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Treaty Status | Management & Coordination | Impact (contamination & casualties) | Addressing the Impact (land release, risk education, victim assistance)

Country Summary

The Kingdom of Cambodia became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty on 1 January 2000. Since then, Cambodia has requested two extensions to its Article 5 clearance deadline. It submitted a 10-year extension request in April 2009 with a deadline of 31 December 2019, and a 6-year extension request in March 2019 with a deadline of 31 December 2025. Cambodia has adopted domestic legislation to address mine/ERW contamination: the Law to Prohibit the Use of Anti-Personnel Mines in May 1999, and the Law on Weapons, Explosives and Ammunition Management in 2005.

Cambodia is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Cambodia remains one of the world’s worst-affected states from contamination by mines, cluster munition remnants, and explosive remnants of war (ERW). Cambodia has struggled to determine the full extent of contamination, although the implementation of a baseline survey in 2009 and subsequent re-survey has helped to better define the extent of remaining contamination.

Cambodia has tied its commitment to a mine-free Cambodia to national level strategies and plans of the government. Cambodia also adopted a Cambodia-specific Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to end the negative impact of mines/ERW and to promote victim assistance.[1]

Risk education is conducted in the northwest and northeast of Cambodia, addressing the risk from landmines in the northwest and cluster munition contamination in the northeast. Cambodia trains the Cambodian National Police toimplement risk education and raise awareness of the 2005 law as part of the Ministry of Interior’s Policy on Village and Commune Safety, launched in 2010.

Cambodia is responsible for significant numbers of landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other ERW, all in need of support. Cambodia has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty, and also ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2012.

In 2019, annual casualty figures increased for the first time since 2014, with 77 people injured or killed. This followed a downward trend in the number of mine/ERW casualties recorded each year from the 286 casualties recorded in 2010. In 2019, ERW caused 70% of the casualties (54 out of 77), while a number of casualties resulted from people handling ordnance, or bystanders being injured by the blast.

Treaty status

Treaty status overview

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline extension request

Following its first ten-year Article 5 deadline extension request (2010–2019), submitted in April 2009, Cambodia submitted a second extension request in March 2019 for six years (2020–2025). Cambodia reported that it did not meet the first extension request target because of the scale of the contamination; the demining technologies and methodologies available; the availability of funds; and resources allocated to high-priority areas.[2] Challenges to meeting its new Article 5 deadline of 2025 include un-demarcated border areas; available resources; inaccessible areas; competing development priorities and demands; and data discrepancies.[3] According to Cambodia, meeting its clearance deadline will require an additional 2,000 deminers,[4] along with US$165.3 million from 1 January 2020–31 December 2025.[5] However, these resources had not been secured.[6]

Management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination overview

The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) was established in 2000, with Prime Minister Hun Sen as its President. The CMAA undertakes the regulation, planning, coordination and monitoring of the sector. Accreditation of humanitarian mine action operators began in 2006.[7]

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has partnered with the CMAA since 2006 through the Clearing for Results project. The first two phases, from 2006–2010 and 2011–2016, focused on capacity-building of the national authority to manage the mine action program, while thethird phase (2016–2019) focused on performance monitoring and ensuring the contribution of mine action to development.[8] A new fourth phase, mine action for human development (2020–2025) began in January 2020.

Strategies and policies

Cambodia’s current National Mine Action Strategy for 2018–2025 highlights its commitment to achieve a mine-free Cambodia by 2025. The strategy seeks to ensure effective targeting of clearance assets, stipulating that at least 75% of mine action funding should be allocated to communes selected by the CMAA as priority for clearance. The sector projects that it will need around US$406 million to implement the strategy to release all known mine, cluster munition remnant and ERW-contaminated areas during the 2018–2025 period.[9]

Goal 8 within the 2018–2025 strategy includes the mainstreaming of gender and environmental protection in mine action.[10] Cambodia approved their Gender Mainstreaming Action Plan (GMAP) (2018–2022) in 2018.[11] Clearing for Results Phase 4, planned continued support for CMAA gender mainstreaming, based on the Geneva International Centre for Human Demining (GICHD) gender and diversity baseline assessment 2019, and the GMAP 2018–2022. In June 2020, the Clearing for Results project was engaging a national gender specialist to revise the GMAP for the period 2021–2025.[12]

The CMAA is reported to have plans to implement a national Mine Action Standard on environmental management.[13]

National Mine Action Strategies are harmonized with Cambodia’s national planning documents, the Rectangular Strategy, now in Phase 4, and National Strategic Development Plan (2019–2023). In 2000, the Cambodian government set a ninth MDG on demining and victim assistance and has since adopted a specific SDG, Goal 18, aimed at ending the negative impact of mines/ERW and to promote victim assistance.[14]

National standards

Cambodia has 16 National Mine Action Standards in Khmer and English that are consistent with International Mine Action Standards (IMAS).[15] These include standards for mine clearance, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), baseline survey, land release, accreditation and reporting of incidents. The most recent standard is Chapter 16, Cluster Munition Remnants Survey, which was adopted in November 2018.[16] The standards are consistent with IMAS.

Information management

All operators submit clearance reports to CMAA via a virtual private network (VPN) connection. Operators have been reporting clearance data to CMAA using a standard reporting format since 2008.[17] The CMAA has been using Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) Next Generation since 2014.

Risk education management and coordination

Risk education management and coordination overview[18]

The CMAA is responsible for planning, coordinating and overseeing risk education activities in Cambodia. This includes organizing National Mine Awareness Day on 24 February; ensuring risk education messages are consistent; organizing events to share experience, lessons learned and best practices; and monitoring activities to ensure they are in line with the 2018–2025 strategy.[19] The CMAA also runs technical working groups for risk education, with the last in 2019 being held in November. UNICEF provides technical and financial support to CMAA for risk education coordination.

The CMAA cooperates with ARMAC to strengthen risk education across ASEAN member states.

The CMAA also manages the Cambodian Mine/ERW Victim Information System (CMVIS) which maintains updated information on casualties and incidents. This information is publicly available and is used by operators to plan the targeting of risk education activities.[20]

National Standards and guidelines

There are currently no national risk education standards, although these are reported to be under development.[21]

Goal 4, Objective 1, of the National Mine Action Strategy 2018–2025, aims to “provide effective mine/ERW risk education to people in current and emerging high-risk areas, appropriate for gender and age and strengthen local initiative network,” in order to reduce the occurrence of mine, cluster munition remnants, and other ERW casualties.[22] This includes strengthening operator capacity to provide effective risk education; coordinating the provision of risk education in emerging high-risk areas; ensuring the mainstreaming of risk education in the school curriculum; reinforcing community-based risk education, and strengthening risk education in the Village/Commune Safety Policy.[23]

Victim assistance management and coordination

Victim assistance management and coordination overview [24]

Note: * The DAC is located within MoSAVYR, which provides it with technical, coordination, and advisory services.

Laws and policies

Following the National Plan of Action for Persons with Disabilities including Landmine/ERW Survivors for 2008–2011, and the subsequent National Disability Strategic Plan (NDSP) for 2014–2018, Cambodia developed the NDSP 2019–2023 for policy, reform of disability services, institutional capacity strengthening, poverty reduction and job opportunities.[25] Objectives relevant to the support and reintegration of mine/ERW survivors are also included within the NSPD 2019–2023,[26] and in the National Mine Action Strategy 2018–2025.[27]

Cambodia’s additional SDG, Goal 18, includes the objective to “Promote the rights and improve the quality of life of persons who have disabilities due to landmine/ERW accidents” under the responsibility of the CMAA[28]

The 2009 sub-decree to the Law on Protection and the Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities states that people with disabilities should make up at least 2% of the public sector workforce, but the actual recorded number remains much lower. [29]

Impact

Contamination

Contamination (as of December 2019)[30]

Note: APM=antipersonnel mines; AVM=antivehicle mines; CHA=Confirmed Hazardous Area; SHA=Suspected Hazardous Area; ERW=Explosive Remnants of War.

* According to the CMAA land release categorization, the total contamination includes: A1-Dense APM: 94km²; A2.1-Mixed dense APM and AVM: 28km²; A2.2-Mixed scattered APM and AVM: 187km²; A3-AVM: 33km²; A4-Nuisance/scattered APM: 442km²; B2-No verifiable mine threat: 16km². While, in its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report for calendar year 2019, Cambodia gives a figure of 817.08km² of area suspected to contain antipersonnel mine contamination.

** This figure differs from that of 379km² given in the National Mine Action Strategy 2018–2025. The CMAA notes that the 535km² is the total for land contaminated by ERW from 2009–2019, including new data from the ongoing baseline survey. The next update on total ERW contamination is expected in 2021, upon completion of baseline survey in 73 remaining districts.

Mine Contamination

Cambodia has extensive mine/ERW contamination from 30 years of conflict, from the 1960s until the end of 1998. The northwest regions bordering Thailand are heavily affected, while other parts of the country in the east and northeast are considered moderate- to low-impact, and are primarily affected by ERW.

Official humanitarian mine clearance in Cambodia began in 1992.[31] Mine action efforts initially focused on emergency response to provide access and safe land to refugees returning from border camps. Demining efforts were then extended in the late 1990s with a focus on risk reduction and socio-economic development.

Since 2009, Cambodia has implemented a baseline survey which has led to the reduction of known antipersonnel mine-affected areas from 1,377.17km², to 817km² in 2019. The total affected area was estimated to be 890.43km² in 2018.[32]

In 2018, 23 districts were surveyed; while 25 were surveyed in 2019.[33] The remainder of districts were planned to be surveyed in 2020.[34] As of July 2020, the CMAA database unit expected that a complete update on the level of contamination will be available in 2021, upon completion of the baseline survey in the remaining 73 districts.[35]

Cluster Contamination

Cambodia has extensive cluster munition contamination, although the full extent is not known. Contamination results from intensive bombing by the United States (US) during the Vietnam War, and is concentrated in northeastern provinces along the borders with Lao PDR and Vietnam. The US Air Force (USAF) dropped at least 26 million explosive submunitions on Cambodia; between 1.9 million and 5.8 million of which did not explode.[36]

The CMAA figure for the extent of cluster munition contamination as of the end of December 2019 is 709km², of which 74km² are confirmed hazardous areas (CHA) and 635km² are suspected hazardous areas (SHA).[37] Cambodia has raised its estimate of cluster munition contamination in recent years as a result of the implementation of the baseline survey. The National Mine Action Strategy reported that known cluster munition contamination covered 645km², although stated that the figure would rise as a result of future survey.[38]

ERW Contamination

As of December 2019, Cambodia estimated ERW contamination at 535km².[39] This is an increase of almost 30% from the 379km² estimated in 2017[40] due to new contamination recorded through the ongoing baseline survey.

Casualties

Casualties overview[41]

Casualties in 2019—details

The CMVIS recorded an increase in casualties in 2019: 77 casualties compared to 58 casualties in both 2018 and 2017. Mines caused 23 casualties and ERW incidents claimed 54 casualties (70% of the total). In 2019, several ERW casualties resulted from people handling ordnance, including for fishing, and bystanders being injured by the blast. One ERW handling incident in January 2019 claimed 10 casualties, nine of whom were bystanders.

Except for 2019 and 2014 (when 154 casualties recorded) there has been a general downward trend in the number of annual casualties, from 286 in 2010, to 211 in 2011, 186 in 2012 and 111 in 2013.

For the period from 1979 to October 2019, a total of 64,849 mine/ERW casualties were recorded by CMVIS data gatherers. The figure includes 19,779 people killed and 45,070 injured,[42] of whom 9,033 people had amputations as a result of their injuries.

Cluster munition casualties

No cluster munition casualties were recorded in Cambodia in 2019, although one casualty occurred in February 2020. Two casualties caused by unexploded submunitions were recorded in 2015 and one in 2014. For the period from 1998 to the end of 2015, 197 cluster munition remnant casualties were reported in Cambodia.[43] Data collection on cluster munition casualties has been limited and the total number of casualties, although not known, is thought to be much higher than reported. Cambodia is considered among the states “worst affected” by cluster munitions, with responsibility for significant numbers of cluster munition victims.[44]

Addressing the impact

Mine Action

Operators and service providers

Clearance operators

Note: MRE=Mine Risk Education; ERW=Explosive Remnants of War.

Clearance

Land release overview[45]

Note: ERW=Explosive Remnants of War.

* This figure includes 4,111 antipersonnel mines cleared during minefield clearance and 11,314 cleared through EOD callouts. Cambodia’s Convention on Conventional Weapons Article 13 Report (for calendar year 2019) gives a total of 15,808 antipersonnel mines destroyed, 342 antivehicle mines and 55,306 items of ERW.

** Dependent on 84.25km² being cleared in 2019.

Land release: landmines

Determining the full extent of contamination in Cambodia has long been problematic. A level one survey, conducted in 2000–2002, estimated that 4,544 km² was suspected to be contaminated by landmines, representing 46% of all villages. These figures are believed by the sector to have largely overestimated the extent of the problem.

In August 2009, a baseline survey was initiated with the aim of defining the extent of remaining contamination and allowing clearance assets to be targeted to the most contaminated areas.[46] A national standard for land release was developed, along with a land classification system, which categorizes contamination according to type and density. The survey was completed in 2013, although operators continue to re-survey baseline survey polygons to better identify the densely contaminated areas. Analysis of data from 2014–2016 from the CMAA national database showed that 40% of land was released through non-technical survey and 60% through technical survey and clearance.[47]

Cambodia has aligned mine action planning with government systems at the national, provincial and commune levels. Since 2004, Mine Action Planning Units (MAPU) at provincial level have been responsible for identifying clearance needs at community level, which feed into provincial workplans reviewed and approved by Provincial Mine Action Committees (PMAC). Using the baseline survey and casualty data, CMAA now identifies the priority communes for clearance, and the MAPUs are responsible for preparing annual clearance task lists with local authorities and operators. Task lists are reviewed and approved by PMAC and the CMAA.

Land release: cluster munition remnants

The baseline survey in cluster munition remnant areas originally employed a methodology more suitable for landmine contamination, resulting in inaccurate polygons. The CMAA recognized the limitations of baseline survey methodology in measuring cluster munition contamination, and in 2018 approved a Cluster Munition Remnants Survey (CMRS) methodology, which was adopted as a national standard in November 2018. The CMAA’s Three-year Implementation Plan calls for meetings with key stakeholders to develop cluster munition survey and land release standards and prioritization guidelines, build up survey team CMRS capacity, and implement CMRS.[48]

Clearance of border areas

Un-demarcated border areas and ongoing border disputes have been cited by Cambodia as obstacles to meeting its Article 5 deadline. Disputes between Cambodia and Thailand led to serious allegations of new use of antipersonnel mines by Cambodia along their border in October 2008. Cambodia plans to use the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) to demine border areas, as outlined in Section 6 of the General Border Commission and Circular 02 of March 2017.[49]

It was reported in September 2019 that an agreement was signed between CMAC and the Thailand Mine Action Centre (TMAC) regarding the areas along the border to clear. CMAC had agreed to clear 1.26km² in 14 locations, 300–500 meters from the border in Banteay Meanchey province.[50]

Residual hazards

Goal 7 of the National Mine Action Strategy 2018–2025 aims to establish a sustainable national capacity to address residual mine/ERW threats after 2025. This includes strengthening national capacity, including RCAF, CMAC and the police; enhancing and sharing mine action knowledge within the sector and beyond; and reviewing the legal, institutional and operational framework to address residual threats.[51] The National Mine Action Strategy states that the government will take more responsibility in addressing the mine/ERW problem by 2025 as it transitions from external to domestic funding.[52]

Risk Education

Operators and service providers

Risk education operators[53]

Note: ERW=Explosive Remnants of War; EOD=Explosive Ordnance Disposal. 

Beneficiary numbers

Beneficiary numbers 2019[54]

N/R=Not Reported; N/A=Not Applicable.

*CMAC also provided risk education to 113,764 children in school, and to another 47,670 children in non-school settings. Data was not disaggregated by sex.

In addition to the figures in the table, NPMEC provided risk education to 1,896 beneficiaries, while the CNP provided risk education to 311,914 beneficiaries, and CMVIS provided risk education to 21,639 beneficiaries. Data on beneficiaries of these organizations was not disaggregated by sex.[55]

Implementation

Communities have been living with the threat of mines/ERW for over 30 years in Cambodia, and a key challenge for risk education is that people are often complacent about the risks and engage in unsafe behavior.[56] Poverty, and a lack of viable livelihood alternatives, encourages people to take risks on contaminated land as they believe they have no other choice. At the same time, Cambodia’s economy is one of the fastest growing in the region at a rate of around 7% per year, due to increasing foreign investment and expansion of the tourism sector.[57] Economic development and population in-migration to the northwest and northeast has increased the demand for land and increased the threat from mines/ERW in these formerly remote areas.[58] The greater mechanization of farming has also led to an increased incidence of accidents caused by antivehicle mines.[59]

Risk education in Cambodia is almost exclusively conducted in remote, rural areas. Risk education is conducted for antipersonnel mines and antivehicle mines particularly in the west, and for cluster munition remnants in the east of the country. ERW are widespread throughout the country.

Adult men are seen by operators as the primary risk group accounting for the majority of casualties nationwide.[60] They are more likely to be engaged in high-risk activities such as agriculture, fishing and hunting that take them away from the village, or to engage knowingly in unsafe activities such as accessing vacant or forest land, or moving or tampering with items found. Men are also the most difficult to reach for risk education as they are often out of the village.[61] Other hard-to-reach risk groups include itinerant workers (including construction workers), farm laborers and former combatants.[62] Women and children are often easier to reach than men. MAG has noted that women are an important target group because they can promote safer behavior among men.[63] Boys are seen to be at higher risk than girls.

MAG, and The HALO Trust, both reported that efforts were made in 2019 to include people with disabilities in sessions.

Major developments in 2019

In 2019–2020, a UNICEF-funded, country-led evaluation of the mine risk education program in Cambodia was coordinated by the CMAA. The report is expected to be released in December 2020.[64]

The MoEYS, in cooperation with UNICEF and under the coordination of the CMAA, organized four workshops on ‘‘Mine Risk Education in Emergency’’ in the provinces of Battambang, Preah Vihear, and Pailin, to train 270 teachers.[65]

In 2019, ARMAC implemented a project called the “Enhance Awareness Programme on Dangers of Mines/Explosive Remnants of War among ASEAN members states.” This involved research and consultative meetings held from July–September in the five ASEAN states affected by mines and ERW, and the production of a report. An ARMAC side-event was held in November 2019 at the Mine Ban Treaty Fourth Review Conference in Oslo, and a regional consultative meeting with all ASEAN member states was held in Siem Reap on 6 February 2020 to finalize the study.[66] An ARMAC magazine, published in February 2020, focuses on mine/ERW risk education in ASEAN.[67]

Victim Assistance

Victim assistance providers and activities

Note: ERW=Explosive Remnants of War.

Major developments 2019

In mid-2019, the DAC, in collaboration the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) and the Australia-Cambodia Cooperation for Equitable Sustainable Services (ACCESS) program, held a workshop on integration of the priorities from the National Disability Strategic Plan (NDSP) 2019–2023 into the annual budgets of relevant ministries and administrations.[68]

Although some persons with disabilities have benefited from broader improvements to the social security system, many do not receive adequate state assistance.[69]

Public streets and roadways have multiple obstacles and no facilities for persons with disabilities.[70]

The ACCESS program, a three-year (2018–2021) Australian Government initiative with the aim of improving services for persons with disabilities in Cambodia, also includes support for women affected by gender‐based violence. ACCESS is being implemented through Cowater—Canada’s largest international development consulting firm.[71] Six ACCESSpartners, supporting the rights of persons with disabilities to access rehabilitation services and economic opportunities, include:

• Agile Development Group
• Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation
• Chamroeun Microfinance
• Humanity & Inclusion (HI)
• Light for the World
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

ACCESS includes support to actors from government, non-government bodies, and the private sector.[72] It involves the MoSAVYR, DAC and the MoEF, to plan resources for disability-related services.[73] ACCESS focuses on three strategic areas to support the implementation of the NDSP:

• Improvement of disability sector coordination at national and sub-national level;
• Effective management of physical rehabilitation centers handed over to the PWDF;
• Increased provision of economic opportunities to persons with disabilities.[74]

Since the process of handing over the running of physical rehabilitation centers from international NGOs to the PWDF began in early 2011, there has been a decrease in the number of people accessing rehabilitation services in Cambodia. This is attributed to the absence of a clear handover plan and limited technical and financial capacity, especially in the manufacturing of components, leading to a decrease in the quantity of components supplied to the eleven provincial rehabilitation centers. In addition, international organizations and NGOs paid for these components instead of receiving them free of charge as they had done in the past. The former ICRC orthopedic components factory and the provincial rehabilitation centers experienced long delays in receiving the materials needed for production purchased with the government budget.

The PWDF contributed to the functioning of the eleven physical rehabilitation centers and the national orthopedic components factory, with some progress in improving access to services in Siem Reap and Takeo, and sustaining access to services in in Kien Khleang, Prey Veng and Kratie during the gradual handover from VIC.[75] In December 2018, VIC officially handed over its physical rehabilitation centers in Kien Khleang, Prey Veng, and Kratie to the PWDF.[76] The ICRC reported that efforts to ensure the long-term sustainability of rehabilitation centers were making progress as the MoSAVYR took over a third of the running costs of the Battambang and Kampong Speu centers in 2019.[77]

The PWDF assumed more responsibility for managing physical rehabilitation services. Four internal steering groups (center processes; financial management; human resource management; and communications) have been established to address internal coordination issues between departments by developing action plans and management frameworks for implementation.[78]

The Ministry of Health started to develop its own physical therapy services in hospitals and health centers, recruiting physiotherapists, which resulted in a lack physiotherapists in the rehabilitation sector.[79]

Socio-economic and psychosocial inclusion

One of the last remaining vocational training centers, the long-established Banteay Prieb center near Phnom Penh, run by JRS, serves an increasing range of persons with disabilities and includes a wheelchair production facility and a farm project for training and income generation.[80] Without communicating in advance to the Banteay Prieb center, the MoSAVYR and the DAC announced a plan in July 2019 to use the land of the center to house several other departments and NGOs, by demolishing existing infrastructure and constructing new premises. The building works were being undertaken without providing an alternative temporary location for the existing vocational training center to operate. The center was forced to temporarily halt student intake for 2020, and take time to plan to restart the program in 2021.[81]

The CDPO, civil society organizations and government representatives expressed concern about limited opportunities for job-seekers with disabilities, who often had limited skills and education, and also faced regular discrimination from employers.[82] In 2019, the CDPO began work on a nationwide database to connect disabled jobseekers with private employers.[83]

In mine-affected rural areas of Pursat and nearby provinces, the DDSP supported a self-help group for persons with disabilities from very poor families, most being landmine survivors and youths with disabilities. New programs included working in kitchens and motor-repair training, with contributions from the Avast Foundation and Light for The World. Construction of the training center was supported by the Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation.[84]

There is limited coverage by social services generally. The Identification of Poor Households Programme[85] had not yet achieved a single system for management of information about the needs of poor and vulnerable persons. A lack of capacity to assess disability issues has resulted in some persons with disability not being recognized by the system. Reforms of the social protection system have the potential for improving the safety net for persons with disabilities and increasing their economic participation.[86]

Gender

In 2019, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), with the support of ACCESS, conducted a consultative workshop, engaging women with disabilities on the Third National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women. This was the first intensive and participatory gathering to provide opportunities for women with disabilities to engage in the discussion on the draft.[87]

Access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene facilities is particularly challenging for women and girls, especially those living with disabilities, who experience increased vulnerability due to lack of private sanitation facilities, and the burden of household responsibilities such as carrying water over long distances.[88]