Country & Territory Reports - Landmine Action

34 cambodia
Cambodia
Background
As a result of 30 years of conflict, Cambodia remains
heavily contaminated by UXO, MOTAPM and AP landmines.
UXO contamination can be found in every province. 242
Injury and death from UXO occur at a rate equivalent to
more than one person per day, 243 and UXO has accounted
for more than half of all casualties from ERW/mines in the
country in recent years. 244
After years of continually falling overall casualty figures
from remaining ERW and landmines, 2004 saw a reverse of
this trend for every month up to May. This increase in
casualties was primarily due to an increase in ERW
accidents. This was related by a number of sources to
increased scrap metal prices acting as an incentive for
people to handle ordnance. The increase in casualties in
2004 should also be seen in a broader context. Whilst the
overall casualty figures have been declining in recent years
this has primarily been due to falling AP mine casualty
rates. ERW casualty rates have remained more or less
static over recent years and at times have increased. This
has provoked questions about how effectively mine action
programmes are addressing ERW as a component of the
post-conflict threat. 245
MOTAPM, APMs and general ERW are found predominantly
in the west of the country; air-delivered ordnance is found
primarily in the east, where an estimated 540,000 tons of
high-explosive bombs and cluster munitions were dropped
on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and nearby areas by the U.S. Air
Force in a 10-year period from 1965-1975. 246
Assessment of the problem
All areas of the country are affected (to a greater or lesser
extent) and UXO is found in every province. 247 Particularly
heavy concentrations of aerial ordnance, including cluster
submunitions, are found in the eastern provinces. 248
However, the majority of recorded UXO casualties come
from areas in the west of the country. 249 There is a wide
range of UXO types: mortars, artillery shells, rifle
grenades, recoilless rifle ammunition and rocket-propelled
grenades are particularly common. Most air-dropped
bombs and cluster munitions are of U.S. origin. 250
Clearance personnel state that MOTAPM are most often
found in the west of the country. 251 The most common
types of AV mines encountered in the field by CMAC
(Cambodian Mine Action Centre) and the HALO Trust are
Russian-made TM-46, TM-57 and TM-62. 252
Cambodia completed a National Level 1 Survey in July 2002.
This survey incorporated a specialized form for the recording
of UXO and cluster submunitions. 253 The Cambodian Mine
and UXO Victim Information System (CMVIS) tracks the
casualties of mines and UXO nationwide.
erw and motapm – global survey 2003–2004
According to the Level 1 Survey, some 2,776 villages
containing 465,951 families were found to be contaminated
by cluster munitions and/or minefields which have adverse
socio-economic impact on the community. Another 3,646
villages had minor or “spot” UXO or cluster munition
contamination, but at a level where it did not have an
adverse socio-economic impact. In total, some 46 per cent
of Cambodia’s villages suffer some form of contamination
problem. 254 According to the Level 1 Survey, approximately
4,500 sq km of Cambodia is estimated to be contaminated
with mines and/or UXO. This would represent 2.5 per cent
of the surface area of the country. 255
The local media reports regularly on the problem of
explosive remnants of war within the country. During the
past five years the Phnom Penh Post, an English language
fortnightly, has averaged an article on UXO in one in five of
its editions. 256
Impact
The Cambodian Mine/UXO Victim Information System
covers all provinces of the country. Begun as a project of
the Mines Advisory Group in 1994, CMVIS has progressively
been transferred to the Cambodian Red Cross and
Handicap International-Belgium. CMVIS disaggregates data
between UXO and mines, making it a strong resource for
understanding morbidity from these causes.
Data is gathered by both full-time and volunteer data
gathers. When a village volunteer discovers an incident,
they inform a commune or district level officer who has
been trained in the use of the CMVIS data form, who then
collects the information. CMVIS updates and distributes
monthly summaries of casualty figures.
From July 2003 to June 2004, 58 per cent of all casualties
recorded by CMVIS were due to UXO. And 83 per cent of all
UXO casualties were children (predominantly boys.) The
high proportion of boys involved in UXO accidents has
been a long-standing feature of the data from Cambodia.
Analysis of this data against Cambodian census data has
highlighted that it is boys in the 10-14 age group who are
disproportionately involved in ordnance accidents. 257
Of the UXO-specific casualties, 64 per cent were due to
deliberate handling, 14 per cent because it exploded
within their vicinity, 7 per cent due to burning of the area,
4 per cent due to other farming practices, and 2 per cent
were spectators. 258 Of the UXO-specific casualties, 39 per
cent took place within the village whilst 33 per cent
occurred in forest and farmland areas. 259 Approximately 20
per cent of casualties died as a result of their accidents.
Research in 2004 has highlighted key motivations behind
people’s deliberate handling of ordnance. Often men engage
with ordnance to move items off their land (so as to farm) or