Key developments since May 2005: Cambodia declared that from 2000 to
2005 a total of 71,136 stockpiled antipersonnel mines were newly discovered and
destroyed, including 16,878 in 2005, the largest number for a single year. Mine
clearance increased by more than 63 percent in 2005, due to increased clearance
by the Cambodian Mine Action Center and due to other operators recognizing land
under cultivation and free of accidents as low-risk. This area reduction
strategy was endorsed by the government in May 2006. In 2005, there were 875
new landmine/UXO casualties, maintaining the daily average of two new casualties
since 2000. To address this, the mine risk education strategy was revised in
2006. Twenty-two deminer casualties were recorded in 2005, but only 14 were
accounted for by known operators. For the first time, the Cambodian armed
forces sent deminers to join a UN peacekeeping mission.
Mine Ban Policy
The Kingdom of Cambodia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997,
ratified on 28 July 1999 and the treaty entered into force on 1 January 2000.
Domestic implementation legislation—the Law to Prohibit the Use of
Anti-personnel Mines—took effect on 28 May
1999.[1]
Cambodia submitted its annual Article 7 transparency report for 2005,
including the voluntary Form J reporting victim assistance activities. It has
submitted six previous reports.[2]
The Secretary-General of the Cambodia Mine Action and Victim Assistance
Authority (CMAA) led the Cambodian delegation to the Sixth Meeting of States
Parties, in Zagreb, Croatia in November-December 2005. Cambodia intervened
during the sessions on mine clearance and on victim assistance.
Cambodia also participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings
in Geneva in June 2005 and May 2006. Unlike previous meetings, in May Cambodia
did not make statements on its efforts on mine clearance or victim assistance.
Cambodia has not engaged in the extensive discussions that States Parties
have had on matters of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1,
2 and 3, and particularly the issues related to joint military operations with
non-States Parties, antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or antihandling
devices, and the permissible number of mines retained for training.
Cambodia is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and
its Amended Protocol II on landmines. It attended the Seventh Annual Conference
of States Parties to the protocol in Geneva in November 2005. It submitted its
annual report required under Article 13 on 10 October 2005.
NGO Activities
The Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines (CCBL) began in 1994. It has provided
the Landmine Monitor report for Cambodia each year since 1999. The lead role is
taken by Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia. The Mine Action Forum, which includes
operators, development agencies, mine risk strategists and the CCBL, is the
focal point for issues related to clearance and to development. There is a
victim assistance group which includes some members of the Mine Action Forum and
the Disability Action Council.
Landmine Monitor Report 2005 was distributed along the road during the
marathon from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh from 27 November to 3 December 2005.
Factual information about mines and a paper summarizing global landmine issues
were disseminated to people at each stopping point of the marathon.
For Cambodian Mine Awareness Day on 24 February 2006, the CCBL sent a letter
to embassies, the government and NGOs.[3] On that day, the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), the CCBL and other
NGOs gathered in Beoung Trakuon village, Ou Chrov, Banteay Meanchey for mine
awareness in a highly affected province.
For the meeting of the Consultative Group on Cambodia Donors on 2-4 March
2006, the CCBL, Handicap International and Norwegian People’s Aid prepared
an NGO statement on humanitarian mine action. It declared, “The Cambodian
Government continues to actively support the Mine Ban Treaty. Although some
real progress has been made in 2005 in the areas of mine clearance, planning,
stockpile destruction, mine risk education, research and data management,
further improvements and reforms are needed if Cambodia wants to meet its
objectives and the goals of the Mine Ban Treaty. Victim assistance in
particular calls for more
support.”[4]
From 2-4 April 2006, the CCBL facilitated the Landmine Monitor Global
Research Meeting in Phnom Penh.
Production, Transfer and Use
The government has reported that it does not have any antipersonnel mine
production facilities.[5] Cambodia
is not known to have exported antipersonnel mines in the past. Landmine Monitor
is not aware of any instances of private sales of antipersonnel mines in 2005 or
2006, although there continues to be a brisk business in scrap metal from
abandoned mines and unexploded ordnance. There have been no specific
allegations of use, production or transfer of antipersonnel mines by government
forces or any opposition forces since 1999.
Stockpiling and Destruction
The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) destroyed its declared stockpile of
71,991 antipersonnel mines between 1994 and 1998, and in February 1999 the RCAF
Deputy Commander in Chief formally stated that the RCAF no longer had stockpiles
of antipersonnel landmines.[6] In
2000, Cambodia reported a stockpile of 2,034 antipersonnel mines held by the
National Police.[7] Cambodia
subsequently declared that there have been no antipersonnel mine stockpiles in
the country since 2001.[8]
However, police and military units continue to find antipersonnel mines and
other weapons in various locations and from various sources around the country.
Many are caches left over from the decades of war. Informal
(“village”) demining and the scrap metal trade also account for some
of the newly discovered stocks of mines. The mines are supposed to be reported
to CMAA and handed over to CMAC for destruction; some of the mines may also be
used for training purposes.[9] The
discovery and disposition of these additional mines were not consistently or
completely reported in Cambodia’s previous Article 7
reports.[10]
In its April 2006 Article 7 report, Cambodia declared that, from 2000 to
2005, a total of 71,136 antipersonnel mines were found and destroyed. This
included 16,878 destroyed by three agencies in 2005: 9,544 by CMAC, 5,720 by
HALO Trust and 1,614 by Mines Advisory Group. That was a larger number than in
any previous year. Cambodia notes the mines “were collected by civilian
and military authorities from various sources, locations and
caches.”[11]
In August 2005, HALO reported that in the previous few weeks the RCAF had
handed over more than 12,000 stockpiled antipersonnel mines. HALO assisted the
RCAF with disposal of degraded and unwanted munitions in its main warehouse
facility in Kampong Speu. HALO noted that the “vast majority of the mines
were boxed and in perfect condition,” and cited this as “an
independently verifiable example of the RCAF attempting to comply” with
Mine Ban Treaty obligations.[12]
In February 2006, a letter was sent on behalf of the Mine Action Forum to the
Secretary-General of CMAA about the large number of newly discovered stockpiled
antipersonnel mines. It stated, “From the Landmine Monitor Report 2005
we came to understand that the RCAF was still disposing of large
stockpiles of antipersonnel mines. Our understanding was that Cambodia RCAF had
no more known stockpiles. This should of course be differentiated from stocks
found in caches.... We understand that CMAA has the responsibility to monitor,
investigate and report on such issues. Do you have today some documented
information on the result of these investigations and is there any established
procedure in CMAA to monitor and document this important
point?”[13]
The Secretary-General of CMAA said that he will meet with General Pol Sareoun
to discuss the issue of discovery of previously unknown stockpiles and caches.
He gave assurances that any such mines will be destroyed in a timely
fashion.[14]
From the varying figures given in the Article 7 reports over the years, it
appears very difficult for mine-affected countries like Cambodia to answer
questions on stockpiles and destruction accurately. Many of these countries
have suffered years of war, random mine-laying, clearance and destruction of
mines, and unreported village clearance. There is confusion about mines
transferred from minefields for destruction becoming temporary stockpiles, about
village caches and about landmines held in warehouses.
Mines Retained for Research and Training
In all of its Article 7 reports, Cambodia has indicated that it has no
antipersonnel mines retained for training or development purposes, as permitted
under Article 3. However, it has also reported transfer of mines for training
and development purposes to the CMAC Training Center each year. It appears each
year some mines are sent to the Training Center—mines removed from the
ground by deminers or mines from newly discovered caches—and, presumably,
consumed shortly thereafter. CMAA said in March 2006 that it had not received
any requests to retain mines for
training.[15]
Cambodia has not stated clearly if all (or any) of the transferred mines are
consumed each year, or kept from one year to the next for training purposes.
Moreover, Cambodia has not yet reported in any detail on the intended purposes
and actual uses of mines kept for training—a step agreed by States Parties
in the Nairobi Action Plan that emerged from the First Review Conference.
Cambodia did not use the new expanded Form D for reporting on retained mines, as
agreed by the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in November-December 2005.
Cambodia reported that in 2005 the CMAC Training Center did not receive any
antipersonnel mines to support its training activities. It noted that HALO
received 77 mines from local villagers for the purpose of
training.[16] From 1993 to 2004, a
total of 3,079 antipersonnel mines were reported transferred to the CMAC
Training Center for use in demining training, including 596 mines from various
CMAC demining units in 2004.[17]
HALO told Landmine Monitor in February 2006 that it is often called by police
or military to dispose of mines or other ordnance handed over in remote areas.
It said that some of the mines could be used for training and experimentation
with disposal techniques. HALO believes that the best training for mine
clearers is in the field itself, and a bare minimum of mines might be required
for training.[18]
Landmine and ERW Problem
Nearly three decades of war left Cambodia as one of the countries most
severely contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), both
abandoned explosive ordnance and unexploded ordnance
(UXO).[19] Estimates of the extent
of the contamination, however, vary dramatically. A Landmine Impact Survey
(LIS) completed in 2003 assessed the area at risk from mines as 4,446 square
kilometers. An independent evaluation of mine action in 2004 estimated the area
at 460 square kilometers and concluded that this figure could be substantially
reduced by updated survey and
mapping.[20] Investigation by HALO
in 2005 found substantial quantities of land identified by the LIS as suspect to
be in productive use.[21]
Mine contamination occurred after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978, ousting
Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime and driving its forces to the Thai-Cambodian
border. To prevent Khmer Rouge and non-communist guerrilla infiltration, the
Vietnamese-backed government created the K5 belt, a densely-mined barrier, from
10 to 150 meters wide (and later often augmented by ‘nuisance
mining’), which stretches 700 kilometers along the Thai border. After
Vietnamese forces withdrew from Cambodia in 1988, guerrilla groups infiltrated
deep into Cambodia, north and south of the Tonlé Sap (Great Lake), and
combatants on both sides laid scattered, ill-defined and unmapped nuisance
minefields often for short-term defensive
purposes.[22]
Cambodia also suffered heavy ERW contamination, mostly from the 1960s onward.
During the Vietnam War, the United States dropped more than a million tons of
general purpose bombs and millions of cluster bomblets on Cambodia, mostly in
the southeast and the sparsely populated northeast along the border with
Vietnam.[23] However, a 2006 study
of ERW in Cambodia found that more than 80 percent of the ordnance being cleared
was ground artillery and munitions, and less than 20 percent was air
ordnance.[24]
Fourteen years after humanitarian demining started in Cambodia, and despite
mine risk education and other risk reduction measures, casualties remain high,
continuing to average over 800 people each year from 2000 to
2005.[25] The profile of mine/UXO
casualties, however, has changed significantly in recent years. In central
Cambodia there have been few casualties in the past three years; nearly all
mine/UXO casualties now occur along the K5 mine belt and in the border provinces
of Battambang and Banteay Meanchey, reflecting the demand for land and mostly as
a result of foraging for wood or forest
resources.[26] Another change is
that, although demining resources are concentrated mainly on clearance of mines,
most reported casualties in the last two years (61 percent) have resulted from
UXO.[27] Outside Battambang,
Banteay Meanchey and Krong Pailin, 83 percent of casualties since 2001 have been
the result of UXO incidents.[28]
This situation was highlighted by Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen in February
2006, addressing the nation on television on Mine Awareness Day. He said,
“...even though our efforts have been greater than ever before, the number
of mine accidents has still remained constant.... Moreover the accidents caused
by UXO have increased by half as much again compared to mine accidents. This
point shows clearly that Cambodia still has great mine and UXO problems. ...we
must make a serious effort to decrease the number of mine accidents as much as
possible every year.”[29]
On 25 January 2006, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said, “Even when
landmines and UXO [unexploded ordnance] do not directly kill or hurt people,
they are a major obstacle to the development of the country because the
contaminated land cannot be used for agriculture or resettlement, people cannot
travel or access basic social infrastructures. Getting rid of landmines is a
prerequisite to lift affected populations out of
poverty.”[30]
Progress by local communities in returning land formerly considered suspected
of mine contamination to productive use and the narrow geographic distribution
of mine incidents has sharpened debate about how to accelerate Cambodia’s
progress towards becoming free of the impact of mines. HALO believes priority
areas identified by local communities could be cleared in five years, but only
if clearance resources are concentrated in those
areas.[31] Humanitarian NGOs, in a
statement to a meeting with donors in January 2006, similarly urged
Cambodia’s mine action program to focus on the border areas where most
casualties occur and to reduce suspect areas by taking account of land reclaimed
by villagers.[32]
Mine Action Program
National Mine Action Authority: The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim
Assistance Authority was set up in September 2000 to regulate and coordinate
mine action, responsibilities previously assigned to the Cambodian Mine Action
Center, which has continued as Cambodia’s biggest demining operator.
Prime Minister Hun Sen is the CMAA President, and Deputy Prime Minister Sok An
is the CMAA Deputy President, with day-to-day management provided by the
Secretary-General, Sam Sotha.[33]
CMAA was restructured in 2005; a royal decree issued in June 2005 appointed a
senior government minister, Prak Sokhonn, as second CMAA Vice President to lead
the dialogue with donors.[34] His
appointment to this post and as chair of a technical working group on mine
action was welcomed by donors as strengthening national management of the sector
and providing them with a high-level point of contact within the
government.[35] The CMAA “has
shown increased and more proactive interest in its coordination with operators
and donors through more regular coordination meetings, the Technical Working
Group and the Mine Action
Forum.”[36]
A meeting of CMAA’s Standing Committee on 5 January 2006 identified the
CMAA’s responsibilities as:
Developing policy guidelines, strategic medium- and long-term visions, and a
five-year plan for demining, UXO clearance and assistance to mine
survivors;
Coordinating all demining, UXO clearance and survivor assistance
activities;
Monitoring demining, UXO clearance and survivor assistance to ensure
operators comply with the approved strategy and plan;
Mobilizing technical and financial support within Cambodia and abroad;
Ordering destruction of stockpiles of antipersonnel landmines and explosive
ordnance;
Regulating all activities which relate to mine action;
Accrediting all national and NGOs which conduct demining in Cambodia;
Managing the database of all activities involved in mine and UXO action and
survivor assistance;
Developing policy guidelines on post-clearance land use;
Managing the implementation of the national law on the Mine Ban Treaty;
and,
Monitoring and advising on the use of resources by the national and
NGOs.[37]
CMAA completed drafting 17 chapters of national mine action standards in
2004. It submitted the first five chapters for approval by the Prime Minister
in 2005 and they came into effect in
August.[38] They deal with
accreditation and licensing, monitoring demining organizations, the storage,
transportation and handling of explosives, and the reporting of demining
accidents.[39]
Clearance organizations were given six months to apply for accreditation. By
March 2006, three major humanitarian mine clearance organizations, CMAC, HALO
and Mines Advisory Group (MAG), had submitted applications for
accreditation.[40] HALO and MAG
were notified they would be accredited on 29 May
2006.[41]
CMAA embarked on fully (as distinct from temporarily) accrediting all
operators for the first time in 2006 with firm support from the government.
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An warned in May 2006 that, “from now on all
mine action operators without exception, whether commercial or humanitarian,
national or international, have to apply to the CMAA and go through established
procedures to obtain accreditation. Organizations which do not meet the
national standards will be suspended temporarily and their operations will be
terminated if they are subsequently unable to meet the required
standards.”[42]
Mine Action Center: The Cambodian Mine Action Center is the leading
national demining operator but does not exercise any of the wider
responsibilities associated with the term ‘center.’ Set up in 1992,
CMAC was assigned the role of coordinator in the mid-1990s. It surrendered this
function in a restructuring of mine action in 2000 that separated the roles of
regulator and implementing agency and led to the creation of the
CMAA.[43]
Strategic Planning and Progress
Responsibility for strategic planning belongs to the CMAA. In 2003, it drew
up a National Strategy and a Five-Year Mine Action Plan (2003-2007); among the
goals were the strengthening of national mine action coordination and making
mine action more responsive to socioeconomic development
plans.[44]
Cambodia has included mine action within its ninth Millennium Development
Goal. Deputy Prime Minister Sok An stated that this was done in recognition of
the “major obstacle” to development and poverty reduction posed by
mine contamination, and “to make sure that this issue remains a priority
for the Royal Government and development
partners.”[45]
In the five most mine-affected provinces (Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Krong
Pailin, Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear), annual planning and prioritization of
mine action is undertaken by Mine Action Planning Units (MAPUs), operating under
guidelines set by a subdecree issued in November 2004. CMAA had no plans to set
up additional MAPUs in other provinces, where the number of mine casualties has
sharply diminished in recent years and where mine and UXO clearance is
undertaken by operators in consultation with local
authorities.[46]
The MAPUs, based on Land Use Planning Units set up in 1999-2001, provide a
focal point for requests for clearance from village, commune and district
authorities and draw up annual workplans in consultation with operators.
Workplans are finalized under the authority of Provincial Mine Action Committees
(PMACs), non-permanent bodies which meet under the chairpersonship of provincial
vice governors with responsibility for ensuring integration of mine action plans
with national and provincial development
priorities.[47]
MAPUs were designed to strengthen Cambodian engagement in deciding clearance
priorities and tasks, a process previously led by
operators.[48] In 2005, MAPUs
received technical support from Australian Volunteers International (AVI) to
develop management, coordination, analysis and planning capacity and, through a
Task Assessment Planning project undertaken by Geospatial International, to
develop data gathering and analysis
techniques.[49] Other proposed
measures to strengthen the status of MAPUs and respond to provincial priorities
included creation of a UN Development Programme (UNDP) Trust Fund to finance
demining tasks set by MAPUs on the basis of competitive bidding by
operators.[50] Competitive bidding
was later dropped, at least temporarily, as several prerequisites for it to
function successfully were not in
place.[51]
A review of MAPUs undertaken by AVI in early 2006, after their first full
year of operations in consultation with MAPU staff, identified the need for
improvements in coordination between demining operators and
MAPUs.[52] However, operators have
continued to play a decisive role in task selection underpinned by their greater
experience, technical expertise and, crucially, by direct donor funding of
specific projects.[53]
AVI’s review identified a need to strengthen MAPUs’ data
collection, assessment of community needs and data analysis, and a need to
ensure that clearance priorities are decided by the severity of mine impacts.
It noted that PMACs lacked any policy for use of cleared land and provide little
guidance to MAPUs about key areas for development and therefore clearance. NGOs
provided support in the interests of efficiency in the projects they were
working on, rather than from a belief in the process. Valid clearance tasks
were therefore omitted because NGOs were not operating in the vicinity. The
review also observed that, “MAPUs require more support and capacity
building before they are capable of driving a competitive bidding
process.”[54]
Evaluations of Mine Action
Mine action evaluations in the past three years have increasingly focused
attention on the need and opportunity for Cambodia and mine action stakeholders
to apply different strategies that dramatically accelerate the elimination of
suspect areas and reduce the dimensions of Cambodia’s mine threat.
A risk management study carried out for the UK Department for International
Development in 2003 called for different levels of treatment appropriate to
different land use and for acceptance of different levels of residual
risk.[55] The Joint Evaluation of
Mine Action in Cambodia carried out for donors in 2004 recommended that,
“areas that are already in use and that are presenting no problem to
existing communities” should be eliminated from consideration for
clearance.[56]
The debate intensified in 2005 with a discussion paper circulated by HALO
calling for recognition of the “massive” contribution of local
initiatives to returning previously suspect land to productive use. An
assessment by HALO found such spontaneous initiatives occurred on land which
farmers said had a density of about one mine per hectare (10,000 square meters)
when they cleared it, compared with an average density of 48 mines per hectare
on land cleared by HALO in the first half of
2004.[57]
In addition, HALO said the majority of mines shown to it by farmers would not
have exploded due to age and degradation. HALO suggested that, “given the
scale of the problem that is as yet untouched, it is hard to justify
prioritization for clearance of land that is already in productive use, where
few items were found and where no accidents have occurred and where all the
indications are that few if any items remain.” HALO also said that
reclaimed land had not been noted on the national database and “thus
important planning decisions are made from a badly informed and outdated
perspective.”[58]
HALO and MAG proposed that local initiatives in reclaiming land should be
recognized in the national database and classified as Level 1, 2 or 3 depending
on the number of seasons land had been cultivated without incident. They
further proposed Level 3 should be taken off the national contamination
atlas.[59]
HALO and MAG’s approach was contested by CMAC, which argued cultivated
land is not automatically safe and should be technically surveyed or at least
verified by demining operators.[60] HALO and MAG’s approach won backing from CMAA and the Cambodian
government. CMAA Secretary-General Sam Sotha affirmed that, “reclaimed
land does not correspond to cleared land. Rather it is to be viewed as
land where the threat has been reduced to a level at which, unless particular
circumstances exist (such as for infrastructure), further mine clearance should
not be considered.”[61]
A national study on ERW undertaken by Norwegian People’s Aid for CMAC
observed that “accelerating the end of the landmine impact is attainable
through innovative area reduction techniques. The remaining high-impact border
contaminated areas can arguably be reduced within a 5-10 year period” and
noted even this estimate may prove
conservative.[62] The report also
observed that land reclamation is making Cambodia’s current national
demining strategy “redundant,” and it found “troubling”
the lack of an “end state
vision.”[63] Dramatic
acceleration of clearance and area reduction highlighted an urgent need to
define the residual threat and the minimum acceptable risk from mines and ERW,
as well as to focus on future institutional needs for mine clearance and the
longer term threat of ERW.[64] CMAA
and the government-donor technical working group adopted the drafting of an ERW
strategy as a major objective for
2006.[65]
Summary of Efforts to Comply with Article 5
Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Cambodia is required to clear all
antipersonnel mines from mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon
as possible, but no later than 1 January 2010. Prime Minister Hun Sen set out a
goal of making Cambodia free from the impact of mines and UXO by 2012, implying
that it was likely that Cambodia would not achieve the Article 5 deadline. In
April 2006, the CMAA Secretary-General publicly affirmed that Cambodia will not
meet the deadline and “an extension will be
required.”[66] He said the
government would make clear the duration of the extension required at the time
of the request and would explain in detail the reasons for the extension.
Demining in 2005
Three humanitarian demining operators have led the implementation of mine
action in Cambodia: CMAC, which started in 1992, the HALO Trust, which started
working in Cambodia in 1991, and Mines Advisory Group, which began operations in
November 1992. The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces provided a fourth major
clearance agency through its engineering battalion, which has worked mainly
commercially, undertaking government contracts funded by the Asian Development
Bank and World Bank, but without any independent confirmation of its claimed
clearance results.
CMAA denies that any commercial companies are accredited to operate in
Cambodia.[67] However, CMAA staff
confirmed that one commercial company, Mine UXO Action, was engaged in clearance
in 2006, but they were unable initially to identify its
owners.[68] In May 2006, Mine UXO
Action applied for accreditation.[69] At least 15 commercial operators are rumored to have received provisional,
six-month renewable licenses to operate from
CMAA.[70]
Identification of Mine/ERW-affected Areas: Surveys and Assessments
Cambodia has data available from a number of partial surveys, the Landmine
Impact Survey completed in 2002 and extensive technical surveying undertaken by
demining operators in the past 14
years.[71] However, it still faces
a challenge analyzing data to define clearance priorities and goals. In 2005,
attention focused on gaining an appreciation of the extent to which informal
clearance initiatives have reclaimed land for cultivation.
The LIS remains the basic planning reference tool used by MAPUs. It
estimated 4,446 square kilometers to be contaminated by mines, UXO and other
ERW, putting 5.18 million people in 6,422 villages at risk. The LIS, however,
has drawn criticism from operators for including land already cleared and not
including some areas of
contamination.[72] Additionally, it
“does not discriminate according to the intensity of the
contamination.”[73]
In 2005, HALO deployed three survey teams for two months to investigate local
land reclamation initiatives in three districts of two provinces. They found
farmers had reclaimed 3,453 hectares (34.53 square kilometers) of land, cleared
3,371 mines and 2,222 pieces of UXO and sustained only one injury. “This
initiative was equivalent to tens of millions of dollars worth of clearance work
by demining operators, and therefore deserves serious attention,” HALO
concluded.[74]
The investigation revealed that, “the vast majority of this technically
‘suspect’ area is in fact only sporadically mined and often the
contamination is limited to long-redundant ordnance that has been severely
desensitized through the effects of time and nature. The formal clearance
agencies are presently chipping away at the overall problem at the rate of just
20 square kilometers (2,000 hectares) per year. Thus, the majority of the
recorded suspect land will not be cleared for decades, if ever. The LIS data
remains the primary indicator to government planners of the need for mine
clearance and as such desperately needs to be updated to include the efforts of
local people.”[75]
Mine and ERW Clearance
Land cleared by Cambodia’s three humanitarian demining operators, using
mainly manual teams supported by mechanical assets and some mine detection dog
teams, increased by 63 percent in 2005, to 30.9 square kilometers. The increase
resulted largely from an increase in productivity by CMAC, which nearly doubled
the area it cleared.
The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces also demine land mainly in support of
national infrastructure projects. In 2005, RCAF concentrated clearance in the
eastern provinces of Kratie and Stung Treng as part of the reconstruction of
Route 7. Mine UXO Action also engaged in road clearance in Banteay Meanchey
province, reportedly on behalf of the Ministry of
Transport.[76]
Area (square meters) Demined and Mines/UXO Destroyed in Cambodia
2001-2005[77]
CMAC, Cambodia’s biggest operator with 2,300 staff, cleared 22.1 square
kilometers of land in 2005, more than the total annual clearance of
Cambodia’s three main operators in recent years. In addition, it
area-reduced another 35 square
kilometers.[80] In 2006, CMAC
targeted clearance of another 22 square kilometers of land, but its management
believed it would be able to achieve closer to 24 square kilometers of
clearance.[81]
CMAC attributed its higher productivity partially to deployment of
substantial new mechanical assets and partially to improved use of a “tool
box” approach to clearance, employing different assets and methodologies
in the same minefield to respond to different types of terrain. New assets
included 14 brush cutters, which management said can double or even triple the
productivity of clearance teams, 500 new detectors and 100 new trucks, which
improve deminer mobility.[82]
In 2005, CMAC refined its standing operating procedures for mine clearance
and, after a trial of nearly two years, started using one-person, as well as
two-person, lane drills to improve productivity. CMAC, like Mines Advisory
Group, also supports community-based demining; it trains and equips villagers
for manual clearance and deploys them on local tasks under supervision of CMAC
platoon commanders. CMAC also attributes its increased productivity in part to
use of technical survey teams and community-based mine risk reduction teams to
define tasks and reduce area before engaging in
clearance.[83]
CMAC has employed community-based mine and UXO risk reduction teams and
community mine marking teams to engage local communities in risk assessment,
setting clearance priorities, minefield mapping and raising mine/UXO
awareness.[84] After trials in
2005, CMAC aimed in 2006 to convert these teams into nine-person community mine
clearance teams to undertake small-scale clearance (on sites up to 10,000 square
meters) in response to community requests for emergency clearance and risk
reduction tasks. It also aimed to deploy four large and 19 small technical
survey teams to undertake area reduction and prepare minefields for clearance,
and three area reduction teams designed to undertake limited clearance as well
as survey, marking and area
reduction.[85]
CMAC provided Cambodia’s main explosive ordnance disposal (EOD)
capacity, operating 21 EOD teams, six of them supported by the NGO Japan Mine
Action Service. It also undertook mine risk education, training and
community-based mine/UXO risk
reduction.[86] In addition to
training its own personnel, CMAC’s training center trained RCAF deminers
preparing to work for the UN in Sudan and also trained 200 national
police.[87]
The HALO Trust, which had 1,122 Cambodian and four international staff at the
end of 2005, cleared 5.7 square kilometers in the most densely contaminated
border provinces of Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Krong Pailin, where
casualties are heaviest, including sections of the K5 border mine
belt.[88] The amount of land
cleared was marginally less than in 2004 as a result of what HALO described as
“some of the most difficult clearance” encountered by its deminers
in several years, with progress slowed by heavy metal contamination and thick
vegetation, but the number of mines they cleared was the highest HALO has
recorded.[89]
HALO also focused survey and mapping resources in 2005 on documenting the
results of local initiatives to bring suspect land back into productive use. By
the end of 2005, HALO had mapped more than 50 square kilometers of land returned
to productive use that CMAA agreed to remove from the database of suspect land.
HALO reported that on 300 hectares (3 square kilometers) of land it cleared for
agricultural use in 2005, it disposed of an average of 40 mines per hectare,
compared with an average of one mine per hectare of land reclaimed by farmers.
“It is clear that both the local farmers and HALO Trust are making
accurate task assessments prior to starting work,” HALO
concluded.[90]
HALO estimated that clearance of this land by demining operators would have
cost in excess of US$50 million. It described the reclassification as, “a
massive step forward that ultimately will dramatically diminish the overall
formal clearance requirement, and thus will save the nation and its donors
millions of dollars.”[91]
Mines Advisory Group employed 480 Cambodian staff, 33 percent of which are
women and five percent amputees, as well as three international staff, in
2005.[92] MAG increased productivity
by more than 50 percent in 2005 for the second successive year (see table) and
hoped to raise it substantially again in 2006. Main factors contributing to
higher clearance included acquisition of five Tempest mini-flails in 2005,
bringing the total to nine, and more effective “tool box” management
of assets. Eight community liaison teams played a major role in collecting and
evaluating data, and then assessing and prioritizing tasks. They also undertook
post-clearance land use assessments six months after the completion of tasks.
MAG’s 13 mine action teams, nine locality demining teams, four technical
survey teams and 10 EOD teams worked throughout six provinces, with the eight
community liaison teams.[93] In
2005, MAG started operating with mine detection dogs, subcontracting two teams
from CMAC.[94]
MAG supported efforts to map reclaimed land and recognized the key role of
villagers in this. In addition to the mine action teams, it has developed
locality demining teams made up of villagers that MAG trains and equips for
local demining tasks.[95] They
achieved slightly higher productivity than standard demining
teams.[96] The approach is seen to
offer a number of advantages. It avoids using higher paid, multi-skilled
deminers for simple clearance tasks, saves on costs of transport and
accommodation for standard teams, generates badly needed employment in rural
areas, and increases local ownership of clearance
efforts.[97]
MAG reported that it had made considerable efforts to integrate its mine
action with development programming and to target areas where clearance will
benefit both human and economic security; it has established partnerships with
international and local development agencies including CARE, World Vision,
Wathnakpheap and Church World
Service.[98]
Community-based demining and mapping of reclaimed land reflected the major
contribution of village demining to clearance in
Cambodia.[99] A report in 2005
urged a study of the extent of village demining and the number of accidents
related to it, to provide a basis for further engagement of the formal demining
sector with village deminers. It urged the government to recognize and
legitimize informal demining in order to impose training, and performance and
equipment standards.[100]
CMAA acknowledged that, “the changing status of areas previously
thought to be suspect needs to be formally recorded and mapped” in order
to improve mine action planning. A CMAA paper on area reduction stated that
reclaimed land “...is to be viewed as land where the threat has been
reduced to the level at which, unless particular circumstances exist (such as
for infrastructure), that further mine clearance should not be
considered.”[101]
A team of 135 RCAF deminers deployed to Sudan in two stages in February and
April 2006 to join the UN peacekeeping mission; this was Cambodia’s first
participation in a UN operation. The soldiers reportedly received 13 months of
training in demining and subjects including international law and the English
language.[102] After a
pre-deployment visit to Cambodia, the UN Mine Action Office in Sudan concluded
the troops would need to undergo further training in Sudan to meet the technical
standards and guidelines, based on the International Mine Action Standards
(IMAS) it had drawn up for Sudan.[103]
Deminer Safety: Demining operators reported 14 casualties in 2005,
including one death and two serious injuries. CMAC said one of its deminers was
killed by UXO and another lost both eyes as a result of a UXO accident. Eight
other deminers sustained minor
injuries.[104] HALO reported one
deminer lost the front of one foot after stepping on a mine, the only incident
for which it filed an insurance claim. Two other deminers received hospital
treatment for light injuries caused by explosive incidents, but returned to
work.[105] MAG reported one minor
injury.[106] The operators
investigated accidents among their own staff and took remedial action.
In addition, there were a further eight demining casualties (see section
Landmine/UXO Casualties).
Demining Progress in 2006
In May 2006, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An endorsed the strategy of
reclassifying reclaimed land at Cambodia’s third annual conference
reviewing mine action achievements. He said CMAA would take the lead role in
coordinating area reduction to ensure reclaimed land was properly registered and
documented. He urged mine action operators “to help the CMAA identify all
areas which were previously suspect but have been returned safely to productive
use by the population.” He also said demining operators should focus
clearance efforts on the most densely contaminated
land.[107]
In 2006, CMAC maintained the trend towards increasing productivity, reporting
clearance of nine square kilometers of land in the first four months, with
10,353 antipersonnel mines and 457 antivehicle mines
destroyed.[108]
HALO appeared on track for increased clearance in 2006, reporting that it
manually demined 1.7 square kilometers and mechanically cleared another 5,925
square meters in the first four months. It also disposed of 10,042
antipersonnel mines, 91 antivehicle mines and 6,646
UXO.[109] MAG cleared 1.4 square
kilometers in the first four months of 2006 and destroyed 1,214 antipersonnel
mines, 18 antivehicle mines and 6,250
UXO.[110]
Golden West Humanitarian Foundation started working with CMAC in 2005 on an
Explosive Harvesting and Recast project funded by the research and development
program of the US Department of State Humanitarian Demining Directorate. The
project aims to develop a system for safe removal of high-cost explosives from
antivehicle mines, bombs and large-caliber artillery shells. It then recasts
them as charges for use by EOD teams to destroy large ordnance and
mines.[111] It offers potential
savings of millions of dollars from the cost of explosives and reduces
environmental and soil pollution.[112] In January 2006, Golden West started field testing charges with CMAC and
HALO Trust.[113]
Mine Risk Education
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, CMAC, Cambodian Red Cross, HALO,
MAG and World Vision continued to provide mine risk education (MRE) in 2005.
UNICEF continued its technical and financial support. These organizations
reported providing MRE to some 781,889 people in 2005, including repeat
visits.[114] From 1999 to 2005,
about 4.2 million people attended MRE
sessions.[115]
MRE in Cambodia has reached more than four million people since 1993.
Nevertheless, the number of casualties remains high; particularly men and boys
are at risk, but the number of women has increased over the last three
years.[116] According to the
Cambodian Mine Victim Information Service (CMVIS), over 80 percent of mine/UXO
casualties have received MRE prior to the incident. Poverty and livelihood
needs force people to take unacceptable
risks.[117]
To better address this situation, Cambodia’s MRE strategy was revised
in the first quarter of 2006.[118] The new MRE strategy for 2006-2012 aims to reduce casualties by empowering
affected communities to identify appropriate and effective risk
education/reduction approaches, and by integrating these efforts with broader
humanitarian and development activities. Cambodian mine action standards for
MRE will be developed.[119] Cambodia’s national mine action strategy (updated in March 2005)
aimed to strengthen MRE in order to substantially reduce the number of
casualties by the end of 2006.[120]
In 2006, CMVIS joined the NGO-group of MRE providers in order to assist in
reducing casualties.[121]
MRE providers in Cambodia had substantial personnel capacity in 2005: CMAC
had 62 staff, volunteers in 422 community-based mine risk reduction networks and
volunteers in 169 community-based UXO risk reduction
networks.[122] The Cambodian Red
Cross had 500 volunteers and 1,050 youth
volunteers.[123] In schools,
3,500 teachers taught MRE including 28,000 students as “outreach
teachers” for out-of-school children and their parents. From 1 February
to 30 March 2006, 3,118 primary school teachers were trained in child-focused
approaches to MRE and 4,000 trainee teachers received MRE training.
International agencies involved in mine action and MRE/community liaison
provided another 25 professionals: HALO (three), MAG (18) and World Vision
(four) people.[124]
CMAA has a full-time MRE focal point responsible for coordinating all MRE
activities in Cambodia, with the aim of ensuring MRE integration with other mine
action, survivor assistance and community
development.[125]
Cambodia did not include MRE activities in Form I of its Article 7 reports
for 2005 or 2004.
CMAA reported that MRE in Cambodia has been conducted through presentations
to mine-affected villages, volunteers providing MRE information to their peers,
billboards and television spots, primary school and teacher training curricula,
and outreach to out-of-school
children.[126]
In 2005, CMAC increased its mass media campaign, using national media and
billboards in eight provinces.[127] The mass media campaign increased its efforts compared to 2004, with 800
TV spots, 1,800 radio spots, 10 new billboards and updating of another
10.[128] CMAC believes providing
MRE through the media is effective for reinforcing messages, particularly in
provinces where there is a mine/UXO problem but little mine action
presence.[129]
Six mobile mine awareness teams visited 654 villages, delivering 855 MRE
“day and night presentations” and conducting 73,836 household visits
in 2005. As a result of these visits, 1,053 reports of mines and UXO were
forwarded to demining operators and 438 mines and 5,201 UXO were
cleared.[130] CMAC’s
various teams delivered MRE to a total of 298,208 participants in
2005.[131]
The Cambodian Red Cross community-based landmine risk education project,
established in 2000, provided MRE to 16,408 people and 2,668 students in 183
communes in six provinces in 2005.[132] The project was supported by the Austrian Red
Cross.[133]
HALO’s clearance operations throughout 2005 were supported by its
three-person MRE team, tasked with delivering MRE presentations while clearance
is taking place. Presentations were given during the day to schools and
mother-and-child groups, and in the evening to men. The team used a video-based
approach, which also covered health issues and agriculture, as well as using
extensive audience interaction. During 2005, the team addressed 26,715
residents of mine-affected communities, slightly more than in
2004.[134]
MRE is part of the national school curriculum. In 2005, about 3,500 teachers
provided presentations in 996 schools within the most affected communities to
about 275,000 primary school pupils. In addition, 28,000 trained students
delivered MRE to 85,212 out-of-school children and their parents. This was a
decrease from nearly 4,800 teachers in 2004 but a considerable increase in 5,010
outreach students in 2004. The numbers reached have increased for both children
reached in and out of
schools.[135]
Community liaison is regarded as an effective way to reduce risk in Cambodia.
CMAA takes the view that people in mine/UXO-affected communities have an
awareness of the dangers, and therefore should be involved in defining the risk
and developing alternative strategies. CMAC launched the community-based
mine/UXO risk reduction project in 2002; this builds up networks of local
representatives to empower affected communities to participate in the planning
and prioritization of mine action and to provide
MRE.[136]
In 2005, this approach was active in 18 of the 30 most mine-affected
districts in five provinces (Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Krong Pailin
and―added in 2005―Pursat and Oddar Meanchey). Volunteers in 319
villages (a substantial increase from 99 villages in 2004) were supported and
supervised by 18 district focal points as of June 2006; two CMAC training and
monitoring officers per province support the district focal
points.[137] Every four months a
review meeting was organized in each district; 319 village maps were updated
“with all information and achievements.” MRE was provided to
136,224 villagers; this included 52,833 household visits. Participatory
techniques were used to identify how mines and UXO impact each targeted village;
this information is communicated to CMVIS and MAPU. Once areas for support are
identified, appropriate MRE services are requested. As a result, 1,486
“actions” were reported to demining agencies on 2,794 mines and
7,260 UXO, and 2,792,629 square meters of land were cleared (945,234 square
meters in 2004).[138]
CMAC used a similar approach in its community-based UXO risk reduction
project in four provinces predominantly at risk from UXO (Kandal, Kampong Speu,
Prey Veng and Svay Rieng).[139] Thirteen district focal points were deployed in 2005, targeting 1,551
villages. UXO risk education was provided to 46,121 villagers in 1,209 sessions
and 8,787 household visits; 1,156 “actions” were reported to
demining agencies on 529 mines and 12,078
UXO.[140]
MAG and World Vision have also utilized community resource people to
mobilize, educate and advocate at the community level. In 2005, MAG deployed
eight community liaison teams (each team consisting of two people); there were
three teams in 2004. The teams “act as an interface with affected
populations.... Pre-clearance assessments are conducted to provide a
socio-economic snapshot of the area, whilst also collecting information used in
prioritizing clearance sites. Once a site has been cleared, the CL team can
then conduct a comparable post-clearance assessment, from which social and
economic indicators of benefit can be drawn. ... One way of measuring this is
through the number of people with safe access to community resources such as
wells, schools, clinics and places of
worship.”[141] During 2005,
MRE presentations by MAG were attended by 63,186
villagers.[142]
World Vision provided MRE as an integral part of its infrastructure and
agricultural activities. It had two teams working in villages “to
communicate the dangers of mines and offer preventative advice to
villagers.” In 2005, the teams provided MRE to 14,492 villagers, almost
three times more than in
2004.[143]
From February 2005 to March 2006, UNICEF helped produce 100,000 MRE
materials.[144] Following the
revision of Cambodia’s MRE strategy, UNICEF provided support for the
production and distribution of new UXO risk education posters. UNICEF continued
to support the CMAA’s coordination of MRE, school-based MRE through the
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, and CMAC UXO/MRE risk
activities.[145]
In 2005, UNICEF supported multiple skill teams (combining mine awareness and
EOD) jointly developed by UNICEF and CMAC to address UXO reported by communities
and allow immediate destruction of landmines and UXO following each MRE session.
In the past, destruction would occur two to three weeks after MRE
sessions.[146]
In 2006, CMVIS added MRE to its activities in order to assist reducing
mine/UXO incidents. Attention was focused on communities where new incidents
occur, and on collaborating with operators who requested MRE for high risk
areas. During the CMVIS annual seminar in December 2005, CMAC trained 15 data
gatherers, five volunteers and four data management staff for one day. MRE
activities started in January 2006. By April over 1,573 people had
received MRE messages from CMVIS data gatherers and
volunteers.[147]
A study of community participation in mine action, published in December
2005, contained three chapters on MRE in Cambodia, summarizing the strengths and
weaknesses of CMAC and MAG’s community-based approaches. Strengths of
MAG’s approach were noted as the improved understanding between mine
action teams and local populations, but community liaison could be “a
relatively transitory approach which does not last beyond the demining
operations; can be time consuming... [it] is a consultation process rather than
a process to build local competencies.” CMAC’s approaches are low
cost allowing large areas to be covered, develop local competencies and promote
local decision making; they provide ongoing surveillance and promote integration
between mine action, development and disability services. However, it can be
little more than basic information gathering and basic community liaison, and
requires intensive training of district focal points; “mine action and
development agencies have their own mandate and agenda and are not always
responsive to community generated requests for
assistance.”[148]
Funding and Assistance
Funding reported for mine action in Cambodia in 2005 totaled some $25.6
million including government contributions. Fourteen countries reported
contributing $23,869,623. This is a significant decrease from 2004 ($41.7
million donated by 13 countries and the
EC).[149] Donors in 2005
were:
Australia: A$4,250,494 ($3,241,852), consisting of A$400,000 ($305,080) to
CMAC, A$2 million ($1,525,400) to UNDP for the Clearing for Results
project, A$500,000 ($381,350) from the Landmine Victim Assistance Fund,
A$46,192 ($35,231) for a national rehabilitation strategy study, A$318,000
($242,539) to ICRC for physical rehabilitation; and funding for integrated mine
action including A$368,781 ($281,269) to AUSTCARE, A$298,149 ($227,398) to CARE
Australia, A$5,049 ($3,851) to World Vision; and A$314,323 ($239,734) to World
Vision for integrated mine action and gender
mainstreaming;[150]
Belgium: €261,223 ($325,197) to Handicap International (HI),
consisting of, €178,500 ($222,215) for survivor assistance, and
€82,723 ($102,982) for disability
prevention;[151]
Canada: C$3,070,188 ($2,534,204), consisting of C$228,388 ($188,517) to
Oxfam Quebec for vocational training and reintegration of mine survivors,
C$390,866 ($322,630) to World Vision for integrated mine action, C$2 million
($1,650,846) to UNDP for mine action, C$64,000 ($52,827) to the UNDP Clearing
for Results project, C$284,583 ($234,901) to Geospatial Cambodia for task
assessment and planning, and C$102,351 ($84,483) to MAG for EOD
teams;[152]
Finland: €1,020,000 ($1,269,798), consisting of €670,000
($834,083) to HALO for mine clearance, €100,000 ($124,490) to HI for
casualty data gathering, and €250,000 ($311,225) to FinnChurchAid for mine
clearance;[153]
Germany: €663,000 ($825,369) to CMAA/CMAC for
demining;[155]
Japan: ¥498,757,592 ($4,529,632) consisting of ¥221,738,423
($2,013,791) to CMAC for mine action, ¥62,244,040 ($565,290) to JJMAS for
EOD, ¥58,055,690 ($527,252) to MAG, ¥73,976,540 ($671,842) to MAG for
demining equipment and vehicles, ¥68,150,547 ($618,931) to HALO for mine
clearance, ¥592,352 ($5,380) to the Committee of Pailin City for landmine
marking equipment, and ¥14,000,000 ($127,146) for a disability needs survey
including mine
survivors;[156]
Luxembourg: €50,000 ($62,245) to HI for survivor
assistance;[157]
Netherlands: €1,243,526.00 ($1,548,066), consisting of €643,526
($801,126) to HALO for mine clearance and MRE, and €600,000 ($746,940) to
Norwegian People’s Aid for capacity
building;[158]
New Zealand: NZ$340,629 ($240,109) to Cambodia Trust School of Prosthetics
and Orthotics;[159]
Norway: NOK2,812,200 ($436,596), consisting of NOK1,312,200 ($203,720) to
NPA for a CMAC technical advisor program, and NOK1,500,000 ($232,876) to UNDP
for mine action;[160]
Sweden: SEK3,800,000 ($508,633) to UNDP for CMAC mine detection dogs and
mine clearance;[161]
UK: £645,023 ($1,173,942) for integrated demining, consisting of
£378,156 ($688,244) to MAG, £33,000 ($60,060) to CMVIS, and
£233,867 ($425,638) to
HALO;[162]
US: $6,925,000, consisting of $3,920,000 from the Department of State,
$180,000 from the Department of Defense and $2,825,000 from the Leahy War
Victims
Fund.[163]
In addition, Adopt-A-Minefield contributed $975,945
($508,157 to CMAC for mine clearance and survivor assistance, $100,087 to
Cambodia Trust, $117,100 to Clear Path International, $68,100 to National Center
for Disabled People, $62,500 to Operations Enfants de Battambang, $40,000 to
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and $80,000 to World Rehabilitation
Fund).[164]
Mine action funding was also provided by the government, and by private and
charitable sources in Cambodia. The government allocates an annual contribution
of $800,000. In 2005, $200,000 went to the CMAA, $250,000 to CMAC, $250,000 to
the RCAF and $100,000 to the Ministry of Social Affairs for survivor
assistance.[165] The government
also contributes to mine action under multilateral programs by using development
aid through counterpart funds. In 2005, $2 million from a counterpart fund with
the Asian Development Bank for a rural infrastructure rehabilitation project was
used for mine clearance.[166]
CMAC spent $8,778,742 in 2005. This was slightly less than the $8,783,904
expended in 2004.[167]
CMAC reported receiving donations totaling $9,181,181 in 2005 ($3,083,765
from UNDP; $5,867,942 from bilateral donors; and $229,474 from the government).
Since 2001, UNDP contributions to CMAC have declined (64 percent of CMAC funding
in 2001; 48 percent in 2004; and 33 percent in 2005), and bilateral
contributions have risen (35 percent in 2001; 49 percent in 2004; and 66 percent
in 2005).[168] The total funding
requirement for the CMAC 2006 integrated workplan was $9,525,422; however,
CMAC’s expected income for 2006 was $8,050,000, leaving a budget
shortfall. Expected income was $5,900,000 bilaterally, $350,000 from the
government and $1,800,000 from
UNDP.[169]
On 25 January 2006, UNDP Cambodia launched a five-year mine action project,
Clearing for Results, to fund field operations and build capacity in quality
assurance and monitoring of social and economic results of clearance. The first
donors to the project in 2006 were Australia, Canada, Adopt-A-Minefield and
UNDP. According to UNDP, on 30 March 2006, Canada signed a grant arrangement to
provide US$6 million to the project over the five-year
period.[170] The project’s
total budget estimate for January 2006 to December 2010 is $15
million.[171]
In 2005, 875 new landmine and UXO casualties were reported, with 168 people
killed and 707 injured; 525 were men, 83 were women and 267 were children; seven
were military personnel and 22 were
deminers.[173] This represents a
slight decrease compared with the 898 new landmine and UXO casualties (171
killed and 727 injured) reported in 2004. However, there was an increase of
seven percent in mine incidents (365 in 2005 and 340 in 2004), and a decrease of
nearly nine percent in UXO incidents (510 in 2005 and 558 in 2004). As in 2004,
87 percent of the children were killed or injured by UXO. Of the total
survivors in 2005, 173 people (20 percent) required an amputation, a decrease
from the 27 percent amputation rate in 2004.
Casualties continue to be reported with 234 as of April 2006, including 33
killed and 201 injured. At least 79 casualties were children (34 percent); 93
casualties were caused by mines (25 killed and 68 injured) and 141 by UXO (8
killed and 133
injured).[174]
Historically, the mine/UXO casualty rate declined from 12 new casualties
every day in 1996, to about two casualties a day in 2000; since then the
casualty rate has remained fairly constant. In the first six months of 2005,
the rate increased slightly to three casualties per day, but dropped again later
in the year to average 2.4 casualties per day for the
year.[175]
On 24 February 2006, Cambodia’s Mine Awareness Day, Prime Minister
Samdech Hun Sen told the nation on television, “...we must make a serious
effort to decrease the number of mine accidents as much as possible every year,
to the extent that the accident rate declines to zero during the next 10 years.
... However... even though our efforts have been greater than ever before, the
number of mine accidents has still remained constant, meaning that over the last
four years, from 2002 to 2005, the average rate was 842 per
year."[176]
Maps showing the locations of mine/UXO incidents reveal a concentration near
the K5 belt in the Cambodia/Thailand border area, in the provinces of Banteay
Meanchey, Battambang, Krong Pailin, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear and Pursat.
Casualties from UXO were scattered throughout the country, with Battambang,
Kampong Cham (on the Vietnamese border), Preah Vihear, Krong Pailin, Oddar
Meanchey and Banteay Meanchey reporting the most UXO casualties. Mine/UXO
casualties were reported in 21 of 24 provinces in 2005, with six provinces
accounting for 691 (78 percent) of total casualties, and three provinces
accounting for 491 (56 percent). Battambang had 249 (99 mine and 150 UXO)
casualties, Banteay Meanchey had 139 (112 mine and 27 UXO) casualties, Krong
Pailin had 103 (68 mine and 35 UXO) casualties, Preah Vihear had 73 (17 mine and
56 UXO) casualties, Oddar Meancheay had 66 (38 mine and 28 UXO) casualties, and
Kampong Cham had 61 (3 mine and 58 UXO) casualties. The remaining 15 provinces
accounted for 184 (28 mine and 156 UXO) casualties. The most affected district
was Ou Chrov in Banteay Meanchey province with 53 (46 mine and 7 UXO) casualties
and the most affected commune was Ou Char in Battambang province, with 44 UXO
casualties. The vast majority of mine casualties in 2005 were engaged in daily
livelihood activities such as farming, herding, clearing new land, fishing, and
collecting food and wood (60 percent) or traveling (18 percent) at the time of
the incident, whereas 57 percent of the UXO casualties were caused by tampering.
HALO observed that scrap metal dealers selling
hazardous material had declined greatly in the areas where they work and
attributed this to police vigilance and clear instructions given to the
dealers.[177] A significant
number of UXO casualties, 25 percent, were attributed to the person having done
“nothing” when the item exploded next to them; the number of
tampering incidents has decreased proportional to the number of casualties
reporting that they did “nothing,” indicating they were bystanders
to tampering activity.[178]
In 2005, CMVIS recorded 22 demining casualties (one killed, 21 injured), an
increase from 18 demining casualties reported in 2004. In addition to demining
casualties reported by CMAC (one killed, nine injured), HALO (three injured) and
MAG (one injured), there were a further eight casualties not attributed to, or
claimed by, licensed operators in
Cambodia.[179]
Information on mine/UXO casualties is collected from all provinces by a
network of Cambodian Red Cross field staff; the data is then entered into the
CMVIS database implemented jointly with Handicap International Belgium and
disseminated to relevant stakeholders on a monthly basis. The data collection
system is extensive and considered to be one of the best in the world,
nevertheless it is “possible that not all casualties are reported due to
lack of access to medical facilities, the isolation of some villages, and legal
issues relating to tampering.” Statistics provide details of the location
of casualties at the time of the mine incident but not their location after the
incident, or the location of their families, as many people migrate to the
fertile farmlands in three of the most mine-affected provinces. This provides
an additional challenge for survivor assistance planning; where incidents happen
is not necessarily where survivors seek rehabilitative
services.[180]
As of April 2006, the CMVIS database contained records on 62,638 mine/UXO
casualties since 1979: 19,333 people were killed and 43,305 injured (including
8,582 amputees); 52,501 were
civilians.[181]
While the CMVIS database provides extensive information on landmine/UXO
casualties, there is no database capable of tracking survivors’ progress
through rehabilitation and other services, nor a means to provide overall case
management. In an attempt to address this, a “mini sub-group” was
formed in December 2005. The group includes CMVIS, Handicap
International-Belgium (HI-Belgium), Cambodian Disabled Peoples Organization,
CMAA, UNICEF, Cambodian Red Cross, Jesuit Service and Association for Aid and
Relief Japan. The means to execute such a system had not, however, been clearly
defined by March 2006.[182]
Survivor Assistance
At the First Review
Conference in November-December 2004, Cambodia was identified as one of 24
States Parties with significant numbers of mine survivors and “the
greatest responsibility to act, but also the greatest needs and expectations for
assistance” in providing adequate services for the care, rehabilitation,
and reintegration of
survivors.[183]
At the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in November-December 2005, Cambodia
declared, “Cambodia has 45,000 recorded landmine survivors. Cambodia
admits that it has not done enough for them. Donors too have not been insistent
enough that some of their funds must go directly to assisting the victims. The
mine ban treaty demands that we do so.... Mine-affected States can name many
competing needs in their countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
However, Landmine Monitor shows clearly that we have not been creative,
compassionate and clever enough to address the real needs of some of the poorest
in our country, those who paid the price for our use, of what Jody Williams
yesterday called, ‘weapons of daily
terror.’”[184]
Cambodia also presented its 2005-2009 objectives to the Sixth Meeting of
States Parties. The objectives included: maintaining a sustainable information
gathering and referral network by increasing capacity of national stakeholders;
creating guidelines and strategies to develop the medical sector; improving the
quality and equal distribution of rehabilitation services; addressing the
psychosocial needs of mine survivors and their families; stimulating the
participation of people with disabilities in mainstream development activities;
assisting children to fully develop and integrate into the community; and
adopting and implementing draft legislation, reviewing existing legislation and
raising awareness to protect the rights and needs of all people with
disabilities.[185] Two landmine survivors from Cambodia participated in Sixth Meeting of
States Parties.
Cambodia did not make a statement at the Standing Committee on Victim
Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration in May 2006, and did not include a
victim assistance specialist in its delegation.
Cambodia submitted the voluntary Form J with its annual Article 7 report,
providing information on mine/UXO casualties and rehabilitation services.
CMAA is responsible for the coordination and monitoring of mine victim
assistance. Its victim assistance department developed a strategic plan for
2004-2009 for coordinating the assistance activities of national institutions,
and local and international NGOs; however, it has had no budget to implement the
strategy. In 2004, CMAA delegated responsibility for victim assistance to the
Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation and the Disability
Action Council
(DAC).[186] DAC was delegated the task of compiling the Annual Report on Victim
Assistance; as of June 2006, the 2005 report was not available, as no funding
had been provided.[187]
As the majority of people with disabilities live in rural areas,
accessibility to services is severely hampered by lack of infrastructure. Two
studies published in 2005 and 2006 reiterated the problem for disabled people in
Cambodia, which had been outlined through the landmine survivors’ own
12-point plan. [188] People with
disabilities are one of the most vulnerable and poorest groups in Cambodian
society; disabled people are generally the poorest of the poor, with very
limited access to basic social services, education, skills or vocational
training, job placement, and income-generating opportunities. Reportedly, monks
or lay people from the pagoda rarely or never visited people with disabilities,
who were also often uninformed about village meetings or development activities;
the most severely disabled people were not given information about how to
register to vote.[189] Disability
due to landmines accounted for 11.5 percent of people with
disabilities.[190]
The healthcare system in Cambodia is structured on health centers, referral
hospitals and national level hospitals. Medical care usually is not free of
charge and the cost of long-term medical care continues to be
prohibitive.[191] First aid is
available in government health centers at commune, district, and sometimes
village levels, but many injuries require specialized treatment, including
surgery. Incidents frequently occur in villages or forests remote from health
centers, and emergency first aid is provided by any available
villager.[192] Transportation to
medical care is often not available and it can take a day or more to reach a
health facility, which results in many casualties dying before reaching a
hospital. There is a lack of trained healthcare
workers.[193] In April 2006, the
first medical care received by 48 new mine/UXO casualties was as follows: 11
people reported receiving no assistance, 10 received assistance at the commune
health center, four at a private clinic, four at a district hospital, three at
an army camp, two at a provincial hospital, one by a mine action agency, six
treated themselves and seven reported other
treatment.[194]
Due to the limited capacity of the government, national and international
NGOs carry out most of the survivor assistance, in cooperation with the relevant
ministries and local authorities.[195] According to CMAA, there are more than 30 organizations working to
rehabilitate mine survivors and other people with disabilities in
Cambodia.[196 ] In total, 2,170
mine survivors received prostheses and surgery, 323 survivors received community
rehabilitation, 365 survivors received vocational training, and a number of
survivors received career development services in
2005.[197]
Physical rehabilitation services for landmine survivors are generally well
organized and of a good quality in Cambodia, particularly for amputees, although
the needs remain immense. However, there is often a long delay until the first
visit to a rehabilitation centre. At the end of 2005, there were 11 physical
rehabilitation centers and orthopedic workshops covering 24 provinces in
Cambodia (a decrease from 14 in early 2003, mainly due to lack of funding) and
some assistance was also provided by mobile outreach teams. Landmine Monitor
researchers visiting all provinces in 2005 found there were difficulties in
accessing prosthetics in Stung Treng, Preah Vihear, Koh Kong and Kampong
Thom.[198] NGOs in the
rehabilitation sector have urged the government to assume greater financial
responsibility for the centers. The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) and HI reported in 2006 that this has occurred in the centers for which
they are responsible.[199]
In 2005, the government agreed to review the Healthcare Service Strategy. A
proposed Complementary Package of Activities for Hospital Services called for
the inclusion of physical rehabilitation centers within hospital services
generally, which would move responsibility for rehabilitation centers to the
Ministry of Health.[200]
In June 2006, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth
Rehabilitation and DAC proposed to UNICEF a nationwide community-based
rehabilitation project that would aim to establish sustainable national
community-based physical rehabilitation and address the gaps in services for
people with disabilities. It would work through technical working group
committees, local, regional and national forums, joint field monitoring and
reporting, and the generation of a national victim assistance
report.[201]
An evaluation of the long-term sustainability of prosthetic and orthotic
services in Cambodia, planned for 2005, started in June 2006. AusAID, USAID and
UNICEF planned to provide equal funding for the $75,000 study to a coalition of
government and disability NGOs.[202] According to AusAID, the overall aim of the evaluation is to achieve a
coordinated national strategy for Cambodia’s physical rehabilitation
sector, which includes crucial services for landmine survivors. In doing so,
ongoing patient needs, the current and future role of government, and declining
donor support would be
addressed.[203]
UNICEF continued to support people with disabilities through Veterans
International, Operation Enfants de Battambang, National Center for Disabled
Persons, Capacity Building of People with Disability in Community Organization,
DAC and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth
Rehabilitation.[204]
Four international organizations, ICRC, Cambodia Trust, Handicap
International and Veterans International Cambodia, supported the 11
rehabilitation centers in 2005. The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and
Youth Rehabilitation has a limited operational budget for physical
rehabilitation and is therefore dependent on international agencies.
Organizations such as ICRC with physical rehabilitation centers recognized by
the government receive some funding towards costs of the centers; other
organizations have had different rates of success in receiving these
funds.[205]
ICRC provided a new database for the physical rehabilitation centers to
collect statistics related to services. In 2005, the 11 centers assisted 25,155
people; 19 percent were new patients, 29 percent female and 36 percent children.
The centers produced 4,462 prostheses and 4,593 orthoses, 1,274 wheelchairs
(including tricycles) were distributed, and 10,352 assistive devices were
repaired; 10,071 physiotherapy assessments and 76,013 physiotherapy sessions
were conducted; and 12,136 people used dormitory services at the
centers.[206] In 2004, 62 percent
of people receiving physical rehabilitation were mine survivors; similar data
was not available for
2005.[207]
The ICRC supported two rehabilitation centers, in Battambang and Kampong
Speu, and an orthopedic component factory in Phnom Penh in 2005. In December
2005, the Ministry of Health agreed to increase its financial input to
ICRC-assisted projects.[208] The
Battambang center is a major service provider, accounting for approximately 24
percent of all physical rehabilitation conducted in the country, serving the
provinces of Battambang, Krong Pailin, Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey and
Pursat.[209] In 2005, the two
rehabilitation centers centers assisted 7,846 people (910 were new patients, 16
percent were female, and 14 percent were children), produced 1,971 prostheses
(1,760 for survivors) and 1,285 orthoses (59 for survivors) and delivered 1,229
pairs of crutches and 501 wheelchairs; 3,351 physiotherapy assessments were made
and nearly 17,180 physiotherapy treatments given; and 492 wheelchairs
manufactured by Jesuit Services were distributed. A total of 56 outreach
activities were conducted (22 from Battambang and 34 from Kampong Speu); 4,132
visits and assessments were made in which 2,251 prostheses were repaired and 907
patients referred to one of the
centers.[210]
The ICRC Orthopedic Component Factory in Phnom Penh continued to provide
components and walking aids free of charge to all orthopedic centers nationwide.
In 2005, the factory produced 10,460 components for orthopedic devices and over
9,590 walking aids.[211] ICRC
conducted a two-month refresher course in both rehabilitation centers, and
sponsored one physiotherapist from each to participate in an upgrade training
program.[212]
Cambodia Trust supported physical rehabilitation services at centers in Phnom
Penh, Sihanoukville and Kampong Chhnang. In 2005, the centers assisted 5,087
people (1,271 survivors): 758 prosthetics and 1,059 orthoses were produced, 62
wheelchairs distributed, 2,180 assistive devices repaired, and 1,715
physiotherapy assessments and 4,991 treatments were
conducted.[213] Cambodia Trust
also operates an outreach program for people with disabilities in remote
areas.[214] The rehabilitation
center in Phnom Penh is also a teaching clinic for the Cambodian School of
Prosthetics and Orthotics to provide technical training in prosthetics/orthotics
for Cambodia and the region. Each year 12 new students start a three-year
training program; as of March 2006, 49 students were enrolled from 14 nations;
41 percent of students were women and 14 percent were people with
disabilities.[215]
Handicap International runs programs in physical rehabilitation,
socioeconomic reintegration, data collection, capacity-building and
awareness-raising on the rights and needs of people with disabilities. In 2005,
HI-Belgium supported two rehabilitation centers (Siem Reap and Takeo), and
HI-France supported one center (Kampong Cham), providing physiotherapy services,
prosthetics and other assistive devices, an outreach program, and on-the
job-training for technicians and physiotherapists. In 2005, the two centers
supported by HI-Belgium assisted 4,345 people: 795 prosthetics and 844 orthoses
were produced, 208 wheelchairs distributed and 2,498 assistive devices repaired;
and 2,365 physiotherapy assessments and 15,426 treatments were conducted. In
2005, the HI-France supported center assisted 1,284 people: 264 prosthetics and
458 orthoses were produced, 113 wheelchairs distributed, and 449 assistive
devices repaired; 1,262 physiotherapy assessments and 6,171 treatments were
conducted.[216] HI’s
community-based rehabilitation programs focus on medical follow-up, psychosocial
support, alleviating poverty, and the socioeconomic reintegration of people with
disabilities through self-help groups, referrals to vocational training
programs, and a small grants program. HI also supports sports activities for
people with disabilities in Battambang and Siem Reap, and supports the
government-run Para-Tetra Rehabilitation Center, a spinal cord injury
rehabilitation unit, in
Battambang.[217]
Veterans International Cambodia operated three rehabilitation centers, in
Phnom Penh, Kratie and Prey Veng, and also provided community-based
rehabilitation, outreach teams and referrals to other services. In 2005, the
three centers assisted 3,733 people: 674 prosthetics and 1,242 orthoses were
produced, 390 wheelchairs distributed and 1,427 assistive devices repaired;
1,378 physiotherapy assessments and 32,245 treatments were
conducted.[218]
Other organizations providing survivor assistance in Cambodia were included
in Landmine Monitor Report
2005.[219] Landmine Monitor
obtained information on activities in this reporting period from the following
organizations.
The Italian NGO Emergency’s Ilaria Alpi Surgical Center in Battambang
provides surgical assistance free of charge to the victims of war including mine
casualties; in 2005, Emergency treated 103 new mine casualties and 64 new UXO
casualties. Emergency also provided corrective surgery for 85 mine survivors
and six UXO survivors. Trauma casualties are admitted from several provinces,
including Battambang, Krong Pailin, Pursat, Banteay Meanchey, Takeo, Siem Reap,
Oddar Meanchey, Kampong Thom and Phnom
Penh.[220]
The Landmine Victim Assistance Fund, established in 2004 to meet the needs of
Cambodia's landmine survivors for physical, social and economic reintegration,
received A$500,000 ($381,350) in 2005 from AusAID. This was to enable fund
partners, including Veterans International Cambodia, Handicap International,
Disability Development Services Pursat, Cambodian National Volleyball League and
Cambodia Trust, to promote economic and social participation, as well as
advocacy, for people with disabilities throughout
Cambodia.[221] AusAID explored
options to develop a larger assistance program in
2006.[222]
Association for Aid and Relief Japan operated the Wheelchair Production
Service and the Kien Khleang Vocational Training Center in Phnom Penh. In 2005,
it produced 299 wheelchairs, one tricycle and distributed 272 wheelchairs; 37
people received vocational training, including six mine survivors. From 1993 to
2005, 501 people were trained, including 215
survivors.[223]
Jesuit Service Cambodia produced 1,155 wheelchairs and 64 tricycles in 2005,
which were distributed by other organizations; 21 of 24 staff are mine
survivors.[224] It also provides
vocational training at Banteay Prieb (Center of the Dove) residential school; in
2005, 116 students with disabilities, including 40 mine survivors, undertook
one-year courses in agriculture, sculpture, carpentry, electronic repair,
machine repair, weaving, tailoring and literacy. Jesuit Service Cambodia works
with 250 people with a disability in Siem Reap province, in 13 villages in
Battambang and Banteay Meanchey provinces, in 229 villages in Oddar Meanchey and
in the old Khmer Rouge areas of Kandal. Teams including several mine survivors
provide psychosocial support to villagers and assist them in planning programs
for their health and well-being. The program includes housing, water access,
emergency food, schooling assistance for children, and access to health services
and markets through bridges and
roads.[225] Jesuit Service
Cambodia also provided a Khmer translation of the Cambodian plans and objectives
for victim assistance in order to encourage the involvement of people with
disabilities and service
providers.[226]
Disability Development Services Pursat, a Khmer NGO established in 2003,
provides physical rehabilitation services, psychosocial support, facilitates
access to education for children and vocational training, and raises awareness
on disability issues, in six villages in remote areas of the province of Pursat.
In 2005, the project assisted 184 disabled people including 46 (25 percent)
landmine survivors. In two of the villages, mine clearance was underway and
two others are in formerly mined areas. In August 2005, in collaboration with
Development Technology Workshop, it launched a water and sanitation project in
the six villages. The rehabilitation project was extended to three more
villages in January 2006.[227]
The Cambodian War Amputees Rehabilitation Society program offers landmine
survivors and other people with disabilities training in income-generating
trades and services; graduates of the program are assisted to establish their
own micro-enterprises. In December 2005, a new program was started in Banteay
Meanchey for 164 disabled people, mainly mine
survivors.[228] Terre des Hommes
provided $19,458 to establish a micro-credit scheme. Post-rehabilitation,
survivors receive credit primarily for development of agricultural activities,
but also for other small business
start-ups.[229] In 2005, 843 men
and women with disabilities benefited from the program; 638 were mine
survivors.[230]
World Vision Cambodia operated an integrated mine action project that
utilizes area development, training and micro-credit projects to assist affected
communities. In 2005, over 5,000 children and their families benefited,
including survivors. In addition to education about healthcare, access to safe
water and sanitary facilities, 91 landless families received land certificates,
1,679 people received livelihood training, and 103 families received piglets.
Survivors received training in agricultural practices as well as engine,
television, and radio
repair.[231]
The Disability Action Council lists many other organizations assisting mine
survivors and other people with disabilities through self-help groups,
community-based assistance, referral systems, education, counseling, vocational
training and outreach. Several NGOs take a “development approach”
to survivor assistance, whereby mine survivors are assisted along with other
members of the community.[232]
The National Center for Disabled People set up a disabled workers database,
which functions primarily for urban disabled seeking work; however out of 1,500
people with disabilities registered, only 125 are placed each year. Monitoring
of vocational and reintegration services concluded that although graduates
improve their knowledge and skills successfully, not many people are successful
at obtaining sustainable employment often due to
discrimination.[233] For example,
the government prohibits people with even minor disabilities from being teachers
in public schools.[234]
The children of mine/UXO survivors or people who have died in a mine/UXO
incident often cannot go to school because the education cost is too high for
the family. Approximately 400,000 children do not attend school often because
of cost or long distances. Inclusive education is managed by the Special
Education Bureau with technical assistance by DAC. It focuses on disability
awareness raising, teaching materials for teachers who have children with
disabilities in their class, and assisting the Ministry of Education in
developing inclusive education
policies.[235]
The Cambodian National Volleyball League (Disabled) Organization provides
sports activities for people with disabilities. It also provides advice on
sporting programs in physical rehabilitation centers and assists in the
construction of recreational areas in provincial Cambodia. More than 70 percent
of members are landmine survivors. On 30 March 2006, the organization was
awarded “best practice” status by the UN International Year of
Sports.[236]
Disability Policy and Practice
Cambodia does not have legislation protecting the rights of people with
disabilities, despite a law being drafted in
2000.[237] A 2004 re-draft of
the law (Draft Legislation on Rights of People with Disabilities) was submitted
to the Council of Ministers in 2005 but had not been passed as of June
2006.[238] Passage of the law was
among the objectives stated by Cambodia at the Sixth Meeting of States Parties
in November-December 2005.
The Rehabilitation Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and
Youth Rehabilitation is responsible for making policy to protect the rights of
people with disabilities.[239] The ministry operates a pension scheme for former civil servants and
government soldiers with disabilities; the amounts allocated are modest, but
provide a regular and important source of income. Reportedly, difficulties
encountered are irregular and delayed payments, bribery, and the selling of
entitlements in times of need.[240] The government has acknowledged the problems; however in March 2006, the
ministry’s Veterans Department, responsible for the pensions, stated that
it would reduce the pension budget because many pensions were being paid to
people who no longer fit the criteria. Pensions are only paid to disabled and
retired veterans, their widows and children under 18 years. The ministry has
approximately 100,000 disabled or retired veterans on record, but estimated that
about 60,000 over-age children were receiving
pensions.[241]
NGOs administer numerous programs making substantial improvements in the
treatment and rehabilitation of amputees. However, people with disabilities
reportedly faced considerable societal discrimination, especially in obtaining
skilled employment. There is no requirement that buildings and government
services be accessible to people with disabilities and no concerted efforts are
made to assist them in becoming civically
engaged.[242]
[1] The law bans the production,
use, possession, transfer, trade, sale, import and export of antipersonnel
mines. It provides for criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment for
offenses committed by civilians or members of the police and the armed forces.
It also provides for the destruction of mine stockpiles. [2] Landmine Monitor obtained a
copy of Cambodia’s Article 7 report dated April 2006, for calendar year
2005; this was not recorded by the UN website as of 19 June 2006. Previous
reports were submitted on 22 April 2005, 30 April 2004, 15 April 2003, 19 April
2002, 30 June 2001 and 26 June 2000 (this report covered the period from 1993 to
26 June 2000). [3] The text of the letter follows:
“Dear Friends of a Mine Free Cambodia, This week we celebrate Mine
Awareness Day in Cambodia. Some of you with long memories will recall the birth
of the landmine campaign here in Cambodia in 1994. To initiate it, four
Cambodia men wrote a letter, which gathered more than a million signatures from
around the world. This week one of them Suon Chreuk died suddenly. In honour
of his memory we reprint the letter which was signed by HRH King Sihanouk, the
Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, HRH Prince Norodom Rannaridh, Excellency Sam
Rainsy and many other famous Cambodians: ‘We are amputees. Before we
were soldiers, members of different armies that laid mines and blew the legs and
arms and eyes off one another. Now we teach and learn together in the The
Centre of the Dove. We beg the world to stop making mines, We beg the world to
stop laying mines, We beg for funds for clearing mines so that we can rebuild
our families, our villages and our country again.’ Signed by Tun
Channareth, Hem Phang, Khlieng Vann, Suon Chreuk,
1994. Twelve year later where are we? Much land has been cleared, but
not yet enough. Survivors have received some assistance, but not yet enough.
Mine affected communities are developing their areas, but need much more
help.” [4] Statement by the NGO community
in Cambodia to the Consultative Group on Cambodia Donors Meeting, 19 January
2006. [5] Article 7 Reports, Form E. In
the 1970s, Cambodia manufactured one type of antipersonnel landmine, the KN-10
Claymore-type mine, and various forces manufactured home-made mines in the
past. [6] See Landmine Monitor Report
1999, p. 391, for annual destruction totals. [7] Article 7 Report, Form B, 26
June 2000. [8] Article 7 Report, Form F, 30
April 2004. [9] Article 7 Report, Forms D and
F, 22 April 2005. [10] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 248. [11] Article 7 Report, Form G,
dated April 2006. Mines destroyed in previous years included: 8,739 in 2000;
7,357 in 2001; 13,509 in 2002; 9,207 in 2003 (all by CMAC from 2000-2003); and
15,446 in 2004 (10,033 by CMAC, 3,632 by HALO and 1,781 by Mines Advisory
Group). For information on past inconsistencies in Article 7 reporting on
discovered mines, see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 248. [12] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 211. [13] Email from Marc Bonnet,
Regional Representative, NPA South East Asia, 15 February 2006. [14] Interview with Sam Sotha,
Secretary-General, CMAA, Phnom Penh, 13 March 2006. [15] Ibid. [16] Article 7 Report, Form D,
dated April 2006. [17] Article 7 Reports, Form D,
22 April 2005 and dated April 2006. In addition, 348 mines were transferred to
CMAC from MCTU/UNTAC in 1993, 236 from CMAC PMU Siem Reap in 1998, 272 from CMAC
EOD Preah Vihear in 1999, 546 from CMAC DU2 in 1999, 52 from CMAC HQ Phnom Penh
in 2000, 423 from CMAC DU6 Siem Reap in 2001, 240 from the Ministry of Interior
in 2002, and 366 from various CMAC demining units in 2003. [18] Interview with Richard
Boulter, Programme Manager, HALO Trust, Siem Reap, 28 February 2006. [19] Under Protocol V to the
Convention on Conventional Weapons, explosive remnants of war are defined as
unexploded ordnance and abandoned explosive ordnance. Mines are explicitly
excluded from the definition. [20] Robert Griffin and Robert
Keeley, “Joint Evaluation of Mine Action in Cambodia for the Donor Working
Group on Mine Action,” Volume I, Phnom Penh, 4 December 2004. [21] HALO, “The need to
document reclaimed land on the National Mined Area Database,” Phnom Penh,
2005. [22] HALO powerpoint
presentation, viewed in Phnom Penh, 21 March 2006. [23] South East Asia Air Sortie
Database, cited in Dave McCracken, “National Explosive Remnants of War
Study, Cambodia,” (draft), NPA in collaboration with CMAA, March 2006, p.
15. [24] Interview with Dave
McCracken, Consultant, NPA, Phnom Penh, 21 March 2006. [25] Cambodian Mine Victim
Information Service (CMVIS), “Reported mine/UXO casualties for the period
of: January 2002 to December 2005,” December 2005, p. 5. [26] CMVIS maps provided to HALO
by Chhiv Lim, Project Manager, CMVIS, 27 February 2006. [27] CMVIS, “Reported
mine/UXO casualties for the period of: January 2002 to December 2005,”
December 2005,
p. 8. [28] Dave McCracken,
“National Explosive Remnants of War Study, Cambodia,” (draft),
NPA/CMAA, Phnom Penh, March 2006, p. 51. [29] Samdech Hun Sen, Prime
Minister, television address to the national Mine Awareness Day, 24 February
2006. [30] Deputy Prime Minister Sok
An, address during the signing ceremony between UN Development Programme (UNDP)
and Australia, 25 January 2006. [31] Interview with Richard
Boulter, HALO, Siem Reap, 27 February 2006. [32] NGO statement on mine action
to Consultative Group meeting with donors, Phnom Penh 19 January 2006. [33] A royal decree dated 4
September 2000 and a subdecree dated 8 August 2001 define the roles and
responsibilities of CMAA; the 2001 subdecree also confirmed CMAC’s status
as service provider. For details of legislation regarding CMAA and CMAC, see
Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, “A Study of the
Development of Mine Action Legislation,” Geneva, 2004, pp. 64-66. [34] Royal decree,
NS/RKT/0605/296, 29 June 2005; speech by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, Third
Conference on Mine Action Achievements, Phnom Penh, 24 May 2006. [35] Donor and stakeholder
interviews, Phnom Penh, 20-23 March 2006. [36] NPA, “Contribution to
the NGO Statement to the Consultative Group Meeting on Cambodia,” March
2006. [37] CMAA, “Secretariat
Restructuring and Responsibilities,” 13 March 2006, pp. 1-2. [38] Royal Government of
Cambodia, Decision No. 29 S.S.R. on The Implementation of Cambodian Mine Action
Standards (CMAS), First Five Chapters, 10 August 2005, Article 3. [39] Interview with Sam Sotha,
CMAA, Phnom Penh, 20 March 2006. [40] Ibid. [41] Email from Richard Boulter,
HALO, Cambodia, 31 May 2006; email from Tim Carstairs, Director of Policy, MAG,
12 July 2006. [42] Opening statement of Deputy
Prime Minister Sok An, Third Conference on Mine Action Achievements, Phnom Penh,
24 May 2006. [43] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2001, p. 443. [44] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 251. [45] Deputy Prime Minister Sok
An, address during the signing ceremony between UNDP and Australia, 25 January
2006. [46] Interview with Sam Sotha,
CMAA, Phnom Penh, 20 March 2006. [47] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 252. [48] Interview with Julien
Chevillard, Mine Action Specialist, UNDP, Phnom Penh, 21 March 2006. [49] AVI, “Review and
Recommendations from MAPU Planning Process 2005, Discussion Paper,”
February 2006, p. 1. [50] Robert Griffin and Robert
Keeley, “Joint Evaluation of Mine Action in Cambodia for the Donor Working
Group on Mine Action,” Volume I, Phnom Penh, 4 December 2004, pp. 4-5.
[51] Email from Julien
Chevillard, UNDP, Phnom Penh, 1 June 2006. [52] AVI, “Review and
Recommendations from MAPU Planning Process 2005, Discussion Paper,”
February 2006, p. 1. [53] Interviews with Richard
Boulter, HALO, and Rupert Leighton, Country Manager, MAG, Phnom Penh, 20-23
March 2006; AVI, “Review and Recommendations from MAPU Planning Process
2005, Discussion Paper,” February 2006, p. 29. [54] AVI, “Review and
Recommendations from MAPU Planning Process 2005, Discussion Paper,”
February 2006, pp. 5, 28-30. [55] Julian Williams, “A
Risk Strategy for Mine Action,” Serco Assurance, UK, September 2003,
www.itep.ws. [56] Robert Griffin and Robert
Keeley, “Joint Evaluation of Mine Action in Cambodia for the Donor Working
Group on Mine Action,” Volume 1, Phnom Penh, 4 December 2004. [57] HALO, “The need to
document reclaimed land on the National Mine Area Database in Cambodia,”
Phnom Penh, 16 September 2005, p. 2; email from Richard Boulter, HALO, Cambodia,
31 May 2006. [58] HALO, “The need to
document reclaimed land on the National Mine Area Database in Cambodia,”
Phnom Penh, 16 September 2005, pp. 2-4. [59] Email from Tim Carstairs,
MAG, 12 July 2006. [60] Interview with Heng Rattana,
Deputy Director General, CMAC, Phnom Penh, 22 March, 2006. [61] Statement by Sam Sotha,
CMAA, to a Landmine Monitor panel on mine action, Landmine Monitor Global
Research Meeting, Phnom Penh, 3 April 2006; CMAA, “Draft Strategy on Area
Reduction,” Phnom Penh, 26 April 2006. [62] Email from Tim Carstairs,
MAG, 12 July 2006. [63] Dave McCracken,
“National Explosive Remnants of War Response Study, Cambodia,”
(draft), NPA/CMAA, Phnom Penh, March 2006, pp. vii, 73. [64] Interview with Dave
McCracken, NPA, Phnom Penh, 21 March 2006. [65] Email from Julien
Chevillard, UNDP, Phnom Penh, 1 June 2006. [66] Statement by Sam Sotha,
CMAA, to a Landmine Monitor panel on mine action, Phnom Penh, 3 April 2006. [67] Interview with Sam Sotha,
CMAA, Phnom Penh, 20 March 2006. [68] Information provided by CMAA
staff, Phnom Penh, 24 March 2006. [69] Email from Julien
Chevillard, UNDP, Phnom Penh, 1 June 2006. [70] Dave McCracken,
“National Explosive Remnants of War Response Study, Cambodia,”
(draft), NPA/CMAA, Phnom Penh, March 2006, p. 23. The study notes that:
“All inquiries meet silence at national coordination meetings on the
nature, composition and authority in which commercial companies operate in
Cambodia.” [71] Dave McCracken,
“National Explosive Remnants of War Response Study, Cambodia,”
(draft), NPA/CMAA, Phnom Penh, March 2006, p. 18. Available data sources
include an UNTAC Mine Liaison Team Survey (1992-1993), HALO Trust Survey
(1992-1993), CMAC Verification Survey (1996-1997) and the databases of CMAC,
HALO Trust and MAG. [72] CMAC found that more than 15
percent of land designated for clearance in the 2003 workplan was not included
in the LIS. [73] HALO, “The need to
document reclaimed land on the National Mine Area Database in Cambodia,”
Phnom Penh, 16 September 2005, p. 2. [74] Ibid. [75] Ibid. [76] Information provided by CMAA
staff, Phnom Penh, 24 March 2006. [77] Statistics provided by CMAA,
23 March 2006. There are a number of mostly small discrepancies between the
totals reported by CMAA in March 2006 and previous Landmine Monitor reporting.
Bigger discrepancies occurred with MAG in 2003 and with HALO’s number of
antivehicle mines destroyed in 2001. In its Article 7 report for 2005, Cambodia
reported different numbers of antipersonnel mines cleared. Article 7 Report,
Form G, dated April 2006.
[78] HALO later amended this
figure to 5,622,609 million square meters (as in HALO’s Annual Report
2005); email from Richard Boulter, HALO, Phnom Penh, 31 May 2006.
[79] Including 21,015
antipersonnel mines cleared manually, 5,720 cleared by EOD teams and 11,698
cleared in an operation destroying munitions found in RCAF’s K86 storage
depot in Kampong Speu province. In the K86 operation, HALO also destroyed 15.9
metric tons of conventional ammunition and 24.5 metric tons of small arms
ammunition. [80] CMAC, “Annual Report
January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. vi. [81] Interview with Heng Rattana,
CMAC, Phnom Penh, 22 March 2006. [82] Ibid. [83] Ibid; response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Heng Rattana, CMAC, 9 March 2006. [84] CMAC, “Annual Report
January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. vii. [85] CMAC, “Integrated Work
Plan 2006,” pp. 23, 28. [86] CMAC, “Annual Report
January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. vii. [87] CMAC, “Progress report
January to October 2005,” Phnom Penh, 12 January 2006, pp. 5, 41. [88] Interview with Richard
Boulter, HALO, Phnom Penh, 21 April 2006; HALO, “Annual Report
2005,” 11 January 2006, p. 1. [89] HALO, “Annual Report
2005,” 11 January 2006, p. 1. [90] Ibid, pp. 3-5. [91] Ibid, p. 2. [92] Response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire by Rupert Leighton, MAG, 1 February 2006; email from Tim
Carstairs, MAG, 11 July 2006. [93] Email from Tim Carstairs,
MAG, 11 July 2006. [94] Interview with Rupert
Leighton, MAG, Phnom Penh, 20 March 2006. [95] Email from Tim Carstairs,
MAG, 11 July 2006. [96] Interview with Rupert
Leighton, MAG, Phnom Penh, 20 March 2006. [97] CARE, “Evaluation of
the Community-Based Locality Demining model,” Phnom Penh, 2005; email from
Tim Carstairs, MAG, 12 July 2006. [98] Email from Tim Carstairs,
MAG, 11 July 2006. [99] See Landmine Monitor
Report 1999, pp. 392-405; Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 388-395.
In 2000, estimates were reported that informal village deminers had cleared 45
percent of all land cleared in Cambodia in 1993-1999, more than any other
demining agency. [100] Michael L. Fleischer,
“Informal Village Demining in Cambodia, An Operational Study,”
Handicap International (HI), Phnom Penh, 2005, pp. 42-50. [101] CMAA, “Draft
Strategy on Area Reduction,” Phnom Penh, 26 April 2006. [102] “Cambodia to send
deminers to Sudan,” Reuters, 17 February 2006; “Cambodian
mine-clearing soldiers to join UN in Sudan,” Xinhua News Agency, 13
April 2006. [103] Interview with Paul
Heslop, Deputy Program Manager/Chief of Staff, UN Mine Action Office, Khartoum,
19 March 2006. [104] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Heng Rattana, CMAC, 9 March 2006. [105] HALO, “Annual
Report 2005,” 11 January 2006, p. 6. [106] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Rupert Leighton, MAG, 1 February 2006. [107] Opening and closing
statements of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, Third Conference on Mine Action
Achievements, Phnom Penh, 24 May 2006. [108] Statement by Khem
Sophoan, Director General, CMAC, Third Conference on Mine Action Achievements,
Phnom Penh, 24 May 2006. [109] Email from Richard
Boulter, HALO, Cambodia, 31 May 2006. [110] Telephone interview with
Rupert Leighton, MAG, Phnom Penh, 29 May 2006. [111] Powerpoint presentation,
in email from Roger Hess, Director, Field Operations, Golden Harvest
Humanitarian Foundation, 28 March 2006. [112] CMAC, “Annual
Report January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. ix. [113] Powerpoint presentation,
in email from Roger Hess, Golden Harvest Humanitarian Foundation, 28 March
2006. [114] CMAA, “Summary of
2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 2; UNICEF,
“Mine/UXO risk education in Cambodia,” presentation for Landmine
Monitor Global Research Meeting, Phnom Penh, 3 April 2006. The figure was
corrected by Landmine Monitor to accord with: Cambodian Red Cross,
“Community Based Landmine/UXO Risk Education Program Annual Report
2005,” p. 2, www.redcross.org.kh, accessed on 14 July
2006. [115] CMAA, “Summary of
2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 2. [116] From a low of 46 women in
2003 the number rose to 83 in 2005. CMAA, “Mine Risk Education Strategic
Plan, First Edition 2006,” Phnom Penh, April 2006, p. 7. See section
Landmine/UXO Casualties. [117] CMVIS, “Reported
mine/UXO casualties for the period of: January 2002 to December 2005,”
December 2005. [118] CMAA, “Mine Risk
Education Strategic Plan, First Edition 2006,” Phnom Penh, April 2006, p.
1. [119] Ibid, p. 6. [120] UN, “2006 Portfolio
of Mine Action Projects,” p. 91. [121] CMAA, “Summary of
2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 3. [122] CMAC, “Annual
Report: January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, pp. 37, 40. [123] Email from Nhar Ny,
Advocacy/Monitor Officer, Jesuit Service Cambodia, 25 April 2006. [124] Mine Action Support
Group, “MASG Newsletter-First Quarter of 2006,” Washington DC, 1 May
2006, p. 22. [125] CMAA, “Summary of
2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 1. [126] CMAA, “Mine Risk
Education Strategic Plan, First Edition 2006,” Phnom Penh, April 2006, pp.
7-8. [127] CMAA, “Summary of
2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 2. [128] Mine Action Support
Group, “MASG Newsletter-First Quarter of 2006,” Washington DC, 1 May
2006, p. 22; CMAC, “Annual Report: January-December 2005,” Phnom
Penh, 2006, pp. 36-37. [129] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 221. [130] CMAC, “Annual
Report: January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 36. [131] CMAA, “Summary of
2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 2. [132] Ibid, p. 3; UNICEF,
“Mine/UXO risk education in Cambodia,” powerpoint presentation for
Landmine Monitor Global Research meeting, Phnom Penh, 3 April 2006; Cambodian
Red Cross, “Community Based Landmine/UXO Risk Education Program Annual
Report 2005.” [133] CMAA, “Summary of
2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 3. [134] HALO, “Annual
Report 2005,” p. 4; CMAA, “Summary of 2005 Annual Mine Risk
Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 3. [135] CMAA, “Summary of
2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 2; UNICEF,
“Mine/UXO risk education in Cambodia,” powerpoint presentation for
Landmine Monitor Global Researchers meeting, Phnom Penh, 3 April 2006. [136] CMAA, “Mine Risk
Education Strategic Plan, First Edition 2006,” Phnom Penh, April 2006, p.
5. [137] CMAC, “Mine Action
Tools, Community Based Mine Risk Reduction (CBMRR) Project,” Phnom Penh,
2006. [138] CMAC, “Annual
Report: January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, pp. 37-38; CMAA,
“Summary of 2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh,
2006, p. 2; CMAC, “Annual Report 2004,” 28 April 2005, p. 8; email
from Chan Rotha, Director, Department of Socio-Economic Planning and
Database, CMAA, 24 June 2005. [139] CMAC, “Annual
Report 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 40. [140] Ibid. [141] Email from Rupert
Leighton, MAG, Cambodia, 1 February 2006. [142] CMAA, “Summary of
2005 Annual Mine Risk Education Report,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 3. [143] World Vision,
“Cambodia,” www.wvi.org, accessed
12 April 2006. [144] CMAC, “Annual
Report: January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, pp. 36-37. [145] Email from Chhaya Plong,
Assistant Project Officer, Accidents, Injuries and Disabilities, UNICEF
Cambodia, 10 July 2006. [146] Ibid. [147] Emails from Chhiv Lim,
CMVIS, 27 April and 2 May 2006. [148] Ruth Bottomley,
“Community Participation in Mine Action, A Review and Conceptual
Framework,” NPA, Phnom Penh/Oslo, December 2005, pp. 30-35. [149] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 224. [150] Email from Katheryn
Bennett, AusAID, 30 June 2006. A$1 = US$0.7627. US Federal Reserve, “List
of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2006. The UNDP Clearing for
Results project started in 2006. [151] Email from Stan Brabant,
Head, Policy Unit, HI, 26 May 2006; email from Dominique Jones, Conseiller,
Ministry of Defence, 17 May 2006. [152] Mine Action Investments
database; email from Carly Volkes, DFAIT, 7 June 2006. Average exchange rate
for 2005: US$1 = C$1.2115. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates
(Annual),” 3 January 2006. The UNDP Clearing for Results project started
in 2006. [153] Mine Action Investments
database; email from Rita Helmich-Olesen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 31 March
2006. Average exchange rate for 2005: US$1 = DKK5.9953. US Federal Reserve,
“List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2006. [154] France Article 7 Report,
Form J, 26 April 2006; CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report, Form E, 6
October 2005. [155] Germany Article 7 Report,
Form J, 27 April 2006; Mine Action Investments database. [156] Emails from Kitagawa
Yasu, Japan Campaign to Ban Landmines (JCBL), March-May 2006, with translated
information received by JCBL from Multilateral Cooperation Department, 11 May
2005, and Non-proliferation and Science Department, 11 April 2006. Average
exchange rate for 2005: US$1= ¥110.11. US Federal Reserve, “List of
Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2006. [157] Email from
François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luxembourg, 30 March
2006. [158] Email from Ellen
Schut, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7 April 2006; email from Brechtje
Paardekooper, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 18 April 2006. [159] Email from Helen
Fawthorpe, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 6 June 2006; email from Megan McCoy,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 6 June 2006. Average exchange rate for 2005: NZ$1
= US$0.7049. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),”
3 January 2006. [160] Email from Annette A.
Landell-Mills, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 June 2006. Average exchange rate
for 2005: US$1 = NOK6.4412. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates
(Annual),” 3 January 2006. [161] Sweden Article 7 Report,
Form J, 2 May 2006; emails from Sara Brandt-Hansen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
March-May 2006. Average exchange rate for 2005: US$1 = SEK7.4710. US Federal
Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2006. [162] Email from Andrew
Willson, Department for International Development, 20 March 2006. Average
exchange rate for 2005: £1 = US$1.820. US Federal Reserve, “List of
Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2006. [163] USG Historical Chart
containing data for FY 2005, by email from Angela L. Jeffries, Financial
Management Specialist, US Department of State, 8 June 2006. [164] Email from Zach Hudson,
Program Manager, Adopt-A-Minefield, 2 June 2006. [165] CMAA, “Mine Action
Achievement Report 2005, Work Plan 2006,” 26 April 2006, pp. 13-14. [166] Prime Minister Samdech
Hun Sen, “Remarks at the Donation Ceremony of Mine Clearing Equipments
from the Government of Japan to CMAC,” Cambodia New Vision, 10
September 2005. This amount has not been included in the total for 2005. [167] CMAC, “Annual
Report January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 63; see Landmine
Monitor Report 2005, p. 224. [168] CMAC, “Annual
Report January-December 2005,” Phnom Penh, 2006, p. 63. [169] CMAC, “Integrated
Work Plan 2006,” p. xiii. [170] Mine Action Support
Group, “MASG Newsletter-First Quarter of 2006,” Washington DC, 1 May
2006, p. 7. [171] UNDP Cambodia,
“Clearing for Results: A partnership for landmine action in
Cambodia,” April 2006, www.un.org.kh,
accessed 20 June 2006. [172] Unless otherwise stated,
information in this section was provided by email from Chhiv Lim, CMVIS, Phnom
Penh, 13 June 2006. Landmine Monitor was provided raw data and conducted its
own analysis. [173] Email from Kao Vannarin,
Project Advisor, CMVIS, 20 June 2006. [174] Ibid. [175] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 225. [176] Prime Minister Samdech
Hun Sen, address to the nation, Mine Awareness Day, 24 February 2006 [177] HALO statement at
Cambodian Mine Action Authority Meeting, Phnom Penh, 24 March 2006. [178] Richard Moyes,
“Tampering: Deliberate handling and use of live ordnance in
Cambodia,” London, August 2004, p. 12. [179] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Heng Rattana, CMAC, Phnom Penh, 9 February 2006; HALO,
“Annual Report 2005,” Phnom Penh, 11 January 2006, p. 6; response to
Landmine Monitor Questionnaire by Rupert Leighton, MAG, Phnom Penh, 1 February
2006. [180] Sheree Bailey,
“Landmine Victim Assistance in Integrated Mine Action in
Cambodia–Final Report,” December 2005, p. 6. [181] Email from Kao Vannarin,
CMVIS, 20 June 2006. [182] CCBL letter to NGOs in
Cambodia, March 2006; email from Bruno Leclerq, Director, HI-B Cambodia, Phnom
Penh, 5 June 2006; Jesuit Service minutes of the Mini Sub-Group meeting, Phnom
Penh, 9 February 2006; email from Nhar Ny, Jesuit Service Cambodia, 7 June
2006. [183] UN, “Final Report,
First Review Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the
Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel
Mines and on Their Destruction,” Nairobi, 29 November-3 December 2004,
APLC/CONF/2004/5, 9 February 2005, p. 33. [184] Statement by Cambodia,
Sixth Meeting of States Parties, Zagreb, 30 November 2005. [185] “Final Report of
the Sixth Meeting of States Parties / Zagreb Progress Report,” Part II,
Annex V, Zagreb, 28 November-2 December 2005, pp. 122-128. [186] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 226. MoSVY was formerly the Ministry of Social Affairs,
Labor, Vocational Training and Youth Rehabilitation. [187] Email from Chan Rotha,
CMAA, 5 June 2006; emails from Long Sothy, Director, DAC, Phnom Penh, 7 and 12
June 2006. [188] Philippa Thomas,
“Poverty Reduction and Development in Cambodia: Enabling Disabled People
to Play a Role,” DFID, April 2005; Cooperation Committee for Cambodia
(CCC), “The Challenge of Living with Disability in Cambodia, A Study of
Mobility Impaired People in the Social Setting of Prey Veng District, Prey Veng
Province,” March 2006; see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p.
271. [189] CCC, “The Challenge
of Living with Disability in Rural Cambodia,” March 2006, pp. 9-10. [190] US Department of State,
“Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Cambodia,”
Washington DC, 8 March 2006. [191] “Final Report of
the Sixth Meeting of States Parties / Zagreb Progress Report,” Part II,
Annex V, Zagreb, 28 November-2 December 2005, pp. 123-124. [192] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 227. [193] “Final Report of
the Sixth Meeting of States Parties / Zagreb Progress Report,” Part II,
Annex V, Zagreb, 28 November-2 December 2005, p. 124. [194] CMVIS, “Monthly
Mine/UXO Victim Information Report: April 2006,” 23 May 2006, p. 3. [195] Sheree Bailey,
“Landmine Victim Assistance in Integrated Mine Action in Cambodia –
Final Report,” December 2005, p. 12. [196 ] CCC, “The
Challenge of Living with Disability in Rural Cambodia,” March 2006, p. 16;
see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 226. [197] CMAA, “Mine Action
Achievements Report 2005, Work Plan 2006,” 21 April 2006, p. 30. [198] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 228. [199] Interview with Jöel
Nininger, Coordinator Rehabilitation Department, ICRC Cambodia, Battambang, 3
March 2006; email from Bruno Leclerq, HI-Belgium, Cambodia, 5 June 2006. [200] Interview with Liz Cross,
former Advisor, DAC, Phnom Penh, 3 March 2006; emails from Edith van
Wijngaarden, Coordinator, Rehabilitation Department, HI-Belgium, Cambodia, 5 and
14 June 2006. [201] Email from Plong Chhaya,
UNICEF, Cambodia, 14 June 2006. [202] “Proposal for the
Evaluation of the Physical Rehabilitation Sector in Cambodia,” August
2005; emails from Edith van Wijngaarden, HI-Belgium, Cambodia, 2 March, 5 and 14
June 2006. [203] Information provided by
Stephen Close, Donor Harmonisation Officer, AusAID, Cambodia, 23 March 2006. [204] Email from Plong Chhaya,
UNICEF, Cambodia, 10 July 2006. [205] Interview with Jöel
Nininger, ICRC Cambodia, Battambang, 3 March 2006. For
rehabilitation/orthopedic centers assisting mine survivors and other people with
disabilities in 2005, see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 228. [206] DAC Physical
Rehabilitation Committee, “Physical Rehabilitation Centre 2005 Statistics
Report,” May 2006, pp. 2, 12-14, 18, 22-29. [207] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 228. [208] ICRC, “Annual
Report 2005,” Geneva, June 2006, p. 192. [209] For details of the
centers, see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 228. [210] ICRC, “Annual
Report 2005,” Geneva, June 2006, p. 192; ICRC, “Physical
Rehabilitation Programme – Annual Report 2005,” Geneva, July 2006,
p. 27; interview with Jöel Nininger, ICRC Cambodia, Battambang, 3 March
2006. [211] ICRC, “Annual
Report 2005,” Geneva, June 2006, p. 192. [212] Ibid; ICRC,
“Physical Rehabilitation Programme – Annual Report 2005,”
Geneva, July 2006, p. 27; interview with Jöel Nininger, ICRC Cambodia,
Battambang, 3 March 2006. [213] DAC Physical
Rehabilitation Committee, “Physical Rehabilitation Centre 2005 Statistics
Report,” May 2006, pp. 12-14, 18, 22-29; response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire by Mary Scott, Country Manager, Cambodia Trust, 13 March 2006. [214] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 229. [215] Response to Landmine
Monitor by Mary Scott, Cambodia Trust, 13 March 2006; see Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 229. [216] DAC Physical
Rehabilitation Committee, “Physical Rehabilitation Centre 2005 Statistics
Report,” May 2006, pp. 12-14, 18, 22-29; response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire by Mary Scott, Cambodia Trust, Phnom Penh, 13 March 2006. [217] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Bruno Leclerq, HI-Belgium, Cambodia, 20 March 2006; see
Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 230. [218] DAC Physical
Rehabilitation Committee, “Physical Rehabilitation Centre 2005 Statistics
Report,” May 2006, pp. 12-14, 18, 22-29. [219] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, pp. 227-232. [220] Statistics provided by
Cino Bendinelli, General Surgeon-Medical Coordinator, Emergency, Battambang, 1
March 2006. [221] AusAID, “Aid
Activities in Cambodia,” www.ausaid.gov.au, accessed 29 May 2006. [222] Information provided by
Stephen Close, AusAID, Cambodia, 23 March 2006. [223] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Huoy Socheat, Director of Vocational Training,
Association for Aid and Relief Japan, Phnom Penh, 2 February 2006. [224] Email from Nhar Ny,
Jesuit Service Cambodia, 7 June 2006. [225] Jesuit Service Cambodia,
“Jesuit Service Report,” December 2005 and 24 February 2006; see
Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 230. [226] Email from Nhar Ny,
Jesuit Service Cambodia, 7 June 2006. [227] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Steve Harknett, Advisor, Disability Development
Services Pursat, Pursat, 10 March 2006. [228] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 230. [229] Information from
Actiongroup Landmine.de member in email from Markus Haake, Coordinator,
Actiongroup Landmine.de, 8 June 2006. [230] Information provided by
Hem Chan Piseth, Deputy Managing Director, CWARS, Phnom Penh, 7 July 2006. [231] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Penh Bunnarith, Mine Programme Manager, World Vision,
Phnom Penh, 12 February 2006; World Vision, www.worldvision.com.au, accessed 6
June 2006. [232] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, pp. 269-270. [233] “Final Report of
the Sixth Meeting of States Parties / Zagreb Progress Report,” Part II,
Annex V, Zagreb, 28 November-2 December 2005, p. 126. [234] US Department of State,
“Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Cambodia,”
Washington DC, 8 March 2006. [235] “Final Report of
the Sixth Meeting of States Parties / Zagreb Progress Report,” Part II,
Annex V, Zagreb, 28 November-2 December 2005, pp. 126-127. [236] Emails from Christopher
Minko, Secreatry-General, CNVLD, Phnom Penh, 1 and 30 March 2006; www.standupcambodia.org, accessed 19
June 2006. [237] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 272. [238] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 232. [239] US Department of State,
“Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Cambodia,”
Washington DC, 8 March 2006. [240] CCC, “The Challenge
of Living with Disability in Rural Cambodia,” March 2006, p. 15. [241] Cheang Soka, “Move
to trim $1-million-a-month veterans pensions,” Phnom Penh Post,
10-23 March 2006, p. 4. [242] US Department of State,
“Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Cambodia,”
Washington DC, 8 March 2006.
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