The Daily Clarity

What will it take to stem the landmine losses in Cambodia?

Cambodia is one of those countries blessed with beauty and cursed by human misuse. A result of its torturous history is a legacy of unexploded land mines. There are still an estimated 6 million active mines of various persuasions remaining from past conflicts, unmapped and still deadly. These mines cause around 35 deaths a month, and already 40,000 people have lost limbs due to land mines. This gives Cambodia the unenviable record of having the most amputees per capita (about one in every 275 people have lost a limb!). This week another death is reported from  unexploded ordinance that litters the Cambodian countryside.

A Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldier stationed near Preah Vihear temple died after stepping on a land mine while patrolling at the base of the 11th-century World Heritage site, military officials said.

Meas Yoeun, deputy provincial military commander in Preah Vihear, said the Unit 7 soldier stepped on the mine near overgrown steps leading up from the base of the temple at about 3:30pm Monday.

“He was killed right after stepping on the land mine,” Meas Yoeun said. “We have never cleared mines in that area.”

Srey Doek, commander of RCAF Division 3, said he could identify the 28-year-old soldier only by his nickname, Khmom. He added that the soldier died shortly after arriving at the military health centre.

Though Meas Yoeun said he believed the land mine was a relic of civil war fighting, several land mine explosions taking place since the dispute over Preah Vihear temple broke out in July 2008 have sparked allegations that fresh mines have been laid recently along the border.

Cambodian soldier killed by mine at Preah Vihear temple | National news | The Phnom Penh Post – Cambodia’s Newspaper of Record

The fact that Cambodia still refuses to ban landmines is a stain on the country’s governance. Cambodia won’t become a signatory to the agreement due to defense concerns caused by current border tensions with Thailand. Vietnam and Thailand, despite their own horrendous experience with mines, also refused to join the international ban signed by 111 parties in December 2008.

Government officials said Cambodia will fulfill its promise to sign an international treaty banning cluster bombs, but that they may need more time to consider its impact on the country’s defence capabilities.

Prak Sokhon, secretary of state at the Council of Ministers, said Tuesday that due to the current border tensions with Thailand, the country had to delay signing.

“This does not mean that Cambodia has turned away from its promise,” he told local and international participants during a conference on the government’s national mine clearance strategy Tuesday.

“We still sign on to this treaty … even though our two big neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam, have refused to sign [it].”

He added that the Ministry of Defence had requested more time to determine how many cluster bombs the army possesses and how long it will take to replenish its defence capabilities after stockpiled bombs are destroyed.

Officials announce further delay on cluster bomb ban | National news | The Phnom Penh Post

The US, another hold-out on the treaty, has a lot to do with the mines remaining in the ASEAN region,  though China, Russia, and other protagonists including the Khmer Rouge, were also guilty to a lesser scale. It is estimated that at the height of the Vietnam War, the US were dropping around $2 million worth of bombs a day in the area. This contrasts starkly to the estimated $2 Million dollars a year they are currently spending to locate and neutralize those bombs.

While in Cambodia recently we had the opportunity to visit the Cambodian Landmine Museum outside Siem Reap. You can visit their website to read more about the mission and history of the organization, and also to make a donation to the volunteer funded operation. The museum was founded  by Aki Ra, the assumed pseudonym of an ex-Khmer Rouge child soldier,  famous in the region for his manual demining efforts. His is a telling tale of the troubled history of the country.

Aki Ra is a former Khmer Rouge conscripted child soldier who worked as a deminer and museum curator in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He and his wife Hourt brought home nearly 20 children who have lived through a landmine accident. They provide these children with an education and family atmosphere. From 1993 to 2007, Aki Ra removed landmines and unexploded ordnance(UXO) by hand in Cambodia. He employs very unusual demining techniques, usually working only with a knife and a sharp stick.

According to debated official story, Aki Ra’s parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge during the Pol Pot regime (1975-1979) and he was raised in a jungle camp as a child soldier. He fought for the Khmer Rouge until 1983 when Siem Reap province, where he lived, was captured by the Vietnamese. He was conscripted into the Vietnamese army on threat of his life while still a boy. He later served with the Cambodian army as a teenager and still later received landmine clearance training with the United Nations. He is the curator and founder (1999) of the Cambodia Landmine Museum, a Cambodian non-governmental organization (NGO) – Aki Ra – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While at the museum, we were able to witness the landmine family’s resident at the new facilities, but the museum administration has strict restrictions on photographing or interviewing the residents, which we respected. Against this history, with many land mine victims reduced to begging, both juveniles and adults, Cambodia’s delay in signing the ban is troubling. The fact that Vietnam and Thailand have refused to sign it at all is morally questionable, particularly  given the continued impact on human lives by the mines left behind, not mapped, and still active. Also while in the region, we visited some of the more remote World Heritage Angkor temples that  Cambodia is famous for that have only recently been opened up to the public as land mine clearing had just been completed.

Mines are a constant threat in rural Cambodia, often detonated with disastrous consequences by farmers clearing land for cultivation, or children playing off marked paths. It is ironic that is it both the frequent protagonists and victims of cluster bombs and landmines that refuse or delay signing the treaty. The superpower makers of war do not wish cluster bombs removed from their potential armory. Those who have fallen victim to the brutal efficiency of mines see that their use is a powerful deterrent to human movement,  and now want to reserve the right of use of such weapons in their own territorial squabbles.

The day that the ban is globally supported, and that the work of institutions such as the Cambodia Landmine Relief Fund are no longer required, will be a day to celebrate in the history of man’s evolution. We would encourage the Cambodian Government to reconsider their decision (as we would all the other non-signatories). Cluster bombs and land mines have no place in developed (and in developing) countries – their legacy is too costly, and their future use not conscionable. Cambodia, above others, should recognize just how costly these weapons are, and armed with that knowledge should immediately move to have them be deemed illegal.