure on the natural environment. Any kind of development programme taking place in UXO-affected areas (road building, school construction, development of tourism, etc.) will encounter risks from UXO. The lack of safe access to agricultural land is causing chronic food insecurity in some districts. A complicating factor is the difficulty in reaching remote areas due to the absence of communication infrastructure and the mountainous terrain. Lao PDR is a party to the original Protocol II to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, but not to the Amended Protocol II, or to the anti-personnel mine-ban treaty.

Scope of the Problem: Close to half of all Cambodian villages are affected by mines and UXO, with a suspected contaminated area of 4,466 square kilometres. In 2005, 875 people were injured or killed by mines and UXO, with another 300 accidents during the first half of 2006. One-third of the victims were children in the countryside, especially in areas where poor people are resettling to look for economic opportunities. The overall number of people killed, injured or disabled tops 60,000, with an estimated 38,000 people injured or disabled. Mine and UXO casualties in Cambodia occur largely when villagers tamper with devices during farming activities. In terms of ERW, intensive aerial bombardments during the 1960s and 1970s have affected most of the country. Recent estimates indicate that US bombardments alone resulted in 50,000 tons of unexploded general-purpose bombs and 3.75 million unexploded bomblets from cluster bombs. These estimates are conservative and do not take into account air operations conducted by other armies or yet undisclosed US operations. Intense fighting since the 1960s has left the country littered with additional ERW. A recent report estimates that the area requiring clearance or explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) is about 200 square kilometres, with another 733 square kilometres requiring a combination of technical surveys and clearance due to the potential presence of mines. Constraints to mine action in Cambodia include remote and difficult terrain (especially in the rainy season), the absence of minefield maps and insufficient funding compared to the scope of contamination.

Scope of the Problem: With between 350,000 and 800,000 tons of UXO and 3.5 million landmines scattered across Viet Nam, the remnants of past wars threaten current and future generations of Vietnamese families. UXO and mine accidents disproportionately affect men, members of ethnic minority groups, the poor, the young and those living in remote areas. Victims have higher unemployment and school dropout rates than others. Over the past several years, the main activities associated with accidents have been farming, collecting scrap metal and tampering with ordnance. UXO and mine incidents most frequently occur in mountainous areas. Alarmingly, many accident sites have been near victims’ homes. There also appears to be a strong correlation between accidents and poverty. Estimates suggest that almost 16.5 million square metres of land remain contaminated by landmines and UXO—about five per-cent of Viet Nam’s total area. The Technology Centre for Bomb and Mine Disposal, a department of the Engineering Command of the Ministry of Defence, estimates that an average of 1,110 deaths and 1,882 injuries occur every year, but no detailed data supports that estimate. Viet Nam has not acceded to the anti-personnel mine-ban treaty, nor has it ratified the convention on conventional weapons. It has sent delegations to attend regional and international landmine-related meetings, and says it is seriously studying the anti-personnel mine-ban treaty. Viet Nam considers UXO and mine clearance and the reintegration of victims as humanitarian work. With support from international agencies and international NGOs, the Government has given priority to three central provinces: Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Thua Thien Hue.