KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA PRESENTATION TO THE CCW PROTOCOL V ON CLEARANCE, REMOVAL OR DESTRUCTION ON MINE/ERW GENEVA, 22-24 APRIL 2009 By HE. Chum Bun Rong, Head of Cambodian Delegation Advisor to the Prime Minister and Secretary General of Cambodian Mine Action Authority
CONTENTS OF PRESENTATION Cambodian landmine and ERW Problems Compliance with the Mine Ban Convention Achievements Challenges in Cambodia Path Ahead
Background of Landmine/ERW Problems World War II French-American Indochina Wars; Vietnam War; 1970 1975: Cambodian Civil War; 1975 1979: Border incursions into Vietnam by the Khmer Rouge; 1979 1999: Guerrilla war throughout Cambodia.
Mine/ERW Survey National Landmine/UXO Impact Survey in June 2002 Number of villages contaminated 6,422 (46%) among 13 910 Villages Number of areas contaminated 3,037 Area of land suspected to be contaminated 4,466 Km² Number of Population being at risk 5,186,771 (45.3%) 11,429 EOD tasks identified
Cambodia Contamination Map Est. 4-6 Million landmine 2.4 Million Items Dropped
Cambodia sincerity and commitment for The Mine Ban Treaty Part of the strong commitment to the implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty and the Protocol II of the Convention of the Certain Conventional Weapon (CCW) is aimed at ridding Cambodia of landmines and the UXO threat, the Royal Government has passed a number of laws and sub-decrees and established a number of mechanism to govern mine action activities in the country. These include:: Law on The Prohibition of the Use of Anti-Personnel Mines (ratified by the Assembly on 28 April 1999) Law on the Control of Weapons, Explosives and Ammunitions (01 June 2005) Sub-Decree on the Management and Control of Import, Production, Sales, Trade, Distribution and Use of all Types of Weapons and Ammunitions (30 April 1999) Sub-Decree on Socio-Economic Management of Mine Clearance Operations (20 October 2004) Five-Year Mine Action Plan of the Royal Government of Cambodia 2005-2009
Main Players Enforce Compliance of the Ban Mine Treaty All Government Authorities from Central Government to Village Levels Coordination Body: Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA) Demining Operators, Namely: The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) The Halo Trust Mine Advisory Group (MAG) The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) Japan Mine Action Service (JMAS), and Private (accredited) Demining Companies Development Partners: Austcare, Care International, World Vision, EC, HIB, NPA, Adopt-A-MineField, other NGOs UN Corps: UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNMAS, UNOPS GICHD, ITEP, and Others Donor Community
Mine Risk Education As the national mine action authority, CMAA has the responsibility for the overall strategic planning in Cambodia, to coordinate and to oversee MRE activities in Cambodia. This includes: UNICEF and Taking the lead in the development and review of national MRE strategy; Organizing and chairing MRE Working Group meetings to share information, discuss issues, review MRE materials and messages to ensure they are appropriate and effective; Organizing National Mine Awareness Day (24 February); Monitoring MRE activities to ensure that they are in line with the strategy. The agencies involved with MRE are: CMAC, HALO Trust, MAG, UNICEF, MoEYS, CARE, CRC, CMVIS, WVC, SOS and Police UXO networks.
Mine/ERW Victim Assistance With regard to the Discussion Paper-8 (Article 8.2) on the Victim Assistance so far Cambodia has its relevant activities to help mine/erw victim such as: Physical Rehabilitation: Provided prosthetics, artificial arms, artificial limps, calipers, wheelchairs and crutches to mine/erw victims; Medical Care: Provided physiotherapy, artificial eyes, eye surgery, consulted a doctor about eye injury, limb injury and limb surgery; Community services: Provided rehabilitation community services; and Vocational training and job placement from 5 NGOs namely AARVTD, JCIA, CWARS, JSC and CVCD as part of Social Reintegration of those victims.
Land Release (Non-Technical Survey)
Land Release Through Non-Technical Survey Operator 2005 (m²) 2006 (m²) 2007 (m²) Total (m²) CMAC 35,030,000 169,448,500 190,629,400 395,107,900 MAG 0 53,085,313 286,934,736 340,020,049 HALO 50,279,606 147,582,082 79,497,221 277,358,909 Total 85,309,606 370,115,895 557,061,357 1,012,486,858 MAG, The Halo Trust and CMAC under CMAA leadership, are jointly developing a Baseline Survey Approach to support the National Strategy for Mine Action development and Extension Request
Mine Clearances in Cambodia
Mine/UXO Clearance Manual Clearance Teams CMAC, RCAF, Halo Trust and MAG: Approx 5,000 deminers
Constraints for Mine/UXO Clearance in Cambodia
Mine/UXO Clearance
Mine/UXO Clearance Toolboxes (Full Clearance and Technical Survey (Mechanical Systems)
Full Clearance (by Mine Detection Dog Teams)
ERW Clearances in Cambodia
UXO Clearance By Cambodia EOD TEAM CMAC, RCAF, Halo Trust and MAG -Collected Information related to UXO -Destruction all types of UXOs * Explosive Harvesting Programme.
UXO Clearance By Cambodia EOD TEAM CMAC, RCAF, Halo Trust and MAG
UXO Clearance By Cambodia EOD TEAM CMAC, RCAF, Halo Trust and MAG
Research and Development on Mine Action in Cambodia
Research and Development on Detectors
R & D on Mechanical Clearance
Research & Development (With USA) = One USSR RPG-2 Anti-tank Grenade contains 535 grams of TG-50 (50% RDX) Total 70 gram cast charges possible: 7 each = One USSR 152 mm OF-540 Projectile contains 6.0 kg of pressed TNT Total 100 gram wedge charges possible: 60 each + = One US 105 mm Comp B + Three US 105 mm TNT Projectiles creates 8.6 kg of sensitized explosive mix Total 120 gram cast charges possible: 71 each
2008 Achievements by 4 main operators Operator Area (m²) APM ATM ERW CMAC 27,653,389 25,543 497 114,101 MAG 3,244,121 4,538 119 19,813 HALO 6,972,706 37,542 215 8,308 RCAF 27,503,551 1,878 37 9,822 Total 65,373,767 69,501 868 152,044
Total National Landmine/ERW Clearance Achievements 1992 Feb. 2009 - Area Cleared (Minefields & UXO Fields) : 486,606,221 m 2 - Anti-Personnel Mines Found/Destroyed : 820,474 - Anti-Tank Mines Found/Destroyed : 20,386 - ERW Found/Destroyed : 1,771,363 Total mines/erw Destroyed from 1992 Feb.2009 2,612,223 Pieces
LANDMINE/ERW CASUALTIES DROP Number of casualties since 1979 to 2008 4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Mine 3873 1121 884 1701 2521 2715 3203 2636 3258 2742 3095 2740 2085 1573 2069 2340 2603 3025 811 1631 731 467 405 367 362 340 365 192 138 117 ERW 801 222 137 192 240 251 317 266 275 225 238 260 342 616 466 469 730 1295 1487 519 422 391 421 480 410 558 510 258 214 149 (Source: CMVIS Report by Cambodian Red Cross)
The reasons for Casualties Drops - New Mine Risk Education methodology; - Favorable climate conditions, agricultural increase and the fact that the people do not need to extend into the MF for farming; - Better jobs opportunity in the country and neighboring country s; - Good Police supervision of the ammunitions scrap metal trade; - Some type of mines have degraded due to the age or weather.
Achievements and Socio Economic -Schools
Linking Mine Action and Development
WAY AHEAD New Direction for Mine Action in Cambodia
A Mine Clearance Technical Reference Group met from 3-5 November 2008 to discuss ways forward into addressing the mine problems in Cambodia in an effective and pragmatic (but still safe) way. The main three operators agreed on a common approach for mine action in Cambodia: Scarce mine clearance resources should be concentrated in the highest impacted (most casualties) districts, A new methodology for Baseline Survey (BLS) should be jointly developed and implemented, The BLS will record all mined and suspected mined areas and classify them according to the type and level of threat. Data will be collected will support the prioritization mechanisms and the allocation of de-mining resources in the future, In the districts where BLS has been fully conducted, the BLS polygons will replace/supersede the existing L1S polygons.
When mapping an area, the first step is to select a landmark (LM) and bench mark (BM) before reaching the Minefield. Then within the MF a Start Point (SP) will be determined follow by Turning Points (TPs) returning to the SP as the below picture.
Next steps The BLS CMAS in English had been granted interim approval by the Vive President of CMAA in order to: Allow CMAA and the three main operators to proceed with detailed work, such as training, resource mobilization, drafting SOPs, establishing QA scheme etc., Allow CMAA to inform PMAC/MAPU and relevant development organizations regarding the changed approach for mine action in Cambodia, and proceed with other related activities, Allow CMAA to coordinate and allocate the 21 districts to operators for BLS activities,
The National Strategy and Policy on Mine/ERW in Cambodia
National Strategic Plan for Landmine/ERW Land Reforms Mines Clearance Cambodian Government also includes mine action into its Millennium Development Goal, Goal No. 9
National Strategic Plan for Landmine/ERW Remaining Problems in Cambodia Status Contaminations No. Fields Area (Sqm) Landmine 2, 584 4,195,035,921 Mine/UXO 30 23,062,410 UXO/Cluster Bombs 381 443,397,643 Grand Total 2,995 4,661,495,974 Cambodian Landmine/ERW Impact should be free of contamination by 2020, Cambodia is in the process of developing its national strategy and request for an extension. The Centre of Excellence will be created to respond to the sustainable clearance capacity by 2015. Short Term: Cambodia s vision of Zero New Victim by 2012
Joint UN Peacekeeping Forces & GPOI The First 135 Cambodian Troops had been deployed to Sudan on Peacekeeping Operations on 01 March 2005. Up to now those troops have been replaced on several occasions by new ones; The chief of Francophone countries asked Cambodia to send 44 Troops to the Movement Control and Disarmament missions in Chad and Central Africa; Cambodia also prepares itself to host the Global Peace Operational Intervention (GPOI) focusing on Field Training and Command Post Exercises in 2010 under the support of US Government.
Assistance Needed To fulfill noble tasks and obligations to the Ottawa and CCW Conventions, Cambodia need the support and assistance from International Community for Mine/ERW Clearances, MRE and Victim Assistance whith the amount of approximately 30-40 Million USD per year for the next 10 years.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION