Summary

Non-signatory Thailand acknowledges the humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions, but has not taken any steps to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It last participated in a meeting of the convention in September 2021. Thailand voted in favor of a key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.  

Thailand is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but has imported them and possesses a stockpile. The only recorded use of cluster munitions by Thailand was in 2011 during a border dispute with Cambodia.

Policy

The Kingdom of Thailand has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Thailand has expressed interest in the convention, but has not taken any steps to accede to it.[1] Thailand’s foreign minister told the Security Council in 2011 that the government was “seriously considering joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.”[2] However, military officials have since said that Thailand is not in a position to join it.[3]

Thailand participated in diplomatic conferences of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Yet it attended the formal negotiations in May 2008 and the Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008 as an observer only.[4]

Thailand has participated as an observer at most of the convention’s meetings, including the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.[5]

In December 2021, Thailand voted in favor of a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[6] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Thailand has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning use of cluster munitions in Syria.[7]

Thailand is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Thailand is not known to have ever produced or exported cluster munitions.

Thailand possesses a stockpile of cluster munitions, but in December 2008 announced that it did not intend to acquire more cluster munitions.[8] A military official claimed in 2018 that Thailand no longer has cluster munitions in its operational stockpile as they were transferred to a training stockpile years ago, which he said active military units cannot access.[9]

The Monitor will continue to list Thailand as a stockpiler of cluster munitions until official confirmation is provided, for example in a voluntary Article 7 transparency report, as other states not party have done.

Thailand received 500 Rockeye and 200 CBU-71 air-dropped cluster bombs from the United States (US) between 1970 and 1995.[10] Thailand also received 2,806 cluster munitions containing 850,268 submunitions from the US, after the US War Reserve Stock in Thailand was dissolved by a 2002 agreement.[11]

Thailand possesses French-made NR-269 ERFB extended-range 155mm artillery projectiles, each containing 56 M42/M46-type dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions.[12] Based on the types of submunitions identified in Cambodia after the February 2011 artillery strikes, Thailand also possesses cluster munitions capable of delivering M85 DPICM submunitions.[13]

Several technical experts have provided advice and information on possible options for safely destroying Thailand’s stockpiled cluster munitions.[14]

Use

There has been no evidence or allegations of cluster munition use by Thailand since 2011.

Thai military forces fired cluster munitions into Cambodia in February 2011, during fighting over a disputed part of the border at the Preah Vihear temple, according to the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), a government entity.[15] Thailand fired ground-delivered cluster munitions into Cambodian territory, including M42/M46 and M85-type DPICM submunitions.[16]

At first, Thailand denied using cluster munitions, but later accepted the evidence, stating that it “fully understands the concerns raised.”[17] Thailand’s use of cluster munitions in 2011 generated widespread concern and provoked a strong international response.[18]

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 Kingdom of Thailand is contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) as a result of conflicts on its borders with Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, and Myanmar. Most remaining contamination is located in the seven eastern and northeastern provinces bordering Cambodia, with some contamination still along the borders with Lao PDR and Myanmar.

Thailand became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty on 1 May 1999 and has an Article 5 clearance deadline of 31 October 2023. Thailand had said it would meet this deadline,[1] but in 2021 reported to the Monitor that it was uncertain whether this was still the case, due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions in border areas and potential budget cuts.[2]

Thailand has a five-year Humanitarian Mine Action Plan which focuses on non-technical survey in the first phase from 2019–2020, and on technical survey and clearance from 2021–2023.[3] In 2020, Thailand declared the provinces of Chumphon and Chanthaburi mine-free.[4]

Thailand’s national mine action structure sits under the Supreme Command of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, with 90% of its funding provided by the government.[5] The Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC) coordinates, monitors, and conducts mine/ERW survey, clearance, risk education, and victim assistance.

Risk education is implemented in the contaminated areas bordering Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar. Most risk education in Thailand is undertaken alongside ongoing survey, clearance, and victim assistance activities.[6]

Thailand’s victim assistance program is integrated into its national policy frameworks. Victim assistance services, grants, and allowances are primarily provided by the National Institute of Emergency Medicine, the Ministry of Public Health, and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.[7]

In 2020, Humanity & Inclusion (HI) provided risk education and victim assistance to refugees from Myanmar in nine refugee camps in Thailand.[8]

Treaty Status

Treaty status overview

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 clearance deadline

Since becoming a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty in 1999, Thailand has since requested two extensions to its Article 5 clearance deadline. The second extension request was submitted in August 2017 and set out a two-phase program for completing clearance, with a deadline of 31 October 2023.

In 2020, Thailand had reported to the Monitor that it believed it would be able to meet its 2023 deadline,[9] but in 2021 reported that it was uncertain if the deadline would be met.[10] While on target in terms of its survey and clearance plan, Thailand reported that restrictions imposed amid the COVID-19 pandemic had prevented face-to-face meetings between Thailand and Cambodia to negotiate border clearance, while TMAC was also concerned that the Royal Thai Government might reduce its budget for mine clearance as a result of the pandemic.[11]

Management and Coordination

Mine action

Mine action management and coordination overview

Management and coordination

The National Committee for Humanitarian Mine Action, chaired by Thailand’s prime minister, oversees the mine action program. The engagement of national leadership in the committee is viewed as important in directing policy and facilitating progress in areas of mine action related to national security, such as cooperation with neighboring countries to clear border areas.

TMAC, formed in 2000, sits under the Supreme Command of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. It coordinates, monitors, and conducts survey, clearance, risk education, and victim assistance. It is also responsible for creating a program to meet Thailand’s Mine Ban Treaty obligations.

On 3 October 2020, TMAC and the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation (GWHF) signed a memorandum of understanding for GWHF to provide technical advisory support to TMAC.[12] Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) continued to provide advisory support to TMAC in 2020, and also supported survey activities and the use of mine detection dogs.[13]

The Royal Thai Government provides over 90% of costs for humanitarian mine action, through the Ministry of Defence.[14] International support makes up the remainder of the budget.

TMAC organizes monthly mine action meetings with the clearance operators.[15] In 2020, twelve such meetings were held.[16]

Strategies and policies

In line with its Article 5 deadline, Thailand has a Five-Year Humanitarian Mine Action Plan, covering 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2023.[17] In the first phase, non-technical survey was to be conducted in 2019–2020 in the northeast region and part of the eastern region, projecting release of 269km². In the second phase, technical survey and clearance in confirmed hazardous areas (CHAs) will be carried out from 2021–2023, projecting release of 90.96km².[18]

Legislation and standards

In 2020, Thailand began revising its National Mine Action Standards and Standard Operating Procedures, in line with the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS). Operators and other stakeholders are participating in the process. In 2021, Thailand reported that it was field-testing the revised versions of its national standards and operating procedures.[19]

Information management

TMAC does not use the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA), but has a centralized database using Excel and Arc Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping.[20]

Gender and diversity

TMAC does not have a specific strategy or guidelines in place to ensure gender and diversity mainstreaming. TMAC personnel are seconded from the Royal Thai Armed Forces, and TMAC reported limited control over personnel recruited.[21] In 2019, 40% of TMAC staff were women, though most occupied administrative positions. From October 2019, TMAC had three senior women officers, serving as Deputy Chief of Special Affairs, Deputy Chief of Coordination and Evaluation, and Budget Officer, with a woman Commander serving as Head of Administration and Personnel.[22]

Risk education

Risk education management and coordination overview

Coordination

TMAC is responsible for coordinating risk education activities in Thailand. Operators conduct risk education in line with TMAC policies and the National Mine Action Standards.

Risk education planning and implementation was discussed as part of the monthly mine action meetings held by TMAC in 2020. The meetings provide an opportunity for operators to present progress and challenges, and for TMAC to monitor and provide guidance on implementation.[23]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Mine Action Center (ARMAC) acts as a platform for ASEAN member states to share experiences and best practice in relation to mine action, and to participate in seminars, workshops, and training programs to enhance risk education efforts. TMAC has contributed to these ARMAC events.[24]

Strategies

Thailand has no specific risk education strategy.[25] Risk education is included within the Five-Year Humanitarian Mine Action Plan for 2019–2023, but the plan provides no information on targeting populations based on risk behaviors, and no aim for the number of people reached.[26]

National Standards and guidelines

Risk education is included in the National Mine Action Standards, but was undergoing revision and translation. As of May 2021, the revised risk education standard had not been published.[27]

During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced TMAC to adjust its risk education strategy and operations.[28]

Victim assistance

Victim assistance management and coordination overview[29]

Note: ERW=explosive remnant of war; NGO=non-governmental organization.

Coordination

The National Sub-Committee on Victim Assistance is the main coordination mechanism for mine/ERW victim assistance in Thailand. It includes TMAC, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), and the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Health, Social Development and Human Security, Interior, and Labour.

Thailand’s victim assistance program is integrated into national policies and legal frameworks. Provision of healthcare is overseen by the Ministry of Public Health and the National Institute of Emergency Medicine; while the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security deals with the needs of persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW victims.

Strategies

Thailand has an overarching framework of plans and strategies related to victim assistance. These include the National Plan on Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, the Strategic Plan on Empowerment of Women with Disabilities, the Provincial Plan on Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, the Disaster Management Plan for Persons with Disabilities, and the Strategic Plan for Health Care System Development for Persons with Disabilities.[30]

Laws and policies

Thailand seeks to ensure that all persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors, are entitled to the rights specified within its national act for persons with disabilities and updated national plans on the empowerment of persons with disabilities.[31] Thailand reports that victim assistance measures are in line with its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).[32]

Under Thai law, citizens are entitled to receive routine healthcare and other services for persons with disabilities. Legislation that guarantees the rights of persons with disabilities includes the National Health Security Act, Emergency Medical Service Act, and Persons with Disabilities Education Act. There is also a Persons with Disabilities’ Quality of Life Promotion Act, which provides a comprehensive legal and institutional framework on rights and entitlements.

The Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act 2007 promotes access and utilization of public facilities, welfare services, and other government support for persons with disabilities, and their acceptance and participation in social, economic, and political activities on an equal basis. A 2013 law established centers in 76 provinces to ensure that mine victims in rural areas had the same level of access to government services as those living in towns and cities.[33]

Mine/ERW victims registered at the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities are entitled to receive support for education, livelihoods, and social and economic inclusion.[34]

Information management

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities runs an online database on all persons with disabilities in Thailand, including those injured by mines/ERW.[35] Data is shared with government agencies to enable the distribution of disability allowance, access to medical treatment and rehabilitation services, and support for job training and self-employment.[36]

Impact

Contamination

Contamination overview (as of December 2020)[37]

Note: CHA=confirmed hazardous area; and SHA=suspected hazardous area.

Landmine contamination

As of the end of 2020, Thailand had 62.95km² of contaminated land across seven provinces, of which 23.27km² across 183 areas is classified as CHA, and 39.68km² over 43 areas is classified as suspected hazardous area (SHA). A total of 19 districts within the following provinces are reported as contaminated: in the Eastern region: Sa Kaeo and Trat; in the Northeastern region: Buri Ram, Si Sa Ket, Surin, and Ubon Ratchatani; and in the Northern region: Phitsanulok.[38]

This is a significant reduction of 155.24km² from the 2019 contamination total of 218.19km², and is the result of ongoing survey by TMAC to reduce the total SHA and further define CHAs.[39]

In 2020, Thailand discovered an additional 1.83km² of CHA in the provinces of Buri Ram, Chanthaburi, Sa Kaeo, Si Sa Ket, Surin, Trat, and Ubon Ratchathani. During the first half of 2021, Thailand discovered 0.14km² of additional contamination.[40] In January 2021, a routine border patrol discovered a previously unknown densely mined area, around 5km from the Cambodian border, believed to have been laid in the 1970s.[41]

Casualties

Casualties overview

Casualties in 2020: details

In 2020, 12 landmine casualties were recorded in Thailand, an increase from 10 in 2019. Eleven casualties were recorded by TMAC in areas of responsibility of the Humanitarian Mine Action Units, with all 11 incidents caused by antipersonnel mines.[42] Those casualties comprised seven civilians, including one boy, and four military personnel. In addition, a paramilitary ranger was killed by an improvised mine in October 2020, while investigating an ambush by insurgents in Pattani province, in southern Thailand.[43]

Improvised mine casualties continued to be reported in Thailand in 2021. In August, a defense volunteer was injured when he stepped on a mine at a rubber plantation in Narathiwat province. His wife was also injured in the blast.[44] No improvised mine casualties were identified in 2019. In 2018, six improvised mine casualties were recorded, all in southern Thailand.

The most comprehensive casualty data that exists for Thailand remains the Landmine Impact Survey, which identified 3,468 casualties as of May 2001 (1,497 killed and 1,971 injured).[45] A survey completed in 2009 identified 1,252 mine survivors in Thailand.[46] This figure is thought to differ from the number reported in the Landmine Impact Survey, in part as it includes only Thai nationals resident in Thailand. TMAC has improved data collection since 2014. Past data was lost due to poor information management, and staff rotation.[47] In 2020, TMAC had 1,100 casualties reported in its database for all time.[48] No cluster munition casualties were reported.

Addressing the Impact

Mine action

Clearance operators

Clearance

Land release overview[49]

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war.

Land release

The Landmine Impact Survey was conducted from September 2000 to May 2001 and identified 2,557km² of SHA. In January 2016, TMAC and NPA began a joint pilot project to re-survey suspected contaminated areas, which showed that only between 0.22% to 13.5% of those areas were contaminated. Thailand has applied the 13.5% figure to all remaining SHAs, to estimate that through non-technical survey, around 86.5% of SHAs could be cancelled.[50] This forms the basis for the Article 5 deadline extension to 2023. TMAC has noted that the introduction of the land release methodology increased its progress and was also less expensive than the traditional method of full clearance of all SHAs.[51]

In 2020, Thailand released 157.07km² of contaminated land. Of this, 127.31km² was cancelled via non-technical survey, while 28.84km² was reduced through technical survey and 0.92km² was cleared.[52] Land release occurred across 18 districts, in nine provinces. Thailand found and destroyed 9,355 antipersonnel landmines and 497 ERW. By the end of 2020, Chanthaburi and Chumphon provinces were declared mine-free.[53]

During June and July 2020, Thailand conducted clearance in Rueng Phueng, Ubon Ratchathani province—an area of mountainous jungle terrain with no access route, phone signal, or water source. TMAC worked with the Royal Thai Armed Forces to arrange helicopter transport for demining teams to access the site.[54] As part of this operation, Hungarian-produced GYATA 64 mines were cleared, the first of this mine type to have been found in Thailand.[55]

Phase 1 of Thailand’s mine clearance plan was from 2019–2020, and focused on non-technical survey to release SHA in the Eastern and Northeastern regions, and to identify remaining CHAs in inaccessible areas along the border. In Phase 2, from 2021–2023, the planned focus will be on technical survey and clearance of all areas confirmed during Phase 1 to be CHA.[56]

In 2021, Thailand planned to continue land release operations across five provinces with a total contaminated area of 30.58km²,[57] of which 4.54km² is CHA and 26.04km² is SHA. It plans to declare Buri Ram and Surin provinces as mine-free. In 2022, Thailand plans to release 16km², and to declare Phtanulok and Si Sa Ket provinces as mine-free. In 2023, its planned release of 15.3km² would see Sa Kaeo, Trat, and Ubon Ratchathani provinces declared mine-free.[58]

Thailand has reported that Phase 2 will be challenging due to the heavy contamination in many of the CHAs, and the length of time the mines have been in the ground, which may have led to changes in their placement and the growth of roots and vegetation around the mines. Many of the contaminated areas are located in remote forested and mountainous areas.[59] Thailand plans to procure drones during 2021 to aid survey and planning of operations.[60] Of the remaining 43 SHAs, 26 fall into the category of “areas to be demarcated” in sensitive border regions.[61]

Border clearance

The majority of Thailand’s remaining contaminated areas are along the border with Cambodia. In the past, clearance of border areas has been impeded by ongoing border disputes which have delayed border demarcation.[62] However, improved relations between Thailand and Cambodia have enabled progress on border cooperation.[63]

In April 2020, Thailand and Cambodia completed the “Pilot Project on Demining Cooperation along the Border of Thailand and Cambodia.” The project facilitated the release of 95,000m² in Aranyaprathet district, in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province; and 123,810m² in Poi Pet district, in Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province.[64] Yet due to travel restrictions and border closures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, further negotiations on clearance in 2020 were postponed.[65]

During November and December 2020, clearance work by TMAC was halted in five SHAs, to avoid misunderstandings on border demarcation and comply with Article V of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2000 by the governments of Thailand and Cambodia.[66] TMAC has reported that it is exploring options for cooperation, in order to resume demining operations.[67]

Residual hazards

TMAC plans to maintain a local risk education network to ensure reporting of suspicious items to authorities, community leaders, and government agencies. The military combat engineers or police explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams will clear any residual hazards. TMAC plans to continue overseeing information management and risk education.[68]

Deminer safety

The environment for deminers is relatively safe in Thailand. However, risks do exist, including from armed illegal loggers, wild animals, and extreme weather events such as flash floods and lightning strikes in soils with high metal content.[69]

Risk education

Risk education operators

Beneficiary numbers

Beneficiaries of risk education in 2020[70]

The largest number of risk education beneficiaries were reached in the second week of January, on Thai Children’s Day, when TMAC held risk education events in Bangkok and the provincial mine-affected areas.[71] TMAC reported that beneficiaries were recorded according to Standard Beneficiary Definitions.[72]

HI reported conducting training of trainers workshops for 54 people, and reaching 146 persons with disabilities with risk education on the Thai-Myanmar border. An additional 14,598 people were reached by HI with risk education messaging through mass and digital media.[73]

Implementation

Target groups

Risk education is implemented by TMAC in the contaminated areas bordering Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar.[74] TMAC targets three main groups whom they consider to be vulnerable to the threat of mines: deminers, security force personnel, and people who access forest areas.

Deminers are at risk because of operating in challenging areas with dense undergrowth, which hampers the removal of mines. The security forces include border patrol police, rangers, forest rangers, and security personnel operating near or in mine-affected areas. New recruits and staff recently posted to these areas are at highest risk. Civilians most at risk include those collecting forest products such as mushrooms and those transiting the areas, such as cross-border migrant workers.[75]

HI provides risk education to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Myanmar in nine refugee camps in Thailand.[76] HI risk education activities are combined with physical rehabilitation and social inclusion projects for mine/ERW survivors. The main focus of these messages is on contamination in Myanmar, which includes improvised mines.[77] The sessions are delivered by HI camp staff, who are refugees and able to speak local ethnic languages.[78]

In response to continuing reports of incidents in border areas, TMAC has revised its mine risk education approach to better reach those most at risk, including cross-border labor migrants.[79]

Refugee populations are considered at risk as they often travel across the border, either as part of the voluntary repatriation process or independently. Some refugees were born in the camps and are unaware of the mine threat in Myanmar.[80] Children are considered a high-risk group because of their natural curiosity and lower capacity to understand dangerous situations.[81]

Delivery methods

Most risk education in Thailand is undertaken together with ongoing survey, clearance, and victim assistance activities.[82]

TMAC provides risk education through certified teams, in schools and villages. Risk education messages are also disseminated in local press and via community radio broadcasts.[83]

TMAC supports local risk education networks, with representatives trained by the Mine Risk Education Training Center to disseminate messages and inform local authorities if landmines or ERW are found. Social media apps are used to coordinate activities through the networks,[84] while TMAC holds village meetings to ensure people understand the mine situation and safety measures.[85] As of 2019, there were eight active risk education networks; four were established in 2018 and four in 2019.[86] They coordinate with TMAC’s Humanitarian Mine Action Units.

TMAC utilized social media, including group chats on “Line,” to ensure that local officials and community leaders passed on messages on risk education and reporting of suspicious items.[87]

During holidays, such as the Thai New Year, when people are on the move, TMAC dispatched mobile risk education teams to mine-affected border areas to ensure people used safe paths.[88]

HI provided risk education in camp schools and student boarding houses. In partnership with the Karenni Education Department, risk education was also integrated into the primary school curriculum in two Karenni camps in Thailand. Thirty community focal points were also trained to provide risk education and messages on social inclusion.[89]

HI produced a drama film in 2019, based on the true story of a landmine survivor, which was screened as part of risk education sessions in 2020.[90]

Marking

TMAC has improved the posting of mine hazard warning signs in contaminated areas, through displaying warning signs in Thai, English, and languages spoken in neighboring countries.[91]

Major developments in 2020

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic restricted travel and face-to-face meetings. The International Day for Mine Awareness was cancelled and instead carried out through social media.[92]

TMAC partnered with Village Health Volunteers[93] to pass on COVID-19 safety messages and risk education messages in contaminated areas.[94] The volunteers received basic risk education training from the TMAC Humanitarian Mine Action Unit, and conducted daily household visits to disseminate COVID-19 prevention and risk education messages.[95]

HI adopted COVID-19 precautions while implementing risk education in the camps, including limiting the number of people attending each session.[96]

Victim assistance

Victim assistance operators

Medical care and rehabilitation

The remote location of contaminated areas in Thailand has created challenges to provide rapid and timely on-site emergency medical care to victims. The National Institute for Emergency Medicine (NIEM), under the Ministry of Public Health, and TMAC provide on-site emergency medical care to victims, including deminers. NIEM local emergency medical units, hospitals, and local emergency responder networks are on standby during clearance operations to respond rapidly. NIEM also coordinates with hospitals, where staff are trained and equipped to respond to explosive injuries.[97] Transport is provided to take victims to hospital, including helicopters of the Emergency Aeromedical Services.[98] Training and coordination for emergency access to casualties has been ongoing for over a decade, with the first landmine assistance emergency training session held in Chanthaburi province in August 2009.[99]

Thailand has established standards for transportation and healthcare, and set up an accreditation system to ensure the quality of care by all Emergency Medical Service providers.[100] Emergency medical responder volunteers are present in some communities and able to provide basic first-aid to injured persons before transfer to the Emergency Medical Services.[101] Thailand adopted the Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients policy, to ensure mine victims could receive the necessary medical treatment free of charge.[102]

Since 1996, the Department of Medical Services in the Ministry of Public Health has organized community-based rehabilitation for persons with disabilities, including mine victims. This has included research and support to community rehabilitation activities in 15 hospitals across four regions, and help to reintegrate persons with disabilities through Disability Service Centers.[103]

Thailand promotes peer-to-peer assistance for mine victims and other persons with disabilities via the provision of physical rehabilitation with local community participation. Caregivers and volunteers in communities are provided with primary healthcare training.[104]

Thailand has a referral system in place between hospitals, to ensure that patients are able to benefit from the required medical treatment at the most appropriate hospital.[105]

In 2020, the Prostheses Foundation of HRH the Princess Mother trained personnel and established prostheses factories within Ban Klam Hospital, Ban Kruat Hospital, Phang Nga Hospital, and Suvarnabhumi Hospital.[106]

The Sirindhorn School of Prosthetics and Orthotics is part of Mahidol University, and operates under the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital. It provides domestic and international degree programs. It has two on-site rehabilitation clinics and a standard care clinic at Sirindhorn National Medical Rehabilitation Center, and provides high-end prosthetic devices at the private advanced care clinic of the Center of Excellence of Prosthetics and Orthotics. This center is a collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine and the Scandinavian Orthopedic Laboratory.[107]

Human Study e.V and the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) signed a partnership and cooperation agreement with the Medical Faculty of Mahidol University in 2013 and, alongside the Sirindhorn School of Prosthetics and Orthotics, is implementing a Blended Distance Learning Bachelor Program.[108]

Socio-economic and psychosocial inclusion

Disability Service Centers are located in all 76 provinces of Thailand, and provide services in collaboration with local hospitals, village health volunteers, government agencies, and civil society groups. In 2020, 2,841 such centers provided psychological and physical rehabilitation, supporting social inclusion and raising awareness on disability rights and vocational training.[109]

The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security utilizes a community-based network of volunteers to help identify persons with disabilities and their needs, and support registration for disability identification cards.[110] All persons with disabilities registered with the ministry receive an allowance of approximately US$33 per month. They can also apply for an interest-free loan to start a career or business. Tax exemption is applicable to persons with disabilities, caregivers, and employers who hire persons with disabilities and have an accessible workplace. There are 1.7 million registered persons with disabilities in Thailand. In the 27 provinces either currently or historically contaminated with mines, there are 357,705 registered persons with disabilities. Thailand also funds a personal assistance service for persons with disabilities for a period of one year.[111]

In response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, via the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Thailand provided all registered persons with disabilities with a cash transfer of THB1,000 ($33) in initial financial assistance. The Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities offered a 12-month debt moratorium for persons with disabilities or caregivers, to relieve the economic impact of COVID-19 restrictions. In addition, financial aid of THB2,000 ($66) for crisis-affected vulnerable groups—including persons with disabilities, children, and older persons—was offered on a case-by-case basis.[112]

Cross-border and refugees

Until 2020, mine survivors from Myanmar regularly crossed the border to Thailand to receive medical care and rehabilitation at the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot. The clinic’s Prosthetic Centre closed in May 2020 after several warnings over decreased funding. Prior to closing, the clinic informed clients where to access services, and closely engaged with the Karen Department for Health and Welfare and the Korea-Mae Sot Cooperation Center to make quarterly field visits and provide technical support to the Klo Yaw Lay prosthetic clinic, in Hlaingbwe township of Kayin State, Myanmar.[113]

HI was the only organization providing victim assistance services in the nine refugees camps on the Thai-Myanmar border.[114] HI has been working on the border since 1984, and continued to provide physical rehabilitation and assistive technologies in 2020.[115] In 2020, working hours in camp-based hospitals were shortened amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing opportunities for persons with disabilities to access services.[116]

In 2020, HI provided training on gender-based violence to focal points among HI camp-based staff, and to self-help groups of people with disabilities in five refugee camps.[117] HI ran social inclusion projects to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the community, and to improve their access to services on the Thai-Myanmar border.[118]

Policy

The Kingdom of Thailand signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 27 November 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 May 1999.

Thailand has not enacted domestic legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty.[1]

Thailand submitted its latest annual Article 7 transparency report in April 2022, covering calendar year 2021.[2]

Thailand has attended all of the Mine Ban Treaty’s review conferences: in 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019. It has regularly attended meetings of States Parties and intersessional meetings. Thailand participated in the Nineteenth Meeting of States Parties, held virtually in November 2021, and the intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2022. At the intersessional meetings, Thailand requested a clearance deadline extension of three years under Article 5, citing the challenging geographical landscape, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and difficulty accessing border areas.[3]

Thailand will be part of the Committee on Enhancement of Cooperation and Assistance until the end of the Twenty-First Meeting of States Parties. Thailand has regularly co-chaired committees of the treaty.

Previously, in 2019, Thailand undertook two universalization activities alongside Myanmar. It also undertook international cooperation and assistance activities with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan, Norway, South Korea, and the United States (US).[4]

Production, transfer, stockpile destruction, and retention

Thailand states that it has never produced or exported antipersonnel landmines. Thailand retains no live mines for training purposes. On 6 August 2019, Thailand destroyed all 3,133 antipersonnel mines that it had previously retained for training purposes at a public event, with witnesses from the diplomatic community and civil society in attendance.[5]

Thailand previously imported antipersonnel landmines from China, Italy, the US, and the former Yugoslavia. It completed destruction of 337,725 stockpiled antipersonnel mines on 24 April 2003. During clearance operations in 2020, Thailand found, for the first time, antipersonnel landmines of Hungarian origin.[6]

Thailand is not known to have undertaken physical modifications of its Claymore mine stockpile to ensure use only in command-detonated mode. Officials have previously stated that all military units received orders that Claymore mines are to be used only in command-detonated mode.[7]

Use

Sporadic use of improvised antipersonnel landmines by Pattani rebel groups in southern Thailand continued in 2021 and 2022.[8] Incidents of improvised antipersonnel mine use by insurgents in the south, mostly aimed at workers in rubber plantations, have been reported since at least 2006.[9] To date, Thailand has not provided any information to States Parties in its annual Article 7 reports regarding incidents of use of, contamination by, or clearance of improvised antipersonnel mines in its southern provinces.[10] The Monitor has recorded almost 60 casualties due to improvised mines laid by insurgents in southern Thailand since 2006. (See Thailand Impact profile for more details).

There have been no allegations of new use of antipersonnel landmines on Thailand’s eastern border with Cambodia since March 2013.[11]

The Kingdom of Thailand has not reported any national contributions to its mine action program since 2008, when it provided US$3.2 million.

In 2019, Norway and Japan contributed nearly $600,000 toward non-technical survey, clearance, and risk education activities.[1]

Summary of international contributions: 2015–2019[2]