Five-Year Review: State Party Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010. Lao PDR hosted and served as President of the convention’s First Meeting of States Parties in November 2010. It has participated in all of the convention’s subsequent meetings. Lao PDR served as the convention’s co-coordinator on clearance and risk education in 2012–2014. It works to promote universalization of the convention and has condemned new use of cluster munitions. Lao PDR has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to interpretation and implementation of the convention.

In its initial transparency report provided in 2011, Lao PDR confirmed it has never produced cluster munitions and has no stockpile, including for research or training. Lao PDR states that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.

Policy

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 18 March 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered the entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

Lao PDR has expressed its intent to enacting specific legislation for the convention. It has listed existing laws and decrees under national implementation measures in its transparency reports.[1] In 2013, Lao PDR informed States Parties that it intends to “establish laws which adequately and fully reflect the high standards achieved in this convention.”[2] In April 2014, it confirmed that “national legislation that covers our remaining legislative obligations under the Convention” will be drafted by the Ministry of Justice in consultation with relevant agencies.[3]

Lao PDR submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 25 January 2011 and has provided annual updates ever since, most recently on 6 May 2015.[4]

As the most heavily contaminated country in the world in terms of cluster munition remnants, Lao PDR’s support was a crucial element in the success of the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5] Lao PDR participated extensively in the Oslo Process and advocated strongly against proposals to weaken the treaty text.[6] Lao PDR hosted a key regional conference on cluster munitions in Xiengkhuang in October 2008.

Lao PDR continued to play a leadership role in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions ever since. It hosted the convention’s historic First Meeting of States Parties in Vientiane in November 2010 and served as president. It has participated in all of the convention’s subsequent Meetings of States Parties, including the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San José, Costa Rica in September 2014, where it made several statements.

Lao PDR has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva, most recently in June 2015. It has participated in regional workshops on cluster munitions. 

Lao PDR served as the convention’s co-coordinator on clearance and risk reduction education in  2012–2014.

Lao PDR has undertaken many efforts to promote the universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. At the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2014, Lao PDR urged all nations that have not yet done so to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions and “send a strong message” against the use of cluster munitions.[7]

At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament in October 2014, Lao PDR spoke about the harmful and costly legacy caused by cluster munition use and stated “We therefore condemn the continued use of cluster munitions in some parts of the world and urge those countries who have not done so to ratify or accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions as soon as possible.”[8]

During the Fifth Meeting of States Parties, the CMC held a film screening for delegates of “On Cleared Ground,” a feature-length documentary film about soccer in one of Lao PDR’s most heavily unexploded ordinance (UXO) contaminated provinces.[9]

Lao PDR is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Interpretive issues

Lao PDR has elaborated its views on several important matters related to its interpretation and implementation of the convention. In June 2011, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official informed the Monitor, “With regard to your question on relations with states not party to this convention, we are aware of the different interpretations of the Article 21. For us it is clear that we strongly support the full prohibition of cluster munitions, including those activities during the joint military operations, transiting, foreign stockpiling and investment in the production of cluster munitions.”[10]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In its initial Article 7 report, Lao PDR declared that it “has no stockpiles” of cluster munitions and was not retaining any cluster munitions for training and research.[11]

Lao PDR reported that it has never produced cluster munitions.[12]

Lao PDR also has stated that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.[13]

The United States (US) used air-delivered cluster munitions extensively between 1964 and 1973, dropping more than two million tons of ordnance, including more than 270 million submunitions. The 50th anniversary of the 1964 start of the US air campaign saw major US media outlets cover the legacy of cluster munition contamination in Lao PDR, but with few if any references to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and Lao PDR’s leadership role in creating it.[14]

Jump to a specific section of the chapter:

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

Country Summary

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has the world’s highest level of contamination by unexploded submunitions, as a result of the intervention of the United States (US) during the Second Indochina War from 1963–1973.[1] Survey is ongoing in six provinces, and 1,177.55km² of confirmed hazardous area (CHA) had been identified by the end of June 2020.[2] Clearance operators have reported the presence of at least 186 types of munitions in Lao PDR.[3]

Lao PDR became a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in March 2009, and following approval of its extension request in 2019, is working toward an Article 4 deadline of July 2025 for clearance of all cluster munition remnants.

Lao PDR is also contaminated to a lesser extent by antipersonnel and antivehicle landmines. Mine clearance is not planned for in Lao PDR, although operators have come across and destroyed mines during the course of their work. In 2019, minefields were discovered by operators in the provinces of Savannakhet and Houaphanh. Lao PDR is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Risk education is carried out by operators as an integrated part of survey and clearance activities. Risk education is integrated into the school curriculum at primary level and is in the development phase at secondary level, while it is reinforced through networks of village volunteers. High-risk groups are adult men and children.

Lao PDR is responsible for significant numbers of cluster munition victims and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW), in addition to landmine survivors. Most survivors come from poorer, remote areas, belong to ethnic minorities, and are disproportionately disadvantaged due to existing limitations in the provision of services.

Treaty status

Treaty status overview

Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 4 deadline extension request

Under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Laos was required to destroy all cluster munition remnants in areas under its jurisdiction or control no later than 1 August 2020. In January 2019, Lao PDR submitted an extension request which was approved at the Ninth Meeting of State Parties, confirming a new Article 4 clearance deadline of 31 July 2025.

Management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination overview[4]

Note: UXO=Unexploded Ordnance.

The National Regulatory Authority for the UXO/Mine Action Sector (NRA) was established in 2004 and is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MoLSW). The NRA is responsible for coordinating and overseeing all aspects of the mine action program in Lao PDR, including survey, clearance, risk education and victim assistance.[5]

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provides programmatic and technical support to the NRA and the national operator, UXO Lao. This includes assessing and enhancing gender mainstreaming capacity within the UXO sector in partnership with the Lao Women’s Union and UN Women.[6] Capacity development in information management, quality management and operations support is provided through a US-funded grant manager, Tetra Tech.[7]

A UXO Sector Working Group currently meets once per year. It is led by the chair of the NRA board and is co-chaired by the UNDP and the US Ambassador in Vientiane.[8] The working group brings together key stakeholders and donors to enhance coordination and resource mobilization.[9]

Strategies and policies

Strategic goals were set out in the Safe Path Forward II plan, revised in June 2015 with specific targets up to 2020. These included unexploded ordnance (UXO) activities in 3,860 villages; non-technical survey and technical survey; keeping clearance as a priority of the government’s poverty eradication program; bringing down the number of annual casualties to less than 40 per year, and providing medical care, vocational training, and economic support to 1,500 UXO victims.[10]

A multi-year workplan, the Lao PDR UXO Plan for 2016–2020, was approved in March 2016.[11] The 2019 Article 4 extension request submitted by Lao PDR provided a workplan for the period 1 August 2020–31 July 2025 for the non-technical survey of 1,463 villages remaining to be surveyed and also for technical survey to be conducted in 2,873 villages.[12] The extension request provided three scenarios for clearance: clearance of 25,000 hectares at the current capacity of 5,000 hectares per year and at a cost of US$62.5 million; clearance of 80,000 hectares at an increased capacity at a cost of US$200 million; or the clearance of 160,000 hectares at a cost of US$400 million, which would also allow the clearance of newly identified CHAs.[13]

Lao PDR’s Eighth National Socio-Economic Development Plan (2016–2020) and Agreement No. 65/PM of 2016, on the approval of Priority Development Areas (2016–2020), inform land release prioritization. Government prioritization focuses on heavily contaminated areas, the government’s focal development areas, and poverty.[14] The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been working with UXO Lao to set up an accountable planning process and define criteria to prioritize tasks.[15] According to the 2018 national survey standards, clearance must only take place in CHAs identified by survey teams.[16]

The government of Lao PDR adopted UXO clearance as a ninth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in 2010, targeting the removal of all UXO from priority agricultural land by 2020.[17] In September 2016, Lao PDR launched Sustainable Development Goal 18 (SDG-18) with targets for 2030 to reduce the number of annual UXO casualties to zero; to clear all UXO contamination from high priority areas and villages; to improve healthcare-related and livelihood needs of victims; and to ensure government funding for remaining UXO activities.[18]

The NRA adopted a Gender Equality Strategy in 2011, while in 2014 a decree on the establishment of the NRA board made the Lao Women’s Union (LWU) one of the board members.[19] In 2018 and 2019, the LWU has been the main partner with UN Women and the NRA for gender training.[20]

Legislation and standards

Lao PDR has 24 national mine action standards, published in both Lao and English,[21] covering survey, clearance, risk education, victim assistance, structure and organization of the sector, medical support and information management.

The national standards make a clear distinction between UXO clearance and mine clearance, with a standard for UXO clearance operations and a separate standard for mine clearance operations.[22]

Information management

The NRA operates a national-level Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database.[23]

Risk education management and coordination

Risk education management and coordination overview[24]

Note: EORE=Explosive Ordnance Risk Education.

Coordination

The NRA provides overall coordination for the risk education sector in Lao PDR through a mechanism of quarterly national technical working group meetings. This provides an opportunity to discuss progress and planning, design and implementation of the national curriculum, best practice in risk education delivery, recommended materials and content and new initiatives.[25]

The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) works with operators to coordinate risk education sessions conducted in schools.

The ASEAN Regional Mine Action Centre (ARMAC) has also provided support to the ASEAN member states in risk education and has held several webinars and consultative meetings across the region, including a meeting in Vientiane in August 2019. One of the goals of the Vientiane meeting was to develop an integrated approach to risk education to improve delivery for affected communities in ASEAN affected countries.[26] ARMAC also produced a report on “Integrated Approaches to EORE in ASEAN Member States.”[27]

National Standards and guidelines

The NRA has a National Standard (Chapter 13) on “Mine/ERW Risk Education.”[28] The national strategy for the UXO Sector, “Safe Path Forward” includes a sub-section on risk education.[29] The initial goal of reducing casualties from over 300 to fewer than 75 per year has been achieved, and a more ambitious target of keeping casualties to less than 40 per year was agreed in 2015 during a review of the strategy.[30]

Victim assistance management and coordination

Victim assistance management and coordination overview[31]

Note: UXO=Unexploded Ordnance; ERW=Explosive Remnants of War.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MoLSW) holds primary responsibility for the needs of, and services provided to, persons with disabilities through the National Committee for Disabled and Elderly People (NCDEP). Service providers, often non-governmental organizations (NGOs), enter into agreements, and have to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the relevant state ministry responsible for the sector in which they are operating.[32]

Laws and policies

The National Health Sector Reform Strategy 2013–2025 aims to ensure universal healthcare coverage by 2025.[33]

Lao PDR reported that the government works together with the Lao Disabled People’s Association (LDPA) to organize training and seminars for court officials and other relevant bodies concerning the rights of persons with disabilities to access the justice system, and procedures for assistance in the event of a problem or complaint.[34]

The Decree on the Rights of People with Disability (Decree No.137, 2014) was approved by the Prime Minister in January 2019, while a policy and action plan on People with Disability is being developed which will include UXO victim assistance.[35] The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Okard project, managed by World Education Laos (WEL), supports the Ministry of Health and the NCDEP to strengthen government ownership of disability inclusive policies, to better coordinate the organizations and institutions that support people with disabilities, and to advocate for and advance the rights of people with disabilities.[36]

Impact

Contamination

Contamination overview[37]

Note: CHA=Confirmed Hazardous Area; ERW=Explosive Remnants of War.

* Landmine contamination is believed to be significantly less than contamination by cluster munition remnants.

Mine Contamination

During the Indochina conflict of the 1960s and 1970s, all sides in the war laid antipersonnel mines, particularly around military installations and patrol bases. Mined areas also exist in some border regions as a legacy of disputes or tensions with or within neighboring countries.[38] A survey carried out in 1997 by Humanity & Inclusion (then known as Handicap International, HI) found mines in all 15 provinces it surveyed, contaminating 214 villages.[39]

The remote location of many of the mine-contaminated areas in Lao PDR means that mines have had little impact and are not a clearance priority. Of 101,512 items of UXO destroyed by operators in 2019, only 40 (just 0.03%) were mines.[40] The NRA, however, has stated that antipersonnel and antivehicle mines were “used in abundance” and have observed that “with a steady expansion of land use, “mined areas” will become “areas for growing concern.”[41] Mine types used include US-manufactured M14 antipersonnel blast mines, M16 bounding fragmentation mines, M18 claymore mines, M15 and M19 antivehicle mines, Soviet or Chinese PMN antipersonnel blast mines, POMZ fragmentation stake mines, and TM41, TM46, and TM57 antivehicle mines.[42]

Cluster munition remnants contamination

Lao PDR has the world’s highest level of contamination from unexploded submunitions, resulting from the Indochina War of the 1960s and 1970s, when the US conducted one of the heaviest aerial bombardments in history. The US dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Lao PDR from 1964–1973,[43] including more than 270 million submunitions (referred to locally as bombies). The failure rate is unknown. Some of the most common types found in Laos include the BLU 26, BLU 3B, BLU 61 and BLU 63.[44]

Lao PDR does not yet have a reliable estimate of cluster munition contamination. US bombing data indicates around 70,000 individual target locations across Lao PDR.[45] Fifteen of Lao PDR’s 18 provinces are contaminated, with nine heavily contaminated: Attapeu, Champasak, Houaphanh, Khammouane, Luang Prabang, Saravan, Savannakhet, Xekong, and Xiangkhouang.[46]

Lao PDR’s 2019 Article 4 deadline extension request reported that 858.29km² of CHA had been identified through survey.[47] As of the end of June 2020, the total extent of CHA had increased to 1,177.55km² as a result of ongoing survey in six provinces, with some limited survey having taken place in three others.[48] It is expected that a complete picture of CHA in the six provinces will be available by June 2022.[49] In 2016, international operators estimated that the total amount ofcluster munition contamination was likely to be less than 2,000km².[50]

ERW Contamination

Extensive contamination from other ERW in Lao PDR includes both air-dropped and ground-fired UXO, although the full extent of contamination is not known. Clearance operators have reported the presence of at least 186 types of munition in Lao PDR.[51] These range from 20lb fragmentation bombs to 2,000lb general-purpose bombs and sometimes larger items,[52] as well as artillery shells, grenades, mortars, and rockets.[53]

Casualties

Casualties overview[54]

Casualties in 2019: details

In 2019, 20 recorded incidents occurred in Lao PDR, resulting in 25 casualties, compared with 24 casualties in 2018. Men represented the highest number of casualties at 13. Overall, the number of casualties has decreased from 304 in 2008, to 99 in 2011, and has remained below 60 since 2012.

In 2019, five of the casualties were caused by cluster munition remnants, in which one boy and one man were injured and three men were killed. One incident involving a landmine injured two girls in Xiengkhouang. ERW caused four incidents, injuring six people. It was not known what type of ordnance caused the remaining 12 mine/ERW casualties.[55]

The total of five unexploded submunition casualties reported for 2019 represented a continuing decrease from the 21 casualties in recorded in 2018, 32 in 2017, and 51 reported for 2016.[56] Unexploded submunitions were reported to have caused at least 7,755 casualties in the period between 1964 and 2017.[57]

Addressing the Impact

Mine Action

Operators and service providers

Clearance operators

In addition to the government bodies and NGOs listed, 23 national commercial companies and two international commercial companies are accredited as operators in Lao PDR.[58]

The International Mine Action Center of the Russian Armed Forces was also reported to have cleared 10 hectares of land from October 2019–March 2020 in Xiengkhouang province.[59]

Clearance

Land release overview[60]

Note: CHA=Confirmed Hazardous Area; ERW=Explosive Remnants of War.

* There is no planned or systematic mine clearance in Lao PDR, but individual mines are removed if found.

Land release: landmines

No planned or systematic landmine clearance is conducted in Lao PDR. According to the NRA, responsibility for clearance of mined areas predominantly falls under the remit of the Lao People’s Armed Forces, and if mines are discovered the army is called to destroy them.[61] The international mine action organizations are not accredited for mine clearance, but remove individual mines if found during operations. In 2019, 40 mines were reported to have been destroyed by operators.[62]

In 2019, HI reported that it had identified more than 40 minefields in Houaphanh province with US-made M14, M16, M7 landmines, and POMZ mines. HI also reported that an M7 antivehicle mine was identified and disposed of in 2019.[63]

Land release: cluster munition remnants

Prior to 2014, all operators in Lao PDR carried out general survey on areas for clearance, and cleared UXO as roving tasks based on requests and reports from villagers. Under this system, the number of UXOs found per hectare cleared was quite low, and no baseline existed regarding the extent of cluster munition remnants contamination in Lao PDR.[64]

In 2015, the sector adopted an evidenced-based survey methodology, the Cluster Munition Remnants Survey, designed to produce Lao PDR’s first baseline estimate of cluster munition contamination.[65] The survey began in three provinces in 2015 and was expanded to a further three provinces from 2017 with US funding. The province-wide surveys were conducted by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) in Attepeu, Champasak, Saravane, and Sekong; by Mines Advisory Group (MAG) in Xiengkhouang; and by The HALO Trust in Savannakhet. More limited survey is taking place in Khammouane by UXO Lao and MAG, in Houaphanh by UXO Lao and HI, and in Luang Prabang by UXO Lao.[66]

By 2019, non-technical survey (NTS) had been conducted in 1,558 villages and technical survey in 1,217 villages, identifying 9,284 CHAs amounting to a total area of 858.29km².[67] There is currently no estimate of total cluster munition contamination, although it was expected that a clearer picture of contamination in the six provinces being surveyed will be achieved by June 2022.[68] By the end of June 2020, 1,177.55km² of CHA had been identified.

The 2018 national standards on survey in Lao PDR state that NTS is to be carried out on all land within a village boundary, with the aim of identifying evidence points for technical survey.[69] Where possible, cluster munition remnants and other ERW identified during NTS are recorded and destroyed the same day, allowing villagers to see action being taken on the information they have provided.[70] Technical survey is only carried out based on cluster munition evidence points and is also conducted in whole villages.[71]

Clearance is only to be conducted on identified CHAs, unless either “official agreements with the NRA permit a dispensation” or “the UXO clearance is being paid for by a client and 100% clearance without survey is a requirement of the agreement.”[72] The NRA maintained the need to retain some flexibility to accommodate donor stipulations that sometimes require full clearance of land for development projects such as schools.[73]

Lao PDR’s 2019 Article 4 deadline extension request provided a workplan for survey.[74] Of the 2,873 villages known to be contaminated, survey had been completed in 1,558 by 14 January 2019. The workplan outlines a timeframe for completion of non-technical survey in 1,463 villages, at a rate of 292 villages per year from August 2020 to July 2025. Technical survey is to be conducted in all 2,873 villages, requiring financial support of US$42.5 million.[75]

The clearance capacity rate in Lao PDR with current resources is about 50km² (5,000 hectares) per year on average.[76] With 1,177.55 km² of CHA identified through survey as of June 2020, it will take at least 23 years to complete clearance, without taking into consideration the additional CHAs that will be identified through survey during the extension period.[77] The extension request submitted in 2019 provides information regarding the additional funding needed to increase clearance capacity to enable clearance of CHAs identified, and also those identified during the extension period.[78]

In 2019, 64.95km² of land was reported cleared, including 46.42km² of agricultural land and 18.53km² of land for development.[79] The NRA reported the clearance of 80,247 submunitions in 2019, an increase from the 78,974 recorded in 2018.[80]

Risk Education

Operators and service providers

Risk education operators[81]

Note: UXO=Unexploded Ordnance.

Beneficiary numbers

Beneficiaries of risk education in 2019[82]

Note: N/R=not reported.

In addition to the operators listed, World Education Laos (WEL) reported providing risk education to at least 500,000 children in 5,820 primary schools across Lao PDR in 2019, but its figures were not disaggregated by gender.[83]

Implementation

Operators reported that there are no standardized national risk education materials in Lao PDR, but that materials developed by operators are approved by the NRA. Operators reported using national accident data provided by the NRA to prioritize areas for risk education.[84]

Target groups

Cluster munition remnants continue to present a huge humanitarian and socio-economic challenge, causing deaths and injuries and contributing to food insecurity by limiting safe access to potentially rich agricultural land, as well as adding to the cost of development projects when land needs to be cleared.[85] High-risk activities, such as foraging on contaminated land or lighting fires directly on the ground surface, continue to pose a risk and result in cluster munition accidents.[86]

Risk education in Lao PDR is almost exclusively conducted in remote rural areas, particularly in ethnic minority villages and along the route of the former Ho Chi Minh trail. Challenges include accessing remote areas and ensuring that risk education messages are understood by ethnic groups speaking different languages and dialects.[87]

The key high-risk groups targeted by operators are:

• Adults, particularly men due to livelihood activities such as cultivation, collection of forest products, hunting and fishing, which take them into contaminated areas. Familiarity with contamination means that men often move UXO when encountering it. Adult women were reported to have a higher level of fear of UXO and have fewer overall accidents.
• Children, as they are often growing up in heavily contaminated areas, lack knowledge of the risks, and are prone to picking up and playing with items. Children represented 53% of casualties in Lao PDR from 2016–2018.[88]
• The wider community, as everyday household activities such as lighting fires and digging in fields and gardens can result in UXO explosions.

The collection of scrap metal and explosives is still a common practice in some areas, such as in the north of Lao PDR, while operators have noted that demographic pressure and pressures on land availability may push people to live and work in contaminated areas in the future.

Teenagers have been identified as a group that is potentially excluded from risk education, and HI reported that there needs to be innovation to reach these groups as they may be at risk, particularly boys.[89]

Marking

UXO marking signs are only used for targeted project areas.[90]

Major developments in 2019

The new threat of landmines identified in 2019 in the province of Houaphan required HI to develop specific landmine safety messages to development actors working in the province.[91] The HALO Trust is also developing risk education messages to address both antivehicle and antipersonnel mine contamination discovered in Savannakhet province.[92]

UXO Lao provided emergency risk education in 2019 to villages affected by flooding in Attapeu province.[93]

During 2019, the ASEAN Regional Mine Action Centre (ARMAC) implemented a project titled “Enhance Awareness Programme on the Dangers of Mines/Explosive Remnants of War among ASEAN Member 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 Fourth Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Oslo, Norway, and a regional consultative meeting with all ASEAN member states was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on 6 February 2020, to finalize the study.[94] An ARMAC magazine, published in February 2020, focused on Mine/ERW risk education in ASEAN.[95]

Victim Assistance

Victim assistance providers and activities

Victim assistance operators[96]

Major Developments in 2019

In 2017, USAID opened a call for implementers in order to provide US$15 million in funding over a five-year period for services and support to the disability sector in Lao PDR.[97] The five-year USAID Okard project, managed and implemented by WEL, intends to improve and sustain the independent living and functional ability of persons with disabilities in three target provinces: Vientiane, Xiengkhouang and Savannakhet. WEL is the lead implementing agency for the Okard project, with support from partners including HI, the Ministry of Health, the Center for Medical Rehabilitation, the NCDEP, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, COPE, the QLA, and the LDPA. The project has three main components: health, economic empowerment, and stakeholder engagement.

Needs assessment

In 2019, HI conducted a joint mission with the NRA to assess the situation in Phongsaly province, where no assistance is currently provided. The assessment also covered UXO-affected villages and available services in the Khoua and Mai districts.[98]

Medical care and rehabilitation

In 2019, the Center for Medical Rehabilitation, operated jointly by the Ministry of Health and COPE, provided physical rehabilitation services for 23 UXO accident survivors.[99]

The Ministry of Health, with support from WEL and the QLA, provided medical treatment to 47 survivors in 2019.[100]

HI reported that people often lacked access to healthcare and rehabilitation due to a lack of services at the community level and the cost of transport. In Xiengkhouang and Houaphan provinces, HI supports existing healthcare providers to provide services free of charge or to provide financial support for urgent healthcare issues.[101]

Socio-economic and psychosocial inclusion

Psychological support for survivors is limited, with only three psychologists active in Laos. HI uses a non-discriminatory approach to ensure that the priority cases in greatest need of support are able to access the services and psychosocial support they require.

The QLA in Xiengkhouang province provided 126 education scholarships for survivors at primary and secondary school level in 2019.[102]

The LWU worked with UN Women to provide vocational training and economic support for 10 survivors in Xiengkhouang province, while WEL provided support to the families of 10 victims in 2019.[103]

As part of the USAID Okard project—jointly funded by USAID, the Leahy War Victims Fund, the Victims of Torture Program, and the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) within the US Department of State—WEL has worked with the government of Lao PDR, along with the QLA and the ARMI, to implement the Community-Based Inclusive Development (CBID) model in Savannakhet and Xiengkhouang provinces.[104] The project uses an evidence-based participatory approach to create an enabling environment for disability inclusion in communities, including UXO and landmine survivors. The project has included the development of a comprehensive needs assessment tool for survivors, called the CBID modular tool. Developed by WEL and the Nossal Institute of Global Health at the University of Melbourne, the tool collects data related to household demographics, education, function and use of assistive products, physical health conditions, mental health, access and utilization of health services, economic participation and wellbeing. One of the eight CBID modules focuses on the role of the caregiver and his or her health, wellbeing and productivity.

Cross-cutting

Through the USAID-funded Okard project, a sub-grant was provided to Disability Mainstreaming Advisory Services to launch a social enterprise that aims to deliver professional recommendations concerning inclusive development to the private sector in Laos.[105]

Policy

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Lao PDR officials have stated on many occasions that the government made a decision in 2004 to accede but that the country needs time to prepare to meet the treaty’s obligations. In May 2019, Lao PDR stated that it has “always supported the spirit and humanitarian objective” of the convention, it has “increased [its] effort to implement certain clauses” of the convention, and “with continued supported from the international community, the Lao PDR would be able to accede to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in the future.”[1]

Previously, in December 2012, Lao PDR reiterated that it would work toward accession but did not provide any timeline.[2]

In July 2011, Lao PDR provided a voluntary Article 7 transparency report. The report notes that landmines may be used, possessed, or traded, if sanctioned. It states that there has been no survey regarding mined areas and that there are no specific warnings posted for mined areas, only warnings for areas with unexploded ordnance (UXO). It does not provide any information regarding its stockpile but does state that a small quantity of antipersonnel mines is held for training in mine detection.[3] Lao PDR had previously said that its voluntary Article 7 report, when submitted, would allow the international community to “understand the facts and reality on the ground.”[4] Lao PDR has not submitted an updated Article 7 report since.

The Lao government has cited the treaty’s mine clearance obligation and deadline under Article 5 as an obstacle to accession. Lao PDR also expressed concern regarding the possible diversion of resources from UXO clearance activities to a focus on antipersonnel mines.[5]

Lao PDR occasionally attends meetings of the treaty as an observer state, most recently the intersessional meetings in May 2019 and the Sixteenth Meeting of States Parties in November 2017. Lao PDR did not attend the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014.

On 5 December 2018, Lao PDR voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 73/61 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. This was the twelfth consecutive year it has voted in favor of the annual resolution, after abstaining in all previous years.

Lao PDR is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but not Amended Protocol II on landmines. It is party to Protocol V on explosive remnants, and is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Use, stockpiling, production, and transfer

In 2008, Lao PDR acknowledged that it has used mines in the past “to protect its borders.” It also said that the government does not export antipersonnel mines although it holds a small stockpile.[6] Lao PDR’s voluntary Article 7 report states that it has not used antipersonnel mines for more than two decades and that the country has no production facilities.[7]

In 2019, seven donors contributed some US$42 million to support mine action in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR); a $4.4million (or 10%) decrease compared to the $46.4 million contributed in 2018.[1]

In September 2016, the United States (US) announced it would provide $90 million over three years to support unexploded ordnance survey and clearance operations.[2] Consequently, the US provided more than three-quarters (76%) of all international funding in 2019. In 2017–2019, the US provided a total of $93.3 million.

Of the total contribution, about one-fifth ($8.8 million or 21%) went toward clearance and risk education activities, while 5% ($2.3 million) was for victim assistance, 2% went to capacity-building ($0.7 million), and the remainder ($30.2 million or 72%) went to other mine action activities that were not disaggregated by the donors.

In 2019, the government of Lao PDR reported a contribution of some $30,000 to its own mine action program, mainly to cover administrative costs such as rent, equipment, and personnel expenses.[3]

International contributions: 2019[4]

Note: N/A=not applicable.

With a total of nearly $200 million received in the five-year period from 2015–2019, international contributions to mine action in Lao PDR have averaged some $40 million per year. Lao PDR was the fourth largest recipient of international support during the period.

Summary of international contributions: 2015–2019[5]