Thailand

Mine Ban Policy

The Kingdom of Thailand signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 27 November 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 May 1999. Thailand has not enacted comprehensive domestic legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. In February 2008, the Director General of the Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC) told Landmine Monitor that TMAC intends to submit to the National Committee for Humanitarian Mine Action the 2007 draft “Office of the Prime Minister Regulations Governing the Implementation of the Convention” to amend existing laws.^[1] As of June 2008, this had not yet occurred. Thailand submitted its tenth Article 7 report on 30 April 2008, covering calendar year 2007.^[2]

Thailand participated in the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Jordan in November 2007, and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2008. It made interventions on victim assistance and implementation of its Article 5 mine clearance obligations at both meetings. During the Meeting of States Parties, Thailand was named co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration.

Thailand has not engaged in the discussions that States Parties have had on matters of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1, 2 and 3. It has not made known its views on the issues of joint military operations with states not party to the treaty, foreign stockpiling and transit of antipersonnel mines, antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or antihandling devices, and the permissible number of mines retained for training.

Thailand is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons. It attended as an observer the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions in May 2008.

Production, Transfer and Use

Thailand has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. Thailand formerly imported antipersonnel mines from China, Italy, the United States, and the former Yugoslavia.

Thai officials have said that there were no confirmed instances of use of antipersonnel mines on Thai soil in 2007 or early 2008.^[3] Landmine Monitor examined 135 reports of incidents involving explosive devices in 2007, and identified one that appeared to be a mine incident. On 18 April 2007, a deputy police chief was severely injured when he reportedly stepped on a homemade landmine while inspecting the scene of a bomb explosion in Paiwan sub-district of Tak Bai district in Narathiwat province of southern Thailand.^[4]

Several other reports indicated possible use of antipersonnel mines, victim-activated improvised explosive devices (IEDs), or explosive booby-traps, all of which are prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty. On 5 July 2007, officers recovered explosive devices in Sateng Nok sub-district, Yala province, which were described as two “stepping type-mines” and one “pulling type” mine.^[5] On 16 August 2007, an armed group in Jo Ai Rong district, Narathiwat province, reportedly emplaced fake and real mines (unknown if antipersonnel or antivehicle), which were then removed by security forces.^[6] On 1 October 2007, an explosive device was left in a public telephone booth near the Royal Thai Army Headquarters in Bangkok. While security forces were removing the device it exploded. Some news reports identified the device as a bomb, but others suggested it was an explosive booby-trap.^[7]

On 31 January 2008, in Wang district, Narathiwat province, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) experts recovered an explosive booby-trap (described in a news report as a “fake” mine) and a Claymore mine set for victim-activation. The fake mine was believed to have been left as a lure, inspection of which would have triggered the Claymore.^[8]

On 22 February 2008, a mine was found in a garbage dump by Burmese migrant workers searching for scrap. One accidentally triggered the mine, injuring 14 garbage workers. Police believe the mine may have been discarded by someone who knew it was illegal to possess it and did not wish to turn it in.^[9]

The insurgency in southern Thailand has made extensive use of command-detonated IEDs, in addition to what appear to be isolated instances of use of homemade landmines or victim-activated IEDs.^[10]

There have been no new reports of use of mines on the Thai-Cambodian border in the reporting period.^[11]

Stockpile Destruction and Retention

Thailand completed destruction of 337,725 stockpiled antipersonnel mines on 24 April 2003.

The Royal Thai Army, Navy and Air Force, and the Thai National Police initially retained a total of 4,970 antipersonnel mines for training. The number of retained mines did not change from 2001 to 2004.^[12] In 2005–2006, Thailand reduced the number of mines retained by 257, leaving a total of 4,713.^[13]

In its latest Article 7 report, Thailand reported that at the end of 2007, it retained 3,650 antipersonnel mines, a reduction of 1,063 from the previous year.^[14] It appears that 63 mines retained by the National Police Department (46 M14 and 17 M16) were consumed during training activities.^[15] It appears that the 1,000 mines retained by the navy (269 M14, 221 M16, 30 m²6, 249 Type 69, three m²A1, 228 m²) were simply destroyed, presumably because they were no longer deemed necessary.^[16]

At the end of 2007, the navy no longer retained any mines, the army retained 3,000 mines, the Royal Thai Air Force retained 581 mines, and the Thailand National Police Department retained 69 mines.^[17] The total of 3,000 mines under the control of the army has not changed since 2001.

TMAC told Landmine Monitor that Thailand does not retain mines under the control of a single service because each has its own training program, and because a central repository would be more complicated in terms of management.^[18]

Thailand has not provided details on the intended purposes and actual uses of its retained mines, as agreed by States Parties in 2004, and has not actively used the expanded Form D for reporting on retained mines agreed to in 2005.

While Thailand has not undertaken physical modifications of its Claymore mine stockpile to ensure use only in command-detonated mode, officials have stated that all units have received orders that Claymore mines are to be used only in command-detonated mode.^[19]

Landmine/ERW Problem

Thailand is affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), both abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) and unexploded ordnance (UXO), the result of conflicts on its borders with Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, and Malaysia. The 2001 Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) identified 530 communities in 27 of 76 provinces and more than 500,000 people as mine-affected.

The LIS estimated the total area of mine/ERW contamination at 2,557km².^[20] However, Thailand’s revised application for an extension of its clearance deadline under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty submitted in August 2008 says “at this stage it is assumed that about 528.2 sq km of mine field areas is still left for clearance.”^[21]

Thailand’s 700km border with Cambodia, used as a base by Cambodian guerrilla factions in the 1980s and 1990s, is worst affected, accounting for three-quarters of the LIS estimate and 51 of 69 high-impact communities.^[22] More than half of the mine incidents in Thailand have occurred on this border.^[23] The Cambodian border is also contaminated by artillery and mortar shells fired by Vietnamese and Cambodian government forces and caches of abandoned mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and ammunition left by Cambodian guerrilla groups.^[24]

On the border with Myanmar, the LIS identified 139 affected communities and 240 contaminated areas.^[25] Periodic spillover into Thailand of fighting between Myanmar government forces and Burmese non-state armed groups has deterred efforts either to survey or clear affected areas on the border.^[26]

The main impact of mines and ERW on these borders is to prevent use of forest resources, cropland, pasture, and water resources. Residential areas, roads and other major infrastructure are rarely affected.^[27] Contamination on the border with Laos is limited and on the border with Malaysia is negligible.^[28]

Mine Action Program

Coordination and management

Responsibility for overseeing mine action lies with the National Committee for Humanitarian Mine Action (NMAC), set up in 2000. It is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes representatives of all major ministries and government departments. Its duties include coordinating national and international support for demining, monitoring Thailand’s progress towards meeting its Mine Ban Treaty obligations, and monitoring implementation of the law banning landmines. NMAC’s mandate expired in January 2005 but was renewed in November 2006 after the military coup d’état.^[29]

TMAC was established in 1999 under the Armed Forces Supreme Command to coordinate and implement mine action, including survey, clearance, risk education (RE), and victim assistance (VA). Since 2005, TMAC has pressed for a change in its status to a civilian organization, prompted by the slow progress of demining and the armed forces’ limited budget for operations.^[30] NMAC accepted the restructuring in principle in February 2007 but as of August 2008 had not decided on the new structure. The proposal under discussion was that TMAC should become a foundation but remain under the Armed Forces Supreme Command.^[31] The February 2007 meeting also decided to set up five sub-committees for VA, coordination with foreign organizations, demining, RE, and monitoring and evaluation. Each subcommittee met at least once in 2007.^[32]

There is no national legislation on mine action, other than government orders setting up NMAC and TMAC. TMAC’s humanitarian mine action units operate according to Thai national standards which TMAC says are based on the International Mine Action Standards.^[33]

TMAC operated an older version of the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database until November 2007 when it upgraded to a more recent version. The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) trained 10 staff in its use.^[34]

Strategic mine action planning

Thailand’s Master Plan on Humanitarian Mine Action No. 2 (2005–2009), drawn up by TMAC, sets out general objectives of mine action, emphasizing the integration of mine action into the National Socio-economic Development Plan. In view of the large estimate of contaminated area produced by the LIS and the slow progress of clearance operations, TMAC has increasingly focused on area reduction.^[35]

Demining

TMAC operates four Humanitarian Mine Action Units (HMAUs): three army units reporting to army task forces and one unit of marines reporting to the navy. Three of the units work on the border with Cambodia, and the fourth on the border with Lao PDR. In fiscal year 2008, (October 2007 to September 2008), the units had 546 staff, more than double the number of personnel deployed in 2006 (233 staff).^[36]

Demining was also conducted by two NGOs: Peace Road Organization Foundation (PRO), which continued mine clearance in Pra Wiharn Sanctuary area in Si Sa Ket province, and the Mekong Organization for Mankind (MOM), which started a two-year “integrated area reduction survey” project in November 2007. The General Chatichai Choonhavan Foundation (GCCF), which had previously conducted demining, had no demining projects in 2007 and the first three months of 2008 due to lack of funds (though it conducted RE, see below).^[37]

Identifying hazardous areas

Under its “Locating Minefield Procedure” (LMP), TMAC expected to complete mapping of known minefields in September 2008. Under the pilot phase of the LMP conducted in Sa Kaeo province between April and September 2007, TMAC reviewed 41.21km² identified by the LIS, confirming 9.19km² as mined areas and releasing the remaining 32.02km² (75%).^[38] In February 2007, NMAC approved an allocation of THB121 million (US$3.5 million) for the project but TMAC received only THB57 million ($1.7 million) to procure equipment for the project. Operating expenses were met from TMAC’s operations budget. TMAC did not deploy six separate survey teams as originally planned but included the survey in the tasks of its HMAUs.^[39]

In Thailand’s Article 5 deadline extension request, TMAC identifies three stages in implementing the LMP:

• reviewing existing data, conducting interviews, and releasing land already in use for cultivation or recreation for some time without accident or evidence of contamination;
• random technical survey in areas identified as low threat, releasing land where survey does not find anything; and
• identifying areas where data and/or survey indicate most of the land is contaminated and will be marked as minefields.

MOM, working under the LMP, started its survey project in the provinces of Buriram, Chanthaburi, Sa Kaeo, Si Sa Ket, Surin, Trat, and Ubon Ratchathani on the border with Cambodia. MOM deployed about 40 staff in the field for the project and received $1.28 million in funding from Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integrated Fund (JAIF).^[40]

Marking and fencing of affected areas

In 2007, the HMAUs placed 432 warning signs around affected areas, bringing the total number of signs put up since 2000 to 5,668.^[41]

Mine and ERW clearance 2007 and 2008

Despite increasing pressure for results as Thailand approached its Mine Ban Treaty clearance deadline of 1 May 2009, operators manually demined a total of less than 1km² in 2007, consistent with its annual results since demining started in 2000 (see tables below).

TMAC’s four demining units cleared 494,159m² in 2007, a small increase on the amount it demined in 2006 (441,918m²). However, from September 2007, TMAC’s units focused on minefield identification and area reduction. The total amount of land reduced/cancelled in 2007, achieved mainly through data analysis and general survey, amounted to 75.8km², significantly up from 10.17km² in 2006.^[42]

Demining in 2007^[43]

In the first three months of 2008, TMAC reported that it area reduced or cancelled 306.1km²,^[44] more than three times the total achieved in the past three years. PRO cleared 25,979m² in January.^[45]

Summary of Efforts to Comply with Article 5

Demining in 2003–2007

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Thailand is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 May 2009. By December 2007, after eight years of demining operations, Thailand had cleared and reduced 96.4km², or around 3.7% of the contaminated area identified by the LIS in 2001, and 19.26% of the approximately 528.2km² that TMAC believes likely to be actually contaminated.^[46]

Thailand applied to extend its Article 5 deadline in April 2008 and submitted a revised request in August 2008, asking for an extension to its deadline of 9.5 years.^[47] However, data in the request was inconsistent with information released previously by TMAC and much of the detail presented of how Thailand proposed to fulfill its treaty obligations appeared speculative rather than evidence-based. According to the request, Thailand had released a total of 1,354.7km² of land since the start of demining in 2000, but 86% of this amount (1,165.4km²) was land that TMAC expected would be area-reduced or cancelled in the course of 2008. The figure exceeded by a considerable margin the total amount of land released since 2000, although TMAC reported area-reducing 308km² in the first three months of 2008, a sharp increase from previous results.

Moreover, the basis for the results claimed in 2007 was not apparent. The request says 133.8km² of land was released or cancelled in 2007, nearly double the amount reported by TMAC to Landmine Monitor. The request estimated Thailand had 528.2km² of “real minefield” requiring clearance by “traditional landmine clearance method [sic].” Although Thailand has cleared on average less than 1km² a year, the request suggests annual clearance will climb from 43.07km² in 2009 to 64.71km² in 2016 before falling back to 63.51 km² in 2018.^[48]

In its critique of Thailand’s original deadline extension request in May 2008, the ICBL recommended that Thailand receive an extension of one year and be asked within that period to:

• clarify the duration of the requested extension;
• report on the progress of TMAC’s transition to a civilian agency, identifying which government entity would assume authority and responsibility for financing TMAC;
• allocate short- and medium-term budgets, detailing the source and direction of funds; and
• revise and resubmit the deadline extension request, clarifying data on the extent of the mine-affected area remaining to be cleared and demining results, and providing more detail to demonstrate the feasibility of the timelines for future demining.^[49]

Landmine/ERW Casualties

In 2007, Landmine Monitor identified at least 19 new mine/ERW casualties; all were injured. TMAC’s HMAUs recorded some details on 15 of these casualties, but the information was supplemented by Handicap International (HI). Fifteen casualties were civilian, one was a deminer, two were border patrol police, and one was a police officer; four casualties were Cambodian. The civilians were injured while carrying out livelihood activities, collecting forest products, cutting wood, hunting or farming. Almost all casualties (17) occurred along the Thai-Cambodia border, one on the border with Myanmar and one while inspecting the scene of a bomb explosion in southern Thailand.^[50]

This represented a continued decrease from the 26 casualties reported in 2006 (14 of which were reported by TMAC),^[51] and 51 casualties in 2005.^[52] However, data collection in Thailand is incomplete and under-reporting of casualties is likely.^[53]

Three Thai nationals were involved in mine/ERW incidents in Myanmar in 2007 (one person killed and two injured).^[54]

Casualties continued to be reported in 2008 with five people injured to April. Four casualties occurred in two incidents in Trat province and one in a demining accident in Ubon Ratchathani province.^[55] In addition, a Thai soldier was injured in a mine incident in the disputed Preah Vihear temple area on the Cambodian-Thai border on 15 July 2008.^[56]

Data collection

Thailand does not have a complete data collection mechanism and the total number of mine/ERW casualties is unknown. Under-reporting of both Thai and foreign casualties in Thailand is certain. TMAC HMAUs collect new incident reports in only 16 of 27 mine-affected provinces, mainly along the Thai-Cambodia border.^[57]

To address the need for improved data collection, Thailand planned a retrospective data collection survey between July 2008 and April 2009. The survey will be used as the basis for “a more systemized and coordinated future work plan and implementation method for landmine victim assistance.”^[58] HI and other NGOs were requested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Sub-committee on Victim Assistance to conduct the survey.^[59]

In July 2007, the sub-committee on VA requested that governors and public health offices in the 27 affected provinces send casualty records to the Epidemiology Office. Due to a lack of response, by January 2008, the sub-committee established a working group on data collection, including relevant stakeholders.^[60] In 2008, TMAC continued to share landmine survivor data with the ministries of public health, social development and human security, as well as other members of the sub-committee on VA.^[61]

The most comprehensive casualty data collection remains the LIS, which identified at least 3,468 casualties to May 2001 (1,497 people killed and 1,971 injured).^[62] Landmine Monitor recorded 191 casualties from May 2001 to end 2007 (16 people killed and 175 injured).^[63]

Landmine/ERW Risk Education

Casualty data indicates that rural people collecting forest products or engaged in other livelihood activities such as woodcutting and hunting are most at risk. In the border regions persons crossing the border are at-risk.

In 2007 mine/ERW RE was carried out by the HMAUs, HI, the Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR), and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC). ADPC ceased activities in 2008 due to lack of funding.^[64]

Some 63,911 people received direct RE in 2007: TMAC reached 2,082; the HI Burmese Border Program (BBP) 51,805 (including 14,165 children); the HI Disability and Development Program (DDP) 6,831 children and 63 teachers; COERR 3,000 children; and ADPC 130.^[65] This represented a decrease by about one-third from 84,451 people reached in 2006.^[66] Only HI reached more people than in 2006 and provided more than 90% of all activities. In addition, an estimated 4.5 million people were targeted through mass media, mainly by HI,^[67] but also by TMAC (4,447)^[68] and PRO (1,000).^[69]

Thailand’s Master Plan for Mine Risk Education 2007–2011 was approved in February 2007. The master plan notes which government agencies share responsibilities for RE, and mentions the role of NGOs, but lacks detailed planning and timeframes.^[70] The strategy calls on all government agencies and NGOs to participate in RE and systematically integrate RE into their plans of action.^[71] During the first national mine RE sub-committee meeting in July 2007 relevant government agencies were requested to submit individual RE plans.^[72] No further progress was reported.

Thailand reported on RE activities in Form J of its latest Article 7 report, but the statistics reported did not match information from RE providers.^[73]

In 2007, RE was conducted in 11 of 27 mine-affected provinces in Thailand (13 in 2006). TMAC delivered RE in 32 mine-affected communities in 2007, a decrease from 39 in 2006. One training session for military officers who provide RE was held in 2007.^[74] The four HMAU’s reported a focus on increasing effectiveness of RE by spending more time with smaller groups.^[75]

HI’s DDP implemented a school-based teacher training project in 2007–2008 in Buriram, Chanthaburi, and Surin provinces.^[76] On completion, HI handed the materials and curriculum over to the sub-committee members for reproduction.^[77] The BBP’s capacity increased slightly in 2007 resulting in more people reached. The main activities included: training for high-risk groups in the nine refugee camps along the border with Myanmar in Tak, Mae Hong Son, Ratchaburi, and Kanchanaburi provinces; home visits; and school-based RE. HI reached an additional 14,590 people in a week of public awareness events in eight camps in April 2007.^[78]

Victim Assistance

At Mine Ban Treaty meetings and in its latest Article 7 report Thailand continued to emphasize that it “attaches high priority to the issue of assisting landmine victims.”^[79] It further stated that VA is integrated in Thailand’s health policy and services for persons with disabilities, and that coordination and awareness among stakeholders increased significantly in 2007–2008.^[80]

Thailand reported in June 2008 that it has a “reliable health service infrastructure,” and that it had reformed its emergency health services to enhance its effectiveness and expand services.^[81] However, full national coverage by district emergency response teams was not planned until 2011.^[82] Some 80,000 national health volunteers also provide emergency assistance in coordination with TMAC and district or provincial hospitals.^[83] Persons with disabilities registered by the government are entitled to free medical examinations and mobility devices.^[84]

Physical rehabilitation services are provided by military hospitals, public hospitals, and private institutions.^[85] Services have suffered from insufficient supplies and a lack of capacity in mine-affected areas.^[86] In November 2007, Thailand stated that “all provincial hospitals in Thailand are now able to provide prosthetic limbs, physical therapy and psychological rehabilitation to landmine victims free of charge.”^[87]

Vocational training and job placement services were also said to be available in “every province in Thailand.”^[88] In June 2008, Thailand added that a community-based rehabilitation (CBR) strategy had been developed and that as a result medical staff are better trained, and a number of survivor groups have been established.^[89] The CBR network of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security reportedly covered 99% of provinces.^[90] Concrete effects of these measures have not been reported to Landmine Monitor. It was reported, however, that if persons with disabilities found employment, many experienced wage discrimination and some state enterprises had discriminatory hiring policies. An employment quota system of 0.5% persons with disabilities in the workplace was not enforced.^[91]

The 2007 constitution prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities and provides for access to services. In 2007, steps were taken to improve legal protection of persons with disabilities and the importance of the division at the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security in charge of disability issues was increased.^[92]

On 29 July 2008, Thailand ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but had not signed its Optional Protocol.

Progress in meeting VA25 victim assistance objectives

Thailand is one of the 25 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.^[93] Thailand presented its 2005–2009 VA objectives to the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in November–December 2005.^[94]

The objectives have not been revised since and they did not meet SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) criteria: specific timeframes were not set, responsibilities for implementation of objectives have not been assigned, and no plans to realize Thailand’s stated objectives have been reported.^[95] In November 2007, it was stated that “Thailand adopted its Master Plan for Victim Assistance 2007–2011 in February 2007. Implementation of the plan is ongoing…. A revised response to the 2005 Victim Assistance questionnaire is in the process of being translated.”^[96] Thailand’s revised response had not been presented as of June 2008, nor was the plan made available at the meeting.^[97]

Landmine Monitor identified partial progress in three of Thailand’s 16 objectives. These were, respectively, the adoption of new legislation in favor of persons with disabilities; amendments to existing legislation affecting persons with disabilities; and an increase in the number of skilled health personnel. No other progress was identified.

Form J of Thailand’s latest Article 7 report noted the existence of VA plans and coordination, as did Thailand’s statements in November 2007 and June 2008.^[98] The Thai delegation to the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in November 2007 included a VA expert, but this person did not make a statement. No expert was present at the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2008.

Victim assistance strategic framework

Thailand’s Master Plan for Mine Victim Assistance 2007–2011 reportedly “takes into account Thailand’s extensive institutional and legal frameworks to address disability issues and assigns responsibility for implementation to relevant ministries.”^[99] However, similar to the RE master plan, the VA plan lacks strategic detail and timeframes for implementation.^[100]

Thailand has a sub-committee on VA chaired by the Ministry of Public Health, and including relevant ministries, the Thailand Campaign to Ban Landmines and disabled person’s organizations. The main outcomes of the two sub-committee meetings in July 2007 and January 2008 were efforts to improve the casualty data collection system and the development of sub-plans in accordance with the master plan.^[101]

The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security is responsible for disability issues through its Office of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities.^[102] In April 2007, the Thai cabinet approved the third Draft Plan of Development of the Quality of Life for Persons with Disabilities (2007–2011).^[103] Thailand’s Tenth National Economic and Social Development Plan includes provisions to support persons with disabilities and makes specific reference to mine survivors.^[104]

Assistance activities for Thai nationals

In 2007, Srisungval Hospital provided emergency and continuing medical care, as well as psychosocial support to six mine/ERW survivors. Buriram Hospital provided emergency and continuing medical care, physical rehabilitation, and psychosocial support to two.^[105]

The Sirindhorn National Medical Rehabilitation Center, in Nonthaburi, provided all prostheses, assistive devices and mobility aids to 25 of 27 hospitals in mine-affected provinces. The center also provided training in prosthetics and rehabilitation. In 2007, a mobile rehabilitation team worked in four provinces, including one mine-affected province (Surin).^[106] The Sirindhorn center and the Prostheses Foundation in Chiang Mai reportedly adopted a policy of providing services in prosthetics and orthopedics free of charge to persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors, in remote areas throughout the country.^[107]

The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security’s committee for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities provided state funding to 110 disability projects.^[108]

Services for non-Thai nationals

Landmine survivors from Myanmar seeking assistance in Thailand received medical care at hospitals in refugee camps and public district hospitals in the Thai-Myanmar border provinces. Physical rehabilitation is available at the Mae Sot General Hospital, Mae Tao Clinic prosthetic department, and within refugee camps at prosthetic workshops run by HI.^[109]

At least 67 mine/ERW survivors from Myanmar (injured in Myanmar) received medical care in Thai hospitals in 2007. Of these, Mae Sot General Hospital assisted 63 survivors with emergency and continuing medical care, physical rehabilitation and psychosocial support.^[110] Srisungval Hospital assisted four non-Thai survivors with emergency services; two received continuing medical care and physical rehabilitation and two were referred to Chiang Mai.^[111]

Through its War Wounded program, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) covered the costs of 128 patients from Myanmar receiving medical care in Thailand in 2007.^[112]

In 2007, Clear Path International (CPI) and its partners, the Mae Tao Clinic, the Karen Handicap Welfare Association and the Shan Health Committee, assisted 298 mine/ERW survivors along the Myanmar border with new or repaired prostheses; some 20 severely disabled survivors at Mae La refugee camp received full-time nursing care, and 41 rehabilitation staff received training.^[113] The Karen Handicap Welfare Association, through Care Villa, also provided vocational training, English training courses and peer support to 16 people (12 mine survivors).^[114]

HI assisted 989 non-Thai beneficiaries with total of 2,404 services, including 270 prosthetic devices (number of survivors unknown).^[115]

In 2007, at least 11 Cambodian mine/ERW survivors received free emergency treatment, continuing medical care and physical rehabilitation in Thai government-run hospitals along the border. Four more received treatment to March 2008.^[116]

Support for Mine Action

Thailand has reported a total cost estimate of BHT18.49 billion ($575.1 million or €419.5 million) for completion of its Article 5 obligations by 2018, a nine-and-a-half-year extension period. Thailand has projected contributing BHT1 billion ($31.1 million) for mine clearance from 2009 to 2013, and BHT1.5 billion ($46.7 million) from 2014 to 2018, for a total contribution of BHT12.5 billion ($388.8 million) or approximately 68% of its total Article 5 extension budget. Unspecified donors are projected to cover the remaining costs, ranging from BHT436.8 million ($13.6 million) to BHT764 million ($23.8 million) per year.^[117] Thailand has not reported a cost estimate for fulfilling RE or VA obligations during this period.

Thailand’s Article 5 deadline extension request includes annual cost estimates for clearance activities and specifies annual funding amounts projected for the government of Thailand and international donors.^[118] The request does not provide detailed resource mobilization strategies but calls for mobilization of funds from all levels of government, as well as state enterprises, European Union pre-accession funds, the World Bank and national and international donors.^[119]

NMAC is responsible for oversight of mine action in Thailand, including coordination of national and international support for demining activities.^[120]

National support for mine action

In its revised Article 5 deadline extension request, Thailand reported BHT88.3 million ($2,746,130) in funds contributed to TMAC from the national budget in 2007, and a commitment of BHT106 million ($3,296,600) for 2008.^[121] In August 2008, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, approved a budget of BHT1.4 billion ($43.5 million) for the first year of the requested extension period (April 2009 to March 2010).^[122]

National funds for mine action are allocated by the Ministry of Defense from its own budget, and must compete with budget demands of other ministerial divisions. Thailand has reported that mine action has received less national funding in recent years as a result of other national humanitarian emergencies and priorities, most significantly the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami. From 1999 to 2006, TMAC’s annual budget declined from BHT38 million to BHT18 million.^[123]

International cooperation and assistance

In 2007, two countries reported providing a total of $1,611,071 (€1,175,021) to mine action in Thailand. Reported mine action funding in 2007 was approximately 101% more than reported in 2006, and was the highest annual total reported since 2002. Annual funding at 2007 levels, in terms of both national and international funds, falls far short of annual funds required under Thailand’s Article 5 deadline extension request. No reported funds in 2007 were allocated to RE or VA needs in Thailand.

2007 International Mine Action Funding to Thailand: Monetary^[124]