Press Room

The launch of the Landmine Monitor Report 2006’s mine action findings took place in Bangkok on Wednesday 13 September 2006. The event was co-organized by the ICBL, the Landmine Monitor mine action team and the Thai Campaign to Ban Landmines, and was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, more than 70 representatives of the diplomatic community, international organizations, NGOs and the media. The event was supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The launch of the latest Landmine Monitor (LM) report, which was in preparation for the Seventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva, Switzerland, on 18-22 September 2006, included a presentation of the global LM mine action findings. It also afforded the opportunity to discuss key lessons and ongoing challenges in one of the world’s most heavily mine- and UXO-affected regions.

The Chair of the Thai Campaign to Ban Landmines opened the event with a call to the government to speed up the pace of demining in Thailand to meet its obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty and become a leader on the issue of landmines in the region. He then handed over the floor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, H.E. Chitchai Wannasathit, who reaffirmed the Thai government’s commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty and its core obligations. He also announced the likely transfer of the mine action program to civilian control, which could lead to the speeding-up of demining in the country.

Landmine Monitor’s Mine Action Editor, Stuart Maslen, offered a global overview of mine action achievements in 2005, which saw the highest ever amount of land released – largely a result of improved and enhanced area reduction techniques. Even though global funding dropped slightly compared to the previous year, more than 740 square kilometers were demined in 2005, more than any other on record. Four countries – Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, and Yemen – each demined more than 100 square kilometers during the year.

The launch also saw the first publication of Article 5 Fact Sheets, which describe the extent of progress among 29 States Parties whose ten-year clearance deadlines expire in 2009 and 2010. Although three States – all in the Americas – have completed their demining program, and more than a dozen others are on track to successfully implement the obligations of Article 5, the ability of the remainder to meet their deadlines is doubted. Greater efforts and sustained funding are critical if the aspirations of mine-affected communities are not to be dashed in the coming years.

The LM launch was followed by a panel discussion on the challenges ahead for mine action in Asia, facilitated by Sylvie Brigot, ICBL’s Executive Director. Panel participants were Heng Rattana, the Cambodian Mine Action Center’s deputy director general; Major-General Tumrongsak Deemonkol, the director of the Thai Mine Action Center; Dr. Maligna Saignavongs, the director of the National Regulatory Authority in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic; and Chip Bowness, UNDP’s regional mine action advisor. All have displayed a very active engagement in mine action work in the region.

Panel participants were asked to share their views on three challenges for mine action programs in South-East Asia:

How to speed up the process of releasing land back to the civilian population?

• What does national ownership of a mine action program really mean?
• How should mine action develop in the region in the coming five years?

Mr. Rattana described how verification of information and technical survey could lead to the release of area with low or no risk, and explained how the use of machines and safety procedures appropriate to the Cambodian context had also contributed to increased clearance figures in 2005. Dr Maligna explained that a study by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining involving local demining operators was expected to help transform the UXO clearance program through the use of risk management and risk reduction strategies.

General Tumrongsak expressed the hope that Thailand would be able to achieve zero victims in the coming five years through improved mine risk education and the release of land using new area reduction techniques. Mr Bowness outlined the key features of the UN’s new five-year mine action strategy (2006-2010) and stressed the importance of governments of affected States accepting full responsibility for dealing with the contamination on their territory.