Table of Contents

Country Reports

LM Report 2003

Vietnamese Mine Ban Policy Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, and Use Landmine and UXO Problem Surveys and Assessments Coordination and Planning Mine/UXO Clearance Mine/UXO Risk Education Mine Action Funding Landmine/UXO Casualties Survivor Assistance Disability Policy and Practice

Vietnam

Key developments since May 2002: Local survey data gives, for the first time, a detailed view of mine and UXO casualties and contamination in portions of two heavily-affected central provinces. Mine and UXO clearance, risk education, and survivor assistance projects continued to expand, including into new areas of the country.

Mine Ban Policy

Vietnam has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. The People’s Army of Vietnam continues to view landmines as necessary and cost-effective weapons for national defense.^[1] Nevertheless, Vietnam remains “in full support” of humanitarian aspects of mine clearance and survivor assistance.^[2]

As in past years, Vietnam abstained from voting on the annual UN General Assembly resolution supporting universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty in November 2002. Vietnam did not participate in the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2002 or in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in February and May 2003.

Vietnam has not ratified the Convention on Conventional Weapons, which it signed in 1981, and it did not attend any CCW meetings in 2002 or 2003. It also stayed away from the regional seminar on mine action in Southeast Asia, held in Phnom Penh in March 2003.

At an annual plenary meeting for international NGOs in January 2003 in Hanoi, Ambassador Le Van Bang, former ambassador to the US and currently chair of the Committee for Foreign NGO Affairs, identified landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) as one of four priority areas for NGO assistance in development.^[3]

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, and Use

Vietnam is believed to continue the production and stockpiling of an unknown number of landmines, while maintaining a policy against export. In a Landmine Monitor interview, a high-ranking Ministry of Defense official stated that “Vietnam does not keep large stores of landmines, but we have enough to protect our country against invasion.”^[4]

There are no reports of new mine use by the Vietnamese government forces. Past Landmine Monitor reports have referred to unconfirmed allegations of mine use, or, more accurately, re-use and recycling, by hunters, fishers, smugglers and scrap metal dealers. In 2002, more details on these activities emerged in the press. Poachers in Pu Mat National Park were found using landmines to kill endangered animals and to deter park rangers, resulting in open warfare between the poachers, rangers and local police.^[5] Another story cites the use of “home-made explosives and mines” to catch fish in the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Ngai. One respondent claims, “Everyone [in my village] is keen to use mines as you can retrieve so many more fish with them.”^[6]

Some of these mines may be actual antipersonnel landmines laid during the war. In most cases, however, they are improvised devices made from explosives extracted from war-era bombs and shells. “Bomb hunters” search for and dig up this ordnance, selling the metal to scrap dealers and the explosives to other intermediaries, who then supply the hunters and fishers.^[7] At a price of up to 1.5 million dong (US$100) per disassembled bomb, the reward is much higher than from agriculture or other jobs.^[8] There are reports of injuries and deaths at all stages of this process, making up a significant portion of mine- and UXO-related incidents in 2002. Two percent of respondents to a mine awareness survey in Quang Tri admitted to taking part in removal, disassembly, and/or sales of landmines or UXO.^[9]

Landmine and UXO Problem

The Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICO), a department of the Engineering Command of the Ministry of Defense, revised its estimate of landmine- and UXO-affected land in Vietnam from “at least 5%” of the country to “approximately 7-8%.” Between 15 and 20 percent of mines and UXO from the war are said to remain.^[10] Official sources continue to use figures ranging from 350,000-800,000 tons of war-era ordnance in the ground.^[11] The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) has cited Ministry of Defense sources as stating that “three million [antipersonnel] landmines remain in Vietnam’s soil.”^[12]

All 61 provinces are affected, as well as major cities. The Ministry of Defense states that the most affected portions of the country are the central provinces from the former DMZ southward, including Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai.^[13]

The Boundaries Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in May 2003 that despite significant clearance in the 1990s, landmines remain a serious problem on the Chinese and Cambodian borders. Few mines but many UXO are found on the Lao border. Minefields exist from as long ago as the Dien Bien Phu campaign against the French in 1954, extending through border conflicts with China and the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Zones that are suspected to be affected, called “white areas,” are closed to the public and marked. In other cases, maps of minefields are not available, or locations have shifted due to floods, landslides and erosion.^[14]

A Landmine Monitor review of the Vietnamese domestic press from January 2002 through March 2003 found mine and UXO incidents in 40 of 61 provinces and cities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.^[15] Out of 86 recorded incidents, only 14 percent took place in the three central provinces (Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue) where international assistance is concentrated. The largest number of incidents took place in the former South Vietnam, with Phu Yen province on the south-central coast and Gia Lai in the Central Highlands recording the highest numbers.^[16]

Local-level surveys in Quang Tri provinces and A Luoi district released in 2003 (see “Surveys and Assessment” below) indicate that, when the type of ordnance was known, cluster bomblets or “bombies” (BLU 26/36) accounted for 50 percent of incidents in Quang Tri and 52 percent in A Luoi, M-79 mortar shells accounted for 14 percent in Quang Tri and 26 percent in A Luoi, and antipersonnel mines accounted for 11 percent in Quang Tri and 12 percent in A Luoi.^[17] Cluster bombs caused 80 percent of the incidents responded to by Clear Path International’s rapid response team in the same two provinces in 2002 and the first quarter of 2003.^[18]

Antipersonnel landmines are concentrated around military installations, near the former Demilitarized Zone, and in border areas. Minefields and areas of heavy UXO contamination near populated areas are more likely to have been cleared since the end of the war, while affected areas in mountainous or remote regions have often been left untouched.

Survey data shows that residents of Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces have encountered landmines and UXO most frequently while gathering firewood, farming or tending livestock, and near homes.^[19] Up to 35 percent of local land in Quang Tri cannot be used for cultivation or settlement.^[20] Twenty-five percent of Quang Tri survey respondents said that contamination limits access to farmland, and 20 percent said that mines and UXO make movement or travel difficult.^[21] In A Luoi district, Thua Thien-Hue, 35 percent of interviewees did not use parcels of land due to contamination or perceived contamination.^[22]

Vietnam’s rapid economic growth is bringing more and more of the population in closer proximity to affected areas. Urban expansion in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Danang and elsewhere is now entering areas that were military perimeter zones during wartime. More significantly, previously remote and heavily affected rural areas are becoming accessible with the construction of new roads such as the 1,676-kilometer Ho Chi Minh Highway along Vietnam’s western border. With about half of the length of the highway near completion and scheduled for opening in September 2003, tens of thousands of migrants and settlers are expected to move onto land adjacent to the road in order to seek a living. However, military clearance extends only along the roadbed itself; those who attempt to clear land on either side of the road for fields or houses do so at their own risk.^[23]

Surveys and Assessments

The Vietnamese army, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) have all gathered internal data on landmine-related subjects. While some of the conclusions of these surveys have been released regarding the total land area affected by mines and UXO, or the total number of deaths and injuries since 1975, details and survey methodologies are rarely made public, and the accuracy of the data is unknown.

Groundbreaking local mine impact assessment surveys were completed in 2002 and early 2003 in three districts of the central provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue. Canada-based Hatfield Consultants conducted a survey in partnership with the 10-80 Committee, an office of Vietnam’s Ministry of Health known for its research on toxic chemicals such as Agent Orange. Funding was provided by the Canadian development agency CIDA.

Data collection began in A Luoi district, Thua Thien-Hue, in 2001 and covered mine and UXO contamination, casualties, levels of mine awareness, as well as the impact of mines, UXO and chemicals on human health and socio-economic activities. Questionnaires for portions of the survey were adapted from the landmine impact survey in Laos conducted by Handicap International in 1997. The final Hatfield report, released in January 2003, employs wartime US bombing records and geospatial remote data sensing in combination with on-site interviews.^[24]

The Hatfield—10-80 Committee’s mine/UXO survey materials were replicated in Thua Thien-Hue’s Phong Dien district, where Australian Volunteers International began a UXO clearance and community development project in January 2002, funded by AusAID, with technical training and support from MAG. The Phong Dien survey, carried out entirely by district government staff and completed in March 2003, interviewed mine/UXO survivors, their families, and village elders.^[25]

In Quang Tri province, Project RENEW, a joint initiative of the provincial government and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), carried out a mine impact assessment survey in Trieu Phong district in September 2002. RENEW then implemented two province-wide surveys together with UNICEF and the provincial health department, one on “KAP” (Knowledge, Awareness, and Practices) and the second on casualties. Interviews were conducted in 12,000 households, using International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) for 2001. Funding for the surveys, totaling US$35,000, was granted by UNICEF, the Freeman Foundation, and Christos Cotsakis of E-Trade.^[26] Results of these surveys, as well as the Trieu Phong district survey, will be officially released in June 2003.

The most extensive survey proposed for Vietnam, a nationwide Landmine Impact Survey, has been under negotiation since December 2000.^[27] In January 2003, a breakthrough was reached when the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and BOMICO signed a memorandum of understanding.^[28] The project document and budget, however, must still be approved by the Minister of Defense, the Prime Minister, and other relevant ministries before implementation can take place. VVAF believes that these steps will be completed by the middle or end of 2003.^[29] The US State Department has committed to funding US$6 million for the survey.^[30]

The first phase of the survey is authorized to gather data in three central provinces (Quang Tri, Quang Binh, and Ha Tinh). Extension to other provinces in the future will depend on review of this phase by Vietnamese authorities, VVAF and the US donors.^[31] Data collection will be implemented by BOMICO and matched with US archival bombing data. Given that the UNICEF and RENEW surveys have already collected much of this information in Quang Tri, VVAF hopes to adapt existing survey materials to fit the standard forms.^[32]

Coordination and Planning

2002 saw no movement towards coordination on a national level. The Ministry of Defense continues to play the leading role in mine action.^[33] BOMICO is responsible for surveys and research on landmines and UXO, demining technology and equipment, and mine/UXO clearance. The company may enter into international agreements with the permission of the Minister of Defense.^[34] But it is not set up to be a national coordinator for foreign-funded projects.

On the provincial level, authorities in Quang Tri are seeking permission to open a “landmine coordination center,” which might become a model for other provinces to follow. The US Department of Defense has sent two teams to Quang Tri to look at sites for a possible center.^[35]

At present, Quang Tri provincial authorities coordinate and manage international partnerships in clearance, mine risk education, economic assistance and survivor assistance among five districts. In all, 20 Vietnamese organizations, including the Women’s Union, Youth Union, and Committee for Population, Family and Children, are “working as well as learning” with international agencies, making their work more professional. As a result, the Quang Tri foreign relations office was granted national-level status in early 2003.^[36]

Several NGOs have encountered difficulties in expanding their operations from one province to another—even an adjacent one. Since this requires negotiating a new project agreement with authorities in the second province from scratch, it can be almost as challenging as moving to a new country.^[37]

Mine/UXO Clearance

Military Clearance

The People’s Army of Vietnam is the primary agency involved in clearance. Anyone who finds landmines or UXO on their property or worksite may contact the district-level military unit. Larger or more demanding clearance activities are conducted by the Army’s Engineering Command or associated commercial military mine clearance companies such as Truong Son and Lung Lo.^[38] BOMICO also conducts contract demining, as well as taking responsibility for training, standards, equipment development, surveys, statistics and research under the Engineering Command.^[39]

Military companies and units charge from 18-20 million dong (US$1,170-1,300) per hectare to clear lightly contaminated areas, up to 40-50 million dong (US$2,600-3,250) for heavily contaminated land.^[40]

According to Sr. Col. Bui Minh Tam, director of BOMICO, government-sponsored mine clearance focuses on the objectives of supporting agricultural expansion, housing construction and large scale infrastructure projects. In agricultural settings, clearance is done on the surface and to a depth of 0.3 meters only, whereas in other areas clearance is done to greater depths consistent with the requirements of follow-up activities such as construction. From 1975 to 2002, Sr. Col. Tam states that 1,200 million square meters have been cleared of 4 million landmines and 8 million UXO. No year-by-year figures are available.^[41]

Clearance in border areas is conducted both by military units and border guard demining teams. The first phase of border clearance was completed in the 1990s; a second, more detailed phase is underway.^[42] In Lai Chau and Lang Son provinces along the Chinese border the ribbon of land along the border itself has already been cleared, while demining is currently underway in valleys and alongside approaches to border crossings.^[43]

The largest military demining project in recent years has been part of the construction of the Ho Chi Minh Highway through the mountains of central Vietnam. The road has cost US$500 million to build; US$10 million, or 2 percent, of that has been spent on clearing UXO, far in excess of the amount budgeted.^[44] In the section of road from Ha Tinh to Kon Tum provinces alone, newspapers reported in April 2002 that 20,000 bombs had been found at depths up to 10 meters.^[45] Other current military demining projects include bridges and road-widening along Highways 1A and 9 and along the Lao border.^[46]

In 2002, military clearance teams were used extensively in construction activities, including in support of international companies, such as the Nestle factory in Ho Chi Minh City and a British Petroleum pipeline in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.^[47] For one severely contaminated site in Quang Tri where the province is planning to construct a cassava-processing plant, the authorities hired an international demining agency rather than the provincial army.^[48]

International Organizations

Five international organizations engaged in site clearance in 2002 in Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces. Since the first internationally-funded project began in 1996, 6.57 million square meters of land in Quang Tri have been cleared of 35,000 mines and UXO; a total of 1.6 million square meters of land have been cleared in 2002 and the first three months of 2003.^[49] In 2002, 634,950 square meters of land were cleared in Thua Thien-Hue.^[50]

The British NGO, Mines Advisory Group (MAG), with 150 local staff and seven expatriate advisors, is the largest of the international clearance agencies. In 2002, MAG completed a two and a half year project clearing 150 hectares on one site in Gio Linh district. It was initially funded by the Danish aid agency DANIDA, then by Adopt-A-Minefield and the Freeman Foundation. Work then began on four new sites totaling 165 hectares in Hai Lang district, Quang Tri, funded by Adopt-A-Minefield and other donors. In November 2002, MAG signed a US$639,000 agreement to clear 80 hectares in Le Thuy district. MAG also signed a $620,000 two-year agreement with the Province to operate a Provincial Mobile UXO clearance team. It is also providing technical assistance to the Australian-funded Mobile UXO clearance team that is beginning operations in Phong Dien district, Thua Thien-Hue in 2003. Unlike other MAG activities, the Australian Volunteers International project involves a group of military deminers.^[51]

Also expanding their activities in 2002 were two German NGOs, Solidaritaetsdienst International (SODI) in Quang Tri and Potsdam Kommunikation (PK) in Thua Thien-Hue. Both manage integrated mine action, awareness and resettlement projects. In the clearance portion of their work, specialists from the German demining company, GERBERA, supervise clearance and training of Vietnamese deminers.^[52] SODI completed clearance of two sites totaling 4.13 million square meters in Cam Lo and Trieu Phong districts, Quang Tri, in December 2002. PK began clearance in May 2002 on 750,000 square meters of land in Phu Bai and Thuy Phu communes, Thua Thien-Hue.^[53] By the end of the year, it had cleared 614,950 square meters.^[54] Funding for these projects, an average of US$300,000-$500,000 per year each for SODI and PK, comes from the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation.^[55]

The American NGO Clear Path International completed clearance of the last 12,500 square meters of a 435,000 square meters tract in Dong Ha town, Quang Tri in June 2002. The US$700,000 project, funded by the Freeman Foundation and contracted with the commercial demining group, UXB International, stood on a portion of the former “McNamara Fence” south of the DMZ.^[56] Another American organization, PeaceTrees Vietnam, cleared 60,000 square meters in 2002.^[57] The land forms part of a Friendship Village in Dong Ha that PeaceTrees dedicated in September 2002.^[58]

There is an increasing emphasis on mobile clearance. MAG began its mobile team in Gio Linh district, Quang Tri, in 2001, moving operations to Hai Lang district in May 2002. The two six-person teams go house to house, clearing 200-300 items per week. In Quang Binh, MAG began operating a mobile team in Dong Hoi district in May 2003.^[59] SODI teams involved in both small clearance and awareness activities began in April 2002 in Cam Lo and Trieu Phong districts, Quang Tri.^[60] Potsdam Kommunikation began “ad-hoc” mobile team operations around Thua Thien-Hue province in 2002 and plans to add a permanent mobile team of one German and five Vietnamese experts to its integrated project across the province in July 2003.^[61] Other groups with plans to introduce mobile teams later in 2003 include Project RENEW and Australian Volunteers International.^[62]

Resettlement and Use of Cleared Land

All of the international organizations working in central Vietnam include plans for post-clearance land use in their projects. SODI resettled 100 families in a new village in Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri, building a new primary school, water and electricity systems.^[63] An additional 1,000 families will be resettled on 1.1 million square meters of cleared land in Cam Lo district, where SODI is constructing two resettlement villages.^[64] In September 2002, PeaceTrees Vietnam dedicated its Friendship Village in Dong Ha town, Quang Tri, on the site of a former US Marine combat base. The US$300,000 project provides housing for 100 disadvantaged families.^[65]

On the Gio Linh district site cleared by MAG, 1 million square meters have been transferred to local families, with 78 houses built at a cost of 24 million dong (US$1,560) each. This resettlement zone was officially inaugurated in March 2003 and marks the first phase of an environmental rehabilitation project that will include roads, irrigation networks, power supply, schools, and medical aid stations.^[66] Plan International will undertake a similar role, partnering with MAG, in post-clearance construction in Le Thuy district, Quang Binh, which began in May 2003.^[67]

In Thua Thien-Hue province, Potsdam Kommunikation gathered donations to build a kindergarten and school and provides direct support to 35 poor families in Duong Hoa commune, where clearance was completed in 2002. PK’s resettlement activities are planned at least one year in advance based on project partners’ priorities and clearance conducted in different areas.^[68]

Mine/UXO Risk Education

At the central level, the Vietnamese government carries out mine and UXO risk education as part of a national injury prevention program. The National Steering Committee on Accident and Injury Prevention, based at the Ministry of Health, was formed in 2001. It also includes members from government-sponsored mass organizations such as the Women’s Union and Youth Union. A national conference on injury prevention funded by UNICEF took place in September 2002.^[69] In 2003-2005, the steering committee plans to expand programs on injury prevention, including mine/UXO risk education, in schools and communities nationwide, with support from UNICEF and the World Health Organization. In addition, the committee plans to carry out a detailed injury survey in six provinces, including Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue in late 2003.^[70]

Certain mass organizations also hold mine/UXO risk education programs of their own in heavily affected areas. Most of these efforts are targeted at children. The Quang Tri provincial Committee for the Care and Protection of Children organizes art programs, games and contests to remind children to be vigilant about the dangers of bombs and mines.^[71]

UNICEF began a nationwide mine/UXO risk education program in January 2002 in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and Training through the mass media and at community level school-based programs. Activities include implementing a school curriculum in 15 provinces, translating materials from other countries, and producing UXO/mine marking signs, as well as advocacy at the national level. The US$250,000 program concludes at the end of 2003.^[72]

Project RENEW broadcast three documentary films on landmines and UXO on provincial television in 2002 as well as 14 rotating weekly public service announcements, each of them aimed at a specific high-risk group such as farmers, children and scrap metal dealers. The group’s 2002 mine awareness budget of US$58,000 was funded by UNICEF and private donors.^[73]

Catholic Relief Services’ pilot project with the Quang Tri Education Department to introduce a landmine/UXO awareness primary school curriculum in five communes of Trieu Phong, Quang Tri plans to expand province-wide. In 2002, the project benefited 200 teachers and 4,050 children, with an annual budget of US$155,000.^[74]

PeaceTrees Vietnam conducts teacher training for mine risk education with the Women’s Union and at libraries in Quang Tri, providing training for more than 2,000 people in 2002.^[75] SODI combines awareness activities with its EOD teams in Cam Lo and Trieu Phong districts, and has reached 5,000 students to date.^[76]

Potsdam Kommunikation began a province-wide community awareness program in Thua Thien-Hue in 2002, with a focus on visiting schools in Huong Thuy district where clearance was underway. This team conducts awareness activities in coordination with the provincial Women’s Union and Youth Union.^[77] Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped began a two-year mine risk education project in Quang Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces in April 2002, in cooperation with provincial Departments of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.^[78]

Survey data and evaluation results from a number of the above-mentioned programs were released in 2002 and early 2003 and give an indication of the level of mine/UXO awareness among the general public and the effectiveness of awareness-raising activities. Ninety-three percent of survey respondents in Quang Tri are aware that mines cause death or injury. Ten percent see UXO or mines on a daily or weekly basis, 17 percent at least once a month, and 44 percent at least once per year. But few place warning signs in the ground (15%); most simply leave the area without telling others (41%), while 35 percent tell local authorities.^[79]

The most effective means of raising awareness appears to be television, which according to surveys in Quang Tri reaches up to 95 percent of the population. Second come programs that target schools, reaching 17-19 percent, with community-based outreach in third place.^[80] CRS has found a 38 percent decrease in the number of scrap metal collectors operating in two communes where its school project is taking place, and attributes this change to children influencing the behavior of their parents.^[81] UNICEF, likewise, cites a “strong correlation between the introduction of quality UXO/mine risk education activities and the reduction of UXO/mine related injuries.”^[82] Hoang Dang Mai of the Quang Tri Foreign Relations Department agrees that “people act more confidently and safely in affected areas than in the past.”^[83]

Mine Action Funding

Vietnam has no published national budget for mine action, but official sources state that the government invests “hundreds of billions of dong (tens of millions of US dollars) for mine detection and clearance” each year.^[84] The Ministry of Defense estimates that complete clearance would cost $4 billion, plus $1 billion more for survivor assistance needs.^[85]

Total US humanitarian mine action funding to Vietnam was $3.638 million in US fiscal year 2002.^[86] The US State Department’s Humanitarian Demining Program provided US$1.5 million for mine clearance equipment. The donation, given through BOMICO, included Minelab F1A4 detectors, personal protection equipment, deep metal detectors, unexploded ordnance disposal tools, blast trauma medical kits, vehicles, and underwater demining equipment.^[87] The US Defense Department contributed an estimated $638,000, and the USAID Leahy War Victims Fund contributed $1.5 million. The Leahy War Victims Fund has provided $16 million to people with disabilities in Vietnam since 1991.^[88]

Japan’s aid agency JICA provided the People’s Army of Vietnam with US$866,000 for purchase of mine clearance equipment.^[89] This was part of a total US$12 million pledge made by Japan in April 2002 for assistance in clearing mines and UXO along the route of the Ho Chi Minh Highway.^[90]

International NGOs working in mine action and survivor assistance received funds from bilateral, multilateral, and private sources in 2002. AusAID provided US$650,000 to Australian Volunteers International’s integrated demining/community development program in Phong Dien district, Thua Thien-Hue in 2002.^[91] Germany contributed US$519,000 to Potsdam Kommunikation and US$585,000 to SODI in 2002.^[92] Other bilateral donors reportedly included Canada, Luxembourg, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.^[93]

UNICEF began funding its own mine awareness program in January 2002 and also funded the Project RENEW survey in Quang Tri province.

Regarding private funding, international NGOs received grants in 2002 from 14 foundations and charitable donors.^[94] The largest private donor was the US-based Freeman Foundation, which supports the work of Clear Path International, MAG, PeaceTrees Vietnam, Project RENEW, and Vietnam Assistance to the Handicapped.

Landmine/UXO Casualties

There is no comprehensive mechanism for collecting and recording data on mine/UXO casualties in Vietnam. In 2002, a media report indicated that 66 people had been killed and 100 injured in mine/UXO incidents during the year.^[95] However, BOMICO estimates that 1,110 people are killed and 1,882 injured every year “on average,”^[96] but no data is provided to support this figure. Landmine Monitor’s independent survey of the domestic media recorded 73 mine/UXO incidents resulting in 67 people killed and 86 injured in 2002.^[97] These figures only include incidents reported in the media, not additional mine/UXO incidents known to local mine action organizations. In 2001, according to one media report, 97 people were killed and 140 injured in mine/UXO incidents.^[98]

Clear Path International estimates that 85 percent of mine/UXO incidents in Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces are reported, but far fewer in other provinces, particularly in remote and mountainous areas. CPI responded to 16 incidents in Quang Tri alone during the first quarter of 2003, 70 percent in remote Da Krong and Huong Hoa districts.^[99] Only two of the 16 incidents were mentioned in the national press.

The Quang Tri survey results indicate that half of all survivors were injured as children, while in the Thua Thien-Hue surveys children comprise a smaller proportion of casualties. Project RENEW found that the largest group of casualties (44 percent) in Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri, was between the ages of 16 and 30, and 80 percent of all casualties are male.^[100]

Data on casualties from local surveys released in 2002-2003 demonstrate a clear reduction in mine/UXO incidents over time. In Quang Tri province, the decline has been as much as 45-50 percent since the mid-1990s. Provincial authorities attribute the improvement to a combination of having fewer mines and UXO in the ground and increased awareness.^[101]

The Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs claim to have no reports of casualties among military deminers on road projects or border areas in 2002, ^[102] although accidents have been reported in the past.^[103] One military deminer was injured on a Potsdam Kommunikation clearance site in Hue in September 2002.^[104]

The latest available nationwide figures from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), dated 31 December 2000, report 38,849 people killed and 65,852 injured since 1975.^[105] This represents an increase of 601 people killed and 1,788 injured since the May 1998 figures cited in previous Landmine Monitor reports.^[106]

Casualties continue to be reported in 2003. Landmine Monitor’s media survey recorded 18 mine/UXO incidents resulting in 16 people killed and 26 injured in the first quarter of 2003.

Survivor Assistance

Landmine/UXO survivors are likely to be poorer than the median income in provinces that are already well below the national average. For example, 60 percent of Quang Tri survivors have “poverty cards” identifying them as below the national poverty line. Almost one-third of families with mine/UXO survivors live on 5,000 dong (US$0.30) or less per day, and 90 percent live in substandard housing. The unemployment rate of mine/UXO survivors is 3.5 times higher than before they were injured.^[107]

In a UNICEF survey, 96 percent of survivors in Quang Tri and their families state that they have not received any external support to date. The remaining four percent have received assistance from either NGOs, government, or both. The top priority for 80 percent of respondents was for financial assistance, either in the form of grants or loans. Only two percent list rehabilitation, prosthetics, or orthotics as their top priority, although it may be a secondary need.^[108]

In Vietnam, medical and health care services are provided by the national Ministry of Health at the province, district, and commune levels, and rehabilitation services are provided by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA). No distinction is made in treatment and rehabilitation services for landmine and UXO survivors. In practice, most international NGOs working on disability issues also do not make a distinction between landmine/UXO survivors and other persons with disabilities.^[109]

Vietnamese Providers of Mine/UXO Survivor Assistance

Adequate health care and rehabilitative services for landmine and UXO survivors exists in Vietnam. However, survivors face obstacles of location and cost in accessing these services. Most mine and UXO incidents happen far from provincial centers where medical facilities are concentrated. The central region, in particular, is underserved.

The Phong Dien survey found that 51 percent of survivors received medical care at the provincial hospital, 33 percent at the district health center, and 14 percent at commune clinics. The other two percent received no formal medical care.^[110] Phong Dien’s coastal location and proximity to Hue is a positive factor in access to medical care. Casualties occurring in more remote districts are unlikely to match these results.

Basic health care for mine/UXO survivors who possess “poverty cards” or who are veterans of the (North) Vietnamese army is provided free of charge. A health insurance program for people with disabilities covers only one percent of the total estimated disabled population.^[111] Others pay fees that, while small by international standards, may represent significant costs for survivors and their families.

Rehabilitation facilities provide services for all people with disabilities, regardless of cause. Tracking statistics of people assisted is difficult, as most hospitals in Vietnam do not have electronic databases.^[112]

In addition to medical rehabilitation facilities, Vietnam possesses a network of outreach and community-based rehabilitation services in 45 out of 61 provinces. According to the Ministry of Health, this system has trained 120 central-level professionals, 550 rehabilitation technicians and trainers on the provincial and district levels, and 10,000 community workers and volunteers. The ministry’s strategy calls for extending community-based services nationwide by 2020.^[113]

There are 17 official centers providing prosthetics and orthotics nationwide, but none functioning in the four heavily-affected provinces between Nghe An and Da Nang.^[114] At present, new mine/UXO survivors from all over the central provinces are sent to Danang, where facilities are considered to be superior.^[115] An agreement by the American NGO, Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH), to open a prosthetic clinic in the politically sensitive Central Highlands was signed in 2002 but later rejected.^[116]

Vietnam produces an estimated 20,000 prosthetic and orthotic devices per year at more than 20 public and private centers. Most of these are made at centers operated by MOLISA and its provincial sub-departments or DOLISAs. With 230 trained technicians nationwide each able to produce up to 500 devices annually, this results in considerable excess capacity.^[117] The main problem is distribution and affordability.

The prosthetic/orthotic center at the provincial hospital in Quang Tri used to be one of the leading prosthetic providers in the country. However, Handicap International Belgium (HIB) ended its program there in 2001, and now the workshop only produces about three orthopedic devices per month.^[118] The province receives funding from the Ministry of Health to provide basic medical care, but none for assistive devices.^[119] HIB had initially planned for the clinic to operate independently on a “cost-recovery system,” whereby wealthier patients subsidize the poor, as is done in Ho Chi Minh City and elsewhere in the country.^[120] A consortium of other international NGOs is considering options to restart services at the center.

Prosthetic and orthotic devices are not included in national health programs, but are available from internationally-funded and private rehabilitation centers for those who can reach them. For survivors in A Luoi district, the 10-80 Committee calculates the cost of transportation to Hue at about US$30 and an average operation between US$650-950.^[121] Those who cannot afford these costs, or are even further away from public rehabilitation facilities, have no choice but to seek local care and then purchase prostheses on the private market. The going rate for a poor-quality prosthetic leg along the Chinese border is 500,000 dong (US$32.50) for a below-knee device and 1,000,000 dong (US$65) for an above-knee model.^[122] Homemade devices are also frequently seen in other areas of the country, particularly far from urban centers. Most are of low quality and uncomfortable.^[123]

International Programs for Mine/UXO Survivor Assistance

The ICRC continues to be the lead international organization assisting mine/UXO survivors. Its centers in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang supply polypropylene components for making orthopedic devices nationwide. On 30 December 2002, the ICRC, MOLISA and the Vietnam Red Cross (VNRC) signed a tripartite agreement to provide 3,460 prosthetic limbs in 2003 in the central and southern provinces of Da Nang, Can Tho, Binh Dinh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Kon Tum, and Ho Chi Minh City. The VNRC is assigned to identify amputees in need of services.^[124] In 2002, the ICRC covered costs for 1,900 prostheses for amputees in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and Can Tho and over 200 at other locations. In Ho Chi Minh City center, which serves 12 southern provinces, 1,857 prostheses were produced, of which 1,125 were for mine/UXO survivors.^[125] In Da Nang, 544 prostheses were produced and in Can Tho, 519 prostheses were produced.^[126] The number produced for mine/UXO survivors was not available, though the ICRC is aware of “3-6 persons that were mine victims and had never been fitted since 1973 due to the confusion in the last days before unification.”^[127] Two students from Ho Chi Minh center completed their three-year training program at the MOLISA Orthopedic School of Hanoi. The program is funded by the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled.^[128]

The American Red Cross carries out disability projects in 10 provinces with the VNRC. These projects assist some mine/UXO survivors, but no specific records have been kept to date. The ARC plans to provide technical assistance on record keeping to the VNRC as part of the program.^[129]

Vietnam Assistance to the Handicapped (VNAH) provides assistance to five rehabilitation centers in Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Dinh, Da Nang and Ha Tay provinces/cities. VNAH does not keep records of landmine/UXO survivors assisted and its country director estimates that fewer than 12 new survivors received prosthetic services in 2002.^[130] In addition, VNAH donated 2,500 wheelchairs, tricycles and artificial limbs worth a total of $300,000 to disabled veterans nationwide in 2002. Funding is provided by the US-based Freeman Foundation.^[131]

Clear Path International has permission to send its emergency response teams to respond to new landmine/UXO incidents in six central provinces. Teams investigate the site, pay medical bills and cover rehabilitation costs as necessary. In 2001-2002, CPI provided medical and social support to 290 survivors and family members.^[132] CPI’s comprehensive program of mine action and survivor assistance in Dong Ha town, Quang Tri was completed in June 2002. A similar project in Vinh Linh district, north of the former DMZ, is ongoing. CPI’s latest expansion is a memorandum of understanding with Quang Binh, where emergency teams will work with VNAH to provide wheelchairs and medical devices and establish a comprehensive project in Le Thuy district.^[133]

The American NGO, Kids First, provides assistance to survivors in Quang Tri through a scholarship program for poor youth, including 100 students who have war-related disabilities. The average level of support is US$50 annually per person. Kids First also funded the construction of Song Hieu Primary School in Dong Ha town, the nation’s first school that is fully accessible for the disabled. On 1 March 2003, construction began on the US$2.268 million Kids First Rehabilitation Village in Quang Tri, which will train disadvantaged and disabled young people in business skills, information technology, hospitality, woodwork, metalwork and agriculture. The village will establish partnerships with other NGOs to meet the medical and vocational needs of mine/UXO survivors and other war disabled.^[134]

Project RENEW has a survivor assistance component to their mine action program in Quang Tri province. As part of the program, RENEW is providing first aid training specific to mine/UXO casualties. RENEW also works with mine/UXO survivors throughout Trieu Phong District to design creative programs to reintegrate survivors back into the workforce. Project RENEW has trained 245 emergency medical staff and helped 50 families of landmine/UXO survivors start mushroom production.^[135]

In January 2003, Landmine Survivors Network signed a two-year agreement with the People’s Committee of Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province, to assist mine/UXO survivors and other amputees. LSN plans to gather information about the situation of survivors in the district and apply a self-help peer support model, adapted to Vietnamese conditions.^[136]

Disability Policy and Practice

The government’s Ordinance on Disabled Persons has been in effect since 10 July 1999.^[137] On 22 January 2001, MOLISA established a National Coordinating Council on Disabilities (NCCD), which includes representatives of 20 government agencies, with a six-person standing committee.^[138] At the province and district level, local governments or People’s Committees have management responsibilities for the “protection and care” of persons with disabilities.^[139]

However, significant inconsistencies remain to be addressed between policy and practice. The ILO reports that of 14 targets set by the UNESCAP Decade of Disabled Persons (1993-2002), Vietnam fully met only two and partially achieved four others.^[140] Health insurance for the poor, for instance, is included as a provision of the 1998 Ordinance on Disabled Persons, but has not yet been implemented.^[141]

Vietnamese officials participated in the landmine victim assistance meeting in Sri Lanka sponsored by UNMAS and CARE in March 2003. Staff from PACCOM, Project RENEW, the Ministry of Education and Training, and the health division of the Ministry of Defense attended the meeting.^[142]

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[1] Interview with Lt. Gen. Vu Tan, Director of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Defense, 13 May 2003.
[2] Interview with Ambassador Nguyen Quy Binh, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 May 2003.
[3] Andrew Wells-Dang, “Vietnam Outlines New Priorities for International NGO Assistance,” Interchange (Spring 2003). http://www.ffrd.org/indochina/spring03news.html.
[4] Interview with Lt. Gen. Vu Tan, Ministry of Defense, 13 May 2003.
[5] Vu Toan, “Rangers risk their lives in poacher hunt,” Viet Nam News, 13 April 2003.
[6] Vietnam News Service, “Fish bombing blows up in locals’ faces,” 19 September 2002.
[7] Dang Luu, “Where only fools rush in,” Viet Nam News, 25 November 2002.
[8] “Poor Locals Choose Death-Trap Job for Living,” Tien Phong, 24 March 2003, p. 7.
[9] Project RENEW and UNICEF, KAP (Knowledge-Awareness-Practices) Survey, forthcoming.
[10] BOMICO, “Tinh hinh o nhiem bom-min-vat no con sot lai sau chien tranh” (Situation on the Effects of Landmines, Bombs and Explosives Remaining After the War), draft paper provided by VVAF, 2003, p. 7. See also Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 778, which cites the estimate of 16.478 million square meters of contaminated land.
[11] Sr. Col. Bui Minh Tam, “Cuoc chien dau sau chien tranh” (The Struggle After the War), Su kien & Nhan chung (monthly military magazine), date unknown, pp. 17, 31; “Vietnam Demining Activities and Challenges” unpublished paper, February 2002.
[12] David Holdridge as quoted in “Viet Nam, US organisations to co-operate on mine survey,” Vietnam News Service, 29 January 2003.
[13] Interview with Lt. Gen. Vu Tan, Ministry of Defense, 13 May 2003.
[14] Interview with Nguyen Quang Vinh, Director, and Amb. Nguyen Quy Binh, Vice-Director of the Boundaries Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hanoi, 16 May 2003.
[15] Some of these incidents were also reported by international newswires. For instance, “Vietnam War-Era Bomb Kills 1 in Hanoi,” Associated Press, 21 March 2002; “Three die in war-era bomb explosion in southern Vietnam,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 13 September 2002.
[16] Landmine Monitor’s independent survey found the most incidents in Phu Yen; An Ninh Thu Do (newspaper), 20 December 2002, p. 2, cited Gia Lai.
[17] Jason Rush, “Achievements of UNICEF’s UXO/Mine Program in 2002-3” report, May 2003, p. 2; 10-80 Committee, “Results of UXO Presence and Victims Survey in A Luoi,” 2001, pp. 34-35.
[18] Presentation by Hugh Hosman, Representative, Clear Path International, at the Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 25 April 2003.
[19] Project RENEW and UNICEF, KAP (Knowledge-Awareness-Practices) Survey, forthcoming; 10-80 Committee, “Results of UXO Presence and Victims Survey in A Luoi,” 2001, pp. 15-16.
[20] Cong An TP. Ho Chi Minh (daily newspaper), 21 December 2002, p. 1; Nguoi Lao Dong (daily newspaper), 16 December 2002, p. 4.
[21] Jason Rush, “Achievements of UNICEF’s UXO/Mine Program in 2002-3,” report, May 2003, p. 1.
[22] Hatfield Consultants and 10-80 Committee, Developing Methodologies and Techniques for Supporting Clearance of Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance in Vietnam, January 2003, p. 100.
[23] Presentation by Hugh Hosman, Representative, Clear Path International, and Nick Proudman, Program Manager, Mines Advisory Group, at the Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 17 January 2003; communication from Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, 23 May 2003.
[24] Hatfield Consultants and 10-80 Committee, Developing Methodologies and Techniques for Supporting Clearance of Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance in Vietnam, January 2003.
[25] Presentation by Brendan Cantlon, Program Manager, Australian Volunteers International, at the Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 25 April 2003.
[26] Interview with Chuck Searcy, Representative, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, 9 April 2003; Project RENEW, “Report of Landmine/UXO Impact Survey in Trieu Phong District, Quang Tri Province,” (draft), p. 10; interview with Nguyen Thi Van Anh, Associate, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, 19 May 2003.
[27] Landmine Monitor Report 2002, pp. 778-779.
[28] “Vietnam, US veterans organisation agree on landmines survey,” Associated Press, 29 January 2003.
[29] Presentation by Guy Rhodes, Program Manager, VVAF, to the NGO Resource Center, Hanoi, 28 February 2003; communication from VVAF, 23 May 2003.
[30] “US Department of State Funds Survey of Vietnam's Landmine and Unexploded Ordnance Problem,” State Department media release, 7 February 2003.
[31] Communication from VVAF, 23 May 2003.
[32] Presentation by Guy Rhodes, Program Manager, VVAF, to the NGO Resource Center, Hanoi, 28 February 2003.
[33] See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 782.
[34] Sr. Col. Bui Minh Tam, “Cuoc chien dau sau chien tranh” (The Struggle After the War), Su kien & Nhan chung (monthly military magazine), date unknown, pp. 17, 31.
[35] Interview with Chuck Searcy, Representative, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, 9 April 2003.
[36] Interview with Hoang Dang Mai, Director, Quang Tri Province Foreign Relations Department, 17 April 2003.
[37] Landmine Working Group meeting, Hanoi, 25 January 2003; interviews in Quang Tri and Quang Binh, April 2003.
[38] Interview with Lt. Gen. Vu Tan, Director of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Defense, 13 May 2003.
[39] Communication from Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, 23 May 2003.
[40] Interview with Lt. Gen. Vu Tan, Director of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Defense, 13 May 2003. The director of BOMICO gave slightly different figures, ranging from 12-60 million dong per hectare. Approximately 15,400 dong equals one US dollar.
[41] Sr. Col. Bui Minh Tam, Director of BOMICO, “Vietnam Demining Activities and Challenges” briefing paper, revised February 2002.
[42] Interview with Nguyen Quang Vinh, Director, and Amb. Nguyen Quy Binh, Vice-Director of the Boundaries Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hanoi, 16 May 2003.
[43] “Ministry [of Foreign Affairs] border delegation examines and works in Lai Chau and Lang Son provinces,” Quoc Te (weekly newspaper), 24-30 April 2003.
[44] Interview with Lt. Gen. Vu Tan, Director of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Defense, 13 May 2003; communication from Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, 23 May 2003.
[45] Tuoi Tre (Youth) daily newspaper, 23 April 2002, p. 2; Quan Doi Nhan Dan (daily newspaper), 23 April 2002, p. 4; “An tuong Duong Ho Chi Minh hom nay” (Impressions of the Ho Chi Minh Highway Today), Cong An Nhan Dan (daily newspaper), 31 October 2002.
[46] Interview with Hoang Dang Mai, Director, Quang Tri Province Foreign Relations Department, 17 April 2003.
[47] Communication from VVAF, 23 May 2003.
[48] Interview with Tran Khanh Phoi, Quang Tri FRD coordinator for MAG Quang Tri projects, Mines Advisory Group, Quang Tri, 18 April 2003.
[49] Provincial statistics cited by Hoang Nam, Coordinator, Project RENEW, Quang Tri, 17 April 2003.
[50] Communication from Lutz Vogt, Chairman, Potsdam Kommunikation, 25 June 2003; Hatfield Consultants and 10-80 Committee, Developing Methodologies and Techniques for Supporting Clearance of Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance in Vietnam, January 2003, pp. 111-113.
[51] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Tim Carstairs, Director for Policy, MAG, 22 July 2003; interview with Tran Khanh Phoi, MAG, Quang Tri, 18 April 2003.
[52] Communication from Ilona Schleicher, SODI Project Manager, Berlin, 23 May 2003. In an October 2002 letter to the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, GERBERA clarified that it conducts no clearance or sub-contracting on its own in Vietnam and provides only technical assistance to SODI and PK. This is a correction to Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 781.
[53] “German government helps central province clear landmines,” Vietnam News Service, 8 May 2002.
[54] Email from Lutz Vogt, Chairman, Postdam Kommunikation, 25 June 2003. PK had a staff of 44 people.
[55] Interview with Karl Heinz Werther, Project Manager, SODI, Quang Tri, 17 April 2003; communication from Lutz Vogt, Chairman, Potsdam Kommunikation, 21 May 2003.
[56] “Cleared Mines Pave the Way for Resettlement,” Vietnam News Service, 5 August 2002; Landmine Working Group Profile Booklet, January 2003, p. 8; communication from Hugh Hosman, CPI Country Director, 7 May 2003.
[57] Communication from Chuck Meadows, Executive Director, PeaceTrees Vietnam, 8 May 2003.
[58] “US organisation brings peace to a war-torn land,” Vietnam News Service, 24 September 2002.
[59] Landmine Working Group Profile Booklet, January 2003, pp. 12-13; interview with Mick Raine, Technical Advisor, MAG, Quang Binh, 21 April 2003.
[60] Landmine Working Group Profile Booklet, January 2003, p. 11; interview with Karl Heinz Werther, Project Manager, SODI/GERBERA, Quang Tri, 17 April 2003.
[61] Communication from Lutz Vogt, Chairman, Potsdam Kommunikation, 21 May 2003.
[62] Landmine Working Group Profile Booklet, January 2003; Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 25 April 2003.
[63] Landmine Working Group Profile Booklet, January 2003, p. 11.
[64] Tien Phong (daily newspaper), 7 January 2003, p. 2.
[65] Vietnam News Service, “US organisation brings peace to a war-torn land,” 24 September 2002.
[66] Nguoi Lao Dong (daily newspaper), 18 March 2003, p. 3; “Mine-clearance project frees land for development,” Vietnam News Service, 24 June 2002.
[67] Communication from Tran Van Thong, Project Coordinator, Plan International, 28 April 2003.
[68] “German government helps central province clear landmines,” Vietnam News Service, 8 May 2002; communication from Lutz Vogt, Chairman, Potsdam Kommunikation, 21 May 2003.
[69] Interview with Tran Van Thanh, Director, Quang Tri Health Department, 18 April 2003.
[70] Presentation by Dr. Tran Ngoc Lan, Department of Preventative Medicine, Ministry of Health, at the World Bank Knowledge Forum, Hanoi, 15 May 2003.
[71] “Children who’ve never known war still suffering,” Vietnam News Service, 19 June 2002.
[72] Interview with Jason Rush, UXO/Mine Project Coordinator, UNICEF, 8 May 2003; Jason Rush, “Achievements of UNICEF’s UXO/Mine Program in 2002-3,” report, May 2003, pp. 4-5.
[73] Interview with Hoang Nam, Coordinator, Project RENEW, Quang Tri, 17 April 2003; interview with Nguyen Thi Van Anh, Associate, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, 19 May 2003.
[74] Communication from Nguyen Thi Le Khanh, Project Officer, Catholic Relief Services, 12 and 13 May 2003.
[75] Landmine Working Group Profile Booklet, January 2003, pp. 16-17; communication from Chuck Meadows, PeaceTrees Vietnam Executive Director, 12 May 2003.
[76] Interview with Karl Heinz Werther, Project Manager, SODI/GERBERA, Quang Tri, 17 April 2003.
[77] Communication from Lutz Vogt, Chairman, Potsdam Kommunikation, 21 May 2003.
[78] Landmine Working Group Profile Booklet, January 2003, p. 27; VNAH and HealthEd Update, Fall 2002.
[79] Project RENEW and UNICEF, KAP (Knowledge-Awareness-Practices) Survey, forthcoming.
[80] Project RENEW, “Report of Landmine/UXO Impact Survey in Trieu Phong District, Quang Tri Province,” (draft), p. 41; Jason Rush, “Achievements of UNICEF’s UXO/Mine Program in 2002-3” (report, May 2003), p. 2-3.
[81] Presentation by Anat Prag, CRS Education Program Manager, at the Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 17 January 2003; presentation by CRS at Vietnam Innovation Day, Hanoi, 14 May 2003.
[82] Jason Rush, “Achievements of UNICEF’s UXO/Mine Program in 2002-3” (report, May 2003), p. 2.
[83] Interview with Hoang Dang Mai, Director, Quang Tri Province Foreign Relations Department, 17 April 2003.
[84] Sr. Col. Bui Minh Tam, Director of BOMICO, “Vietnam Demining Activities and Challenges” (briefing paper, revised February 2002).
[85] Ibid. This calculation is based on 8% of the country contaminated (=26,500 sq. km.) and the cost of clearance per hectare at military rates.
[86] US Department of State, “To Walk the Earth in Safety,” September 2002.
[87] US Embassy press release, “U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program Provides Mine Detectors to Vietnam's Army,” 8 October 2002.
[88] Communication from Maj. Robb Etnyre, US Defense Attache Office, 5 May 2003.
[89] Nhan Dan (daily newspaper), 1 November 2002, p. 8; Tin Tuc (News), 1 November 2002, p. 2.
[90] Tuoi Tre (daily newspaper), 23 April 2002, p. 2; Quan Doi Nhan Dan (daily newspaper), 23 April 2002, p. 4.
[91] “Australia Helps Locals Escape from Legacy of War,” Lao Dong (daily newspaper), 10 December 2002, p. 7; Nguoi Lao Dong (daily newspaper), 9 December 2002, p. 4.
[92] See Germany country report.
[93] Landmine Working Group Profile Booklet, January 2003.
[94] Ibid.
[95] An Ninh Thu Do (daily newspaper), 20 December 2002, p. 2.
[96] BOMICO, “Tinh hinh o nhiem bom-min-vat no con sot lai sau chien tranh” (Situation on the Effects of Landmines, Bombs and Explosives Remaining After the War), draft paper provided by VVAF, 2003, p. 7.
[97] Full details of the media reports are available from Landmine Monitor. In many cases, media reports were vague about the precise cause of the incident, often listed as “accident,” and the type of ordnance, often “bomb.”
[98] Dai Doan Ket Cuoi Tuan (Great Solidarity Weekend Edition), 27 January 2002, p. 3.
[99] Presentation by Hugh Hosman, Representative, Clear Path International, at the Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 25 April 2003.
[100] Project RENEW, “Report of Landmine/UXO Impact Survey in Trieu Phong District, Quang Tri Province,” (draft), pp. 29, 32.
[101] Interview with Hoang Dang Mai, Director, Quang Tri Province Foreign Relations Department, 17 April 2003.
[102] Interview with Lt. Gen. Vu Tan, Director of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Defense, 13 May 2003; interview with Nguyen Quang Vinh, Director, and Amb. Nguyen Quy Binh, Vice-Director of the Boundaries Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hanoi, 16 May 2003.
[103] See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 785.
[104] Reported at the Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 25 April 2003.
[105] BOMICO, “Tinh hinh o nhiem bom-min-vat no con sot lai sau chien tranh” (Situation on the Effects of Landmines, Bombs and Explosives Remaining After the War), draft paper provided by Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, 2003, p. 7.
[106] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 589.
[107] Presentation by Chuck Searcy, Representative, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, at the Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 17 January 2003; and Jason Rush, “Achievements of UNICEF’s UXO/Mine Program in 2002-3,” May 2003, p. 4.
[108] Project RENEW, “Report of Landmine/UXO Impact Survey in Trieu Phong District, Quang Tri Province,” (draft), pp. 37-38.
[109] See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 785.
[110] Data from Phong Dien survey provided to Landmine Monitor, 13 May 2003.
[111] “Viet Nam improves quality of life for people with disabilities,” Viet Nam News, 18 April 2003.
[112] Interview with Wilfried Raab, Team Leader, VIETCOT, Hanoi, 16 May 2003.
[113] Ministry of Health, “Report from the National Workshop on Victim Assistance,” 25-26 September 2001, pp. 7-17.
[114] There is an orthotic workshop in the provincial hospital of Hue, supported by a French NGO related to Proteor, and a workshop at the Quang Tri provincial hospital with a small output of orthotic devices. Email from Patrick Le Folcalvez, Program Director, HIB Vietnam, 10 July 2003.
[115] Interview with Hugh Hosman, Representative, Clear Path International, Quang Tri, 17 April 2003.
[116] Interview with Larry Wolfe, Country Director, Health Volunteers Overseas, Hanoi, 8 May 2003; and email from Bui Van Toan, Country Director, VNAH, 27 May 2003.
[117] Interview with Wilfried Raab, Team Leader, VIETCOT, Hanoi, 16 May 2003.
[118] Email from Patrick Le Folcalvez, Program Director, HIB Vietnam, 10 July 2003.
[119] Interview with Tran Van Thanh, Director, Quang Tri Health Department, 18 April 2003.
[120] Email from Patrick Le Folcalvez, Vietnam Country Director, HI Belgium, 25 April 2003.
[121] 10-80 Committee, “Results of UXO Presence and Victims Survey in A Luoi,” 2001, pp. 37-8.
[122] Interview with Nguyen Thu Thao, Program Officer, VVAF, 16 May 2003.
[123] Interview with Jason Rush, UXO/Mine Project Coordinator, UNICEF, 20 May 2003.
[124] ICRC, “The Orthopaedic Programme, a MOLISA-VNRC-ICRC Tripartite Co-Operation in Vietnam” (briefing paper, February 2003), p. 2.
[125] Email from Peter Poetsma, ICRC Representative, Ho Chi Minh City, 2 May 2003.
[126] ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled, “Annual Report 2002,” p. 8.
[127] Email from Peter Poetsma, ICRC, 2 May 2003.
[128] ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled, “Annual Report 2002,” p. 8.
[129] Presentation by Nguyen Minh Huong, American Red Cross, to the Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 25 April 2003.
[130] Email from Bui Van Toan, Country Director, VNAH, 27 May 2003.
[131] Vietnam News Service, 25 March 2003, p. 3; Lao Dong (Labor), 24 March 2003, p. 3; and VNAH and HealthEd Update, Fall 2002.
[132] Presentation by Hugh Hosman, Representative, Clear Path International, at the Landmine Working Group, Hanoi, 17 January 2003.
[133] Interview with Hugh Hosman, Representative, Clear Path International, Quang Tri, 17 April 2003.
[134] Hoai Nam, “Village puts disabled kids first,” Viet Nam News, 5 March 2003.
[135] Interview with Hoang Nam, Coordinator, Project RENEW, Quang Tri, 17 April 2003; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 785.
[136] Interview with Michelle Hecker and Joelle Caschera, LSN, Quang Binh, 21 April 2003.
[137] For more detail see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 591.
[138] Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 787; and International Labor Organization, Vietnam Country Study, pp. 30-1.
[139] Article 16 of Implementation Decree 55/1999/ND-CP (10 July 1999).
[140] International Labor Organization, Vietnam Country Study, pp. 49-52.
[141] Interview with Tran Van Thanh, Director, Quang Tri Health Department, 18 April 2003.
[142] Presentation by Dang Hoang Linh, PACCOM, at the Landmine Working Group meeting, Hanoi, 25 April 2003; interview with Duong Trong Hue, Project RENEW, Quang Tri, 17 April 2003.