Contaminated by: mines (massive contamination) and explosive remnants of war.

Article 5 deadline: 1 November 2018
(Not on track to meet deadline)

Recommendations for action

• The Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC) should complete non-technical survey (NTS) of all mined areas to international standards.
• TMAC should draw up a strategy setting down detailed timelines for completing clearance of remaining mined areas.
• Thailand should submit a revised Article 5 extension request committing to a date for fulfilling its Mine Ban Treaty obligations. 

Contamination

The Kingdom of Thailand is affected by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), including both abandoned explosive ordnance and unexploded ordnance (UXO), the result of conflicts on its borders with Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, and Myanmar.

In 2015, Thailand reported that 14 of 77 provinces are mine affected, two fewer than the previous year, but the precise extent of contamination is not known. Thailand estimated total contamination at the end of the year at 450km² affecting 314 areas, down from 474km² affecting 328 areas at the end of 2014, a drop of 23km², although TMAC reported releasing almost double this amount of land in 2015 (see table below).[1]

Contamination by province (km²)

Note: *As part of a re-survey of contaminated areas, TMAC reclassified confirmed hazardous areas (CHAs) as suspected hazardous areas (SHAs).

Program Management

The National Committee for Humanitarian Mine Action (NMAC), chaired by the prime minister, has responsibility for overseeing the national mine action program, but has not met since 2008.

TMAC, which is under the Armed Forces Supreme Command, coordinates, monitors, and conducts mine/UXO survey, mine clearance, mine/ERW risk education, and victim assistance. TMAC is also responsible for establishing a program to meet Thailand’s obligations as a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.[2] However, TMAC has had to contend with limited funding and, as a military organization, with regular rotation of personnel at all levels.[3] Lieutenant-General Wittaya Wachirakul took over as Director General in April 2015, becoming the ninth director since TMAC became operational in 2000 and the fifth in the last five years. General Wittaya was promoted in 2016 and handed over to a new director, Lieutenant-General Prasopchai Kongburan in October.[4] 

Strategic planning 

TMAC does not have a strategic mine action plan. TMAC however, under new management, embarked quickly on a number of initiatives intended to galvanize Thailand’s mine action sector and accelerate progress towards completion. These included a non-technical re-survey of Thailand’s mined areas applying international standards, restructuring TMAC’s humanitarian mine action units (HMAUs) and strengthening information management.[5]

Standards 

A revision of the national mine action standards was completed on 1 April 2015, mainly amending chapters on land release and evidence-based survey.[6]

Operators 

TMAC completed accreditation of operators for the first time in March 2015, accrediting the four HMAUs, one international NGO (Norwegian People’s Aid, NPA), and two national NGOs (Thai Civilian Deminer Association and Peace Road Organization Foundation, PRO). Operators are now required to renew their accreditations annually.[7]

In 2015, TMAC operated with four HMAUs, employing a total of around 276 operations staff and 61 headquarters personnel.[8]

NPA has supported TMAC operations since 2011. Since 2014, it has worked on the Myanmar and Lao PDR borders under a memorandum of understanding that ran to the end of 2015.[9] NPA also supported TMAC’s database unit until January 2015.[10]

PRO conducted land release in Nam Yuen district, Ubon Ratchathani province.[11] 

Another NGO, Thai Civilian Deminers Association (TDA) started a project due to run from April 2014 to September 2015 to clear 2.42km² of mined area in Buached district of Surin province.[12]

Land Release 

Thailand released a total of 41.72km² in 2015, two-thirds more than in the previous year, reflecting a more efficient application of land release methodologies and accelerating clearance.

Survey in 2015

NPA, working with HMAUs in northern Thailand and on the border with Myanmar and Lao PDR in 2015, undertook six tasks covering a total of 28km², canceling 21.1km². As a result of these activities, two provinces, Mae Hong Son and Nan, were declared mine-free.[13]

TMAC decided to re-do the NTS of remaining mined areas and therefore reclassified CHAs as SHAs. This recommendation from NPA drew from their experience of NTS in northern Thailand resulting in cancelation of large areas of land classified as mined. Of a total of 23.63km² released in five northern provinces, no mines were destroyed and full clearance was conducted on just 47,534m² (see table below).[14]

PRO conducted NTS in Nam Yuen district, Ubon Ratchathani Province in 2015.[15]

Clearance in 2015 

TMAC did not provide detailed data with a breakdown of clearance results by its HMAUs and other operators in 2015 but Thailand’s Article 7 transparency report recorded clearance of 2.05km² by all operators in 2015, almost 10-times the 0.22km² they cleared in 2014. Clearance was almost entirely conducted in provinces bordering Cambodia. TMAC attributed productivity gains in part to a policy of releasing operational funds to HMAUs on a quarterly basis linked to performance.[16]

Release of mined areas in 2015[17]

Progress in 2016

NPA completed its work in northern Thailand at the end of 2015, and under a new agreement with TMAC started work in 2016 on a Baseline Survey, focusing on NTS of eastern Ubon Ratchathani province bordering Cambodia and Lao PDR, deploying three six-man teams.[18]

Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the nine-and-a-half-year extension granted by States Parties in 2008), Thailand is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 November 2018.[19] Thailand will miss its deadline and will need to request a second extension.

Thailand’s land release has progressed slowly (see table below), hampered by lack of clarity about the precise location and extent of mined areas and very slow rates of clearance. Just two of the last five years accounted for more than 80% of the areas released through full clearance.

Land release in 2011–2015 compared to extension request targets (km²)[20]

The re-survey should provide the first realistic assessment of the extent of Thailand’s contamination and the basis for a credible timeline for completing its Article 5 obligations. It should also enable Thailand to replace the now obsolete 2008 extension request with a credible strategy for meeting an extended Article 5 deadline.

The Monitor gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review supported and published by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), which conducted mine action research in 2016 and shared it with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.