+   *    +     +     
About Us 
The Issues 
Our Research Products 
Order Publications 
Multimedia 
Press Room 
Resources for Monitor Researchers 
ARCHIVES HOME PAGE 
    >
Email Notification Receive notifications when this Country Profile is updated.

Sections



Send us your feedback on this profile

Send the Monitor your feedback by filling out this form. Responses will be channeled to editors, but will not be available online. Click if you would like to send an attachment. If you are using webmail, send attachments to .

Vietnam

Last Updated: 29 August 2013

Mine Action

Contamination and Impact

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is heavily contaminated by explosive remnants of war (ERW), mainly unexploded ordnance (UXO) and mostly dating back to the war with the United States (US) in the 1960s and first half of the 1970s. This includes among the most extensive contamination from cluster munition remnants in the world. There is, however, no precise estimate of how much contamination remains.

Vietnam says ERW still affect all of its 63 provinces and cities; officials continue to assert contamination covers 66,000km2, one-fifth of its total land area.[1] That estimate, however, reportedly dates back to 2000. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in December 2011 that Vietnam had so far cleared a total of some 3,000km2.[2]

Cluster munition remnants

The US dropped 413,130 tons of submunitions over Vietnam between 1965 and 1973, striking 55 provinces and cities, including Haiphong, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, and Vinh. Vietnam’s Military Engineering Command has recorded finding 15 types of US-made submunitions.[3] Most submunition types used by the US were air-dropped, but artillery-delivered submunitions were used in central Quang Binh and provinces to the south of it.[4]

Overall, submunitions reportedly account for about 20−25% of items cleared.[5] The Military Engineering Command says it has encountered substantial amounts of cluster munitions abandoned by the US military, notably at or around old US air bases, including eight underground bunkers found in 2009, one of them reportedly covering an area of 4,000m2 and containing some 25 tons of munitions.[6]

Other explosive remnants of war

Vietnam estimates it still has between 350,000 and 600,000 tons of ERW to clear, including unexploded bombs, missiles, artillery shells, mortars, and grenades, which are affecting cities as well as rural areas in almost every province.[7] UXO continue to be found routinely in the course of construction and agricultural work, often close to residential areas. Military teams working in Ha Tinh Province reportedly destroyed five 500-pound bombs and a 1,000-pound bomb along with 600 submunitions and around 500 artillery shells among other UXO between April and August 2012.[8] A Project Renew team, called in by a family in the Trieu Phong district of Quang Tri province early in 2012, cleared 193 items of UXO, including mortars and rocket propelled grenades, from land located 15 meters from the family home at depths of between 0.5 and 1.5 meters.[9]

Mines

Vietnam has a lesser problem of mines, mostly left by conflicts in the 1970s with neighboring Cambodia and China and affecting areas close to its borders with those countries,[10] but mines are also around former US military installations.[11] Vietnam cleared an area up to 1km deep along its northern border under an agreement with China, but areas further inland from the border are still contaminated. Mines in those northern areas were emplaced by the military of both countries. Since 2004, military engineers have reportedly cleared around 95km² of contaminated land in the northern provinces of Lang Son, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lai Chau, and Quang Ninh bordering China under a project known as “Program 120,” destroying mainly Type 72, K58 and PPM-2 antipersonnel (AP) mines.[12]

Cambodian border areas were affected by randomly placed mines reflecting the more irregular nature of the fighting there,[13] but Military Engineering Command reported in 2013 that the problem had been eliminated. Clearing residual mine contamination in northern Vietnam is the responsibility of provincial army commands.[14] Many ports and river deltas were mined extensively during the war and were not completely cleared when it ended, and some sea mines have been found on the coast.[15]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

Body

Situation on 1 January 2013

National mine action authority

National Steering Committee

Mine action center

Technology Centre for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN)

International demining operators

NGOs: Mines Advisory Group (MAG), Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), NPA/Project RENEW, PeaceTrees Vietnam (PTV), Solidarity Service International (SODI)

National demining operators

People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN)/BOMICEN, 45 military companies

International risk education operators

Catholic Relief Services, Project RENEW, SODI

National risk education operators

Youth Union

Vietnam’s mine action program is undergoing a period of transition. A Prime Minister’s Decision in 2006 assigned the Ministry of National Defense to oversee mine action at the national level, with clearance undertaken by the Army Engineering Corps of the PAVN[16] and with BOMICEN (part of the Ministry of National Defense) acting as a central coordinating body for clearance and survey by national operators.[17] International NGOs are required to conclude an agreement with the People’s Aid Co-ordinating Committee and separate agreements with authorities in each of the provinces where they work.

Since 2010−2011, Vietnam has created new mechanisms intended to accelerate mine/UXO action. Under Prime Minister’s Decision No. 504 of December 2010, Vietnam established a National Steering Committee (NSC) based at the Ministry of National Defense consisting of 12 members chaired by the Prime Minister and including the Minister of Defense and of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) as deputy chairmen; the committee meets every six months to oversee mine action, decide policy and determine budgets. Other members include the ministers of foreign affairs, environment, education, and health. The NSC was launched at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister in December 2011.[18]

The NSC is supported by a 21-member Standing Committee or Executive Office, chaired by the Vice-Minister of Defense, Sr. Lt.-Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh.[19] The Executive Office, which is supposed to meet quarterly, decides mine action priorities and makes recommendations to the NSC.[20] In 2013, Vietnam reported plans to establish a national mine action center (VNMAC) reporting to the Prime Minister’s office to strengthen the direction and coordination of mine action.

The new mine action center falls within a National Mine Action Plan for 2013−2015 released in May 2013. The plan calls for clearance of 1,000km² a year to support socio-economic development, giving priority to provinces with the highest levels of contamination and accidents. Military Engineering Command estimates that to achieve such a target it would need at least double the number of clearance teams. In addition, Vietnam proposes to set up a new training center and a national database, which is understood to mean that the new VNMAC will take over the database currently located in BOMICEN. The plan proposes spending 14,000 billion Dong (approximately $US700 million), hoping to raise a little over half of it from foreign sources.[21]

The Vietnam Bomb and Mine Clearance Action Center (VBMAC), set up as a civilian agency under MoLISA with a US$1.56 million donation from Japan,[22] has a mandate to accelerate clearance and mobilize international funding. VBMAC operates with departments for planning, project management, and finance. From May 2010, it also deployed a total of 200 personnel in eight clearance teams and one explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team operating in central Vietnam’s Quang Tri province. Operations continued into 2011 when these teams were stood down.[23]

Land Release

Most ERW clearance is conducted by Vietnam’s army which reported clearing a total of about 450km² in 2012, including approximately 350km² under projects linked to socio-economic development and an additional 100km² in humanitarian projects undertaken under Program 504. International NGOs, operating in four central provinces, cleared an additional 3.48km².[24]

The clearance by BOMICEN, a part of the Ministry of Defense, represents a significant decrease from the 600km² BOMICEN says it averaged in 2008−2010, reflecting the impact of financial recession, but it is about one-third more than the area clearance reported by BOMICEN in 2011. In 2013, BOMICEN expected to complete less area clearance as a result of financial constraints.[25]

Survey in 2012

BOMICEN started a landmine impact survey (LIS) in 2004 and by June 2013 had completed all but 10 of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and cities. It expected to complete field-work for the LIS by the end of 2013.[26]

BOMICEN began working with NPA in 2012 on a pilot project in Ha Tinh province training military engineers in the non-technical community survey and the cluster munitions survey methodology, developed by NPA in Lao PDR to evaluate suspected hazardous areas and define confirmed hazardous areas.[27]

Battle area and roving clearance in 2012

BOMICEN reported that it has some 250 mine/UXO clearance teams with about 20 to 25 personnel in each team. As of June 2013, these included teams operated by 52 military companies.[28]

Four international NGO operations with more than 400 clearance staff worked in 2012 on tasks assigned or approved by provincial authorities. The teams cleared marginally less area than in 2011 but have been shifting more capacity onto roving and spot clearance tasks, which, in 2012, were up by a quarter on the previous year, and cleared 11% more items.

MAG, the biggest of the NGOs, had four mobile EOD teams in each of Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces in 2012, focusing mainly on spot clearance of tasks identified by community liaison teams, but also undertaking some battle area clearance on sites earmarked for development projects where the scope of clearance is defined more by task boundaries than by actual contamination. In 2012, MAG expanded operations into Quang Nam province, beginning community liaison in June and clearance in October.[29]

NPA, managing six Project Renew teams in three districts of Quang Tri province in 2012, added nine personnel during the year and increased productivity, clearing triple the amount of land and 75% more items than in the previous year, helped by application of a cluster munitions survey methodology developed by NPA which has proved efficient in defining the scope of ERW contamination. In 2013, NPA has added three multi-tasking teamsone for Project Renew and two for NPA working in two districts of Thua Thien Hue province. NPA also supported Quang Tri provincial authorities in setting up a database with $195,000 of the US Department of State funding, expected to be fully operational by March 2014.[30]

PTV started 2012 with two EOD teams in Quang Tri and one team in Quang Binh but had to stand down the third team because of lack of funding. However, after a 30% rise in demand for clearance through telephone call-outs in 2012, PTV was also exploring the possibility of expanding one of its Quang Tri teams in 2013.[31]

SODI, working in Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue provinces, maintained capacity with 143 clearance staff but set up a mobile team focused on deep search which it said was in response to increased demand in its project area. In 2013, it planned to focus all its resources in Thua Thien Hue on one district, Aluoi, and expand operations into a third province, Quang Binh, working with a mobile EOD team for spot tasks and area clearance on tasks of up to 50,000 m2.[32]

International NGO clearance in 2012

Operator

Battle area cleared (m2)

Roving tasks completed

Submunitions cleared

Other UXO cleared

AP mines cleared

MAG

216,906

15,144

2,059

12,995

0

NPA/Project RENEW

244,755

1,555

827

3,939

0

PTV

156,208

3

0

10,102

219

SODI

2,863,504

2,440

670

18,605

0

Total

3,481,373

19,142

3,556

45,641

219

Quality management

International NGOs conduct internal quality assurance (QA). In the case of NPA and Project RENEW, QA is conducted by NPA’s operations manager and technical advisor along with RENEW’s national technical officer. MAG has a three-man QA team which conducted 877 internal assessments in 2012; its technical operations manager also conducts a random assessment of each EOD team every six months. SODI maintains a QA officer in each of the two provinces it works in.[33]

 



[1] “National Mine Action Targets, Tasks, and Implementation Solutions,” speech by Vice-Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Bui Hong Linh, Hanoi, 5 December 2011.

[2] An Dien, “UXO contamination in Vietnam an uphill task,” Thanh Nien News, 8 December 2011.

[3] “Vietnam mine/ERW (including cluster munitions) contamination, impacts and clearance requirements,” presentation by Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), in Geneva, 30 June 2011.

[4] Handicap International, The Fatal Footprint: The Global Human Impact of Cluster Munitions (Brussels: HI, November 2006), p. 15.

[5] Email from Gus Guthrie, Country Manager, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), 28 June 2013. Data provided by international operators showed submunitions constituted about 7% of items they cleared in 2012.

[6] Interview with Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PAVN, in Geneva, 30 June 2011.

[7] “Vietnam mine/ERW (including cluster munitions) contamination, impacts and clearance requirements,” presentation by Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PAVN, in Geneva, 30 June 2011.

[8] Information provided by Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PAVN, in email received from Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), Hanoi, 24 September 2012.

[10] Interview with Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PAVN, in Geneva, 30 June 2011.

[11] Landmine Action, “Explosive remnants of war and mines other than anti-personnel mines,” London, March 2005, p. 181.

[12] Information provided by Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PAVN, in email received from VVAF, Hanoi, 24 September 2012, and interview with Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PAVN, in Geneva, 30 June 2011.

[13] Interview with Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PAVN, in Geneva, 30 June 2011.

[14] Interview with Sr. Col. Nguyen Thanh Ban, Head of Bomb and Mine Department, Engineering Command, Hanoi, 18 June 2013.

[15] Landmine Action, “Explosive remnants of war and mines other than anti-personnel mines,” London, March 2005, p. 181.

[16] Prime Minister’s Decision No. 96/2006/QD-TTg, 4 May 2006.

[17] Email from Col. Nguyen Trong Dac, Ministry of National Defense, 6 August 2006.

[18] Prime Minister’s Decision No. 2338/QD-TTg, 22 December 2010 (unofficial translation by VVAF); email response from BOMICEN to Landmine Monitor questions, 4 April 2012; and interview with Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PAVN, in Geneva, 30 June 2011.

[19] Email response from the Executive Office of the NSC to Landmine Monitor questions, 6 August 2012.

[20] Interview with Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PVAN, in Geneva, 30 June 2011.

[21] Prime Minister’s Decision No. 738/QD-TTg, 13 May 2013; and interview with Sr. Col. Nguyen Thanh Ban, Engineering Command, Hanoi, 18 June 2013.

[23] Email responses from the Executive Office of the NSC to Landmine Monitor questions, 6 August 2012, and from BOMICEN, 4 April 2012; and response to Monitor questionnaire by VBMAC, 19 August 2010.

[24] Interview with Sr. Col. Nguyen Thanh Ban, Engineering Command, Hanoi, 18 June 2013.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Interview with Sr. Col. Nguyen Thanh Ban, Engineering Command, Hanoi, 18 June 2013; interview with Gus Guthrie, NPA, 17 June 2013, and email received on 28 June 2013.

[28] Interview with Sr. Col. Nguyen Thanh Ban, Engineering Command, Hanoi, 18 June 2013; email from the Executive Office of the NSC, 6 August 2012; and information provided by Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, PAVN, in email received from VVAF, Hanoi, 24 September 2012.

[29] Interview with Portia Stratton, Country Programme Manager, MAG, Hanoi, 18 June 2013, and email, 18 June 2013.

[30] Interview with Gus Guthrie, NPA, Hanoi, 17 June 2013; and email from Jason Hwang, US embassy, Hanoi, 19 June 2013.

[31] Email from Milica Koscica, Program Coordinator, PTV, 9 April 2013.

[32] Email from Marion Gnanko, Project Manager, UXO/Mine Action, SODI, 20 June 2013.

[33] Email from Portia Stratton, MAG, Hanoi, 9 April 2012; email from Paul Eldred, Operations Manager, NPA, Vietnam, 21 March 2012; and email from Marion Gnanko and Max Wennbo, SODI, 16 April 2012.