History

Cambodia is a poor and devastated country, a consequence of endless international conflicts and internal power struggles.

• The North Vietnamese army laid the first landmines in neutral Cambodia in 1967 to protect bases and supply routes it had established along the border.
• Landmines were also used during the 1967-1975 civil war between Lon Nol and Khmer Rouge forces.
• When the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, landmines were used for military purposes and to seal off the new agricultural cooperatives in what were termed “liberated zones.”
• In 1979, Hun Sen, backed by the Vietnamese, overthrew the Khmer Rouge and guerilla warfare ensued with landmine use by both sides.

Landmines were used to protect territory, to channel enemy forces into vulnerable positions, and to demoralize communities.

• The Cambodian  MineActionCenterestimates that landmines were laid in approximately 45% of all villages, which comprise 644 square kilometers of land.
• 1, 400 square kilometers of additional land is suspected of being contaminated.
• Landmines are most commonly found in Battambang, Banteay Meanchange, Pursat, Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces, and along the Thai border.
• Detecting and clearing these landmines is difficult because minefield location maps were rarely drawn as they were laid.
• Cambodia’s wet seasons relocate landmines and sweep away markers.

The people of Cambodialive in fear of a mis-step.

Mining Action 

The Royal Government of Cambodia is committed to clearing landmines.

• It signed the Ottawa Convention on the total ban of landmines in 1997, and ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on September 8^th 1998.
• The Ministry of the Interior, on behalf of the Royal Government, handed over 3,405 AP mines in its stockpile.
• Land that has been cleared has been utilized for schools, ponds, bridges, wells, farming and resettlement of refugees.

• Cambodia’s program to clear landmines is carried out by villagers, the Cambodian  Mine  ActionCenter, the military, the NGO’s Mines Advisory Group, Halo Trust and some commercial firms.
• Since 1999, about 155 square kilometers have been cleared, including 8,006 AP mines, 70 AT mines and 91,131 UXO have been cleared.

Survivor Assistance

Mines laid along roads and tracks prevent the safe repatriation of refugees and impede the delivery of aid. 

• Approximately 40,000 people in total have lost their limbs and 65 people, on average, are killed or maimed each month.

• The majority of landmine victims are men.
• 30% of all cases are children under 18.
• Most injuries occur while traveling, fishing, collecting food and water or farming.
• Farmland is so severely contaminated by mines that only 2,435 out of 85,000 families were able to take up the land that had been allocated to them.
• Poverty and unemployment force people into areas they know are contaminated—in search of farm land or scrap metal.   A rise in the price of scrap metal in the early part of 2004 doubled the number of UXO and landmine accidents as compared to the same period the previous year.  More work is needed to keep people safe and to provide them with the mine free land they need in order to survive.