Cambodia
Current Situation
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2011 Global Peace Index ranking of 153: 115 |
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Approximately 26 million cluster munitions were dropped on eastern Cambodia in the 1960s and 1970s by US forces in bombing campaigns |
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In 2009, unexploded ordnance-related accidents accounted for over 50 per cent of the casualties in Cambodia, with the vast majority of accidents occurring as a result of deliberate handling of ordnance |
Decades of conflict — including the brutal regime of Pol Pot in the 1970s — have left Cambodia one of the poorest countries in the world. The presence of unexploded munitions — thought to number in the millions — is a major barrier to development and the reduction of poverty. It restricts access to land that could otherwise be used for agriculture, schools, resettlement, infrastructure development and access to water. These weapons continue to kill and maim civilians, despite an ongoing demining drive.
Act for Peace in Cambodia
Act for Peace’s partner, the Mines Advisory Group, is clearing unexploded ordnance and cluster munitions from north-eastern Cambodia to reduce the threat to the lives of rural Cambodian communities.
Over the past two decades, more than 530 million m2 of suspected contaminated land has been released to communities by our partner through clearance and survey for safe productive use. This land has mainly then been used for agriculture, with significant areas also used for resettlement of displaced people and for infrastructure development.
Our partner has found and destroyed more than 60,000 landmines and 180,000 items of unexploded ordnance, including cluster munitions and light weapons.
Field workers recently returned to Phlov Meas, Battambang Province, almost 12 months after two minefields in the village had been cleared. According to the community chief, Vai Chamroeun, more than 90 per cent of people in his community now earn a living by growing corn, sugar cane, beans and sesame. He said that before the clearance took place, few crops were grown. “Villagers were afraid of mines so they didn’t expand the land for cultivation. Now their lives are getting better. It’s not as hard as it was before. Today, people live in safety.”
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can clear 40m2 of land in Cambodia landmines and other unexploded bombs. |
