Vietnam

Mine Ban Policy

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Vietnam has abstained from voting on every annual pro-ban UN General Assembly resolution since 1996, including UNGA Resolution 61/84 on 6 December 2006 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.^[1]

The ICBL undertook an advocacy mission to Vietnam on 16-18 October 2006 and reported an increased interest on the part of Vietnam in the Mine Ban Treaty and its humanitarian objectives.^[2] They met with officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense who stressed that Vietnam was already in line with much of the treaty, in that it was not producing, exporting or using antipersonnel mines, and is providing support for mine action globally. They expressed a willingness to be more involved in international efforts to eradicate antipersonnel mines, while at the same time emphasizing that Vietnam felt it must keep all military options open in order to “stop an invasion.”^[3]

The ICBL mission built upon a visit by a Canadian governmental delegation in November 2005 in which representatives of the ministries of defense, foreign affairs, labor, war invalids and social affairs, and the National Assembly, indicated support for joining the Mine Ban Treaty sooner rather than later.^[4] They similarly noted that Vietnam is respecting the spirit of the treaty by not actively producing, selling or using antipersonnel mines. The head of the Canadian delegation said that while Vietnam is committed not to use landmines on foreign soil, “Vietnam reserves its right to use mines in the future if security and survival of the nation is at stake.”^[5]

Vietnam did not attend the Seventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2006 in Geneva, the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2006 or April 2007, or the Regional Seminar on Mine Action in Phnom Penh in March 2007. The ICBL met with Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva during the September 2006 and April 2007 meetings, and suggested a number of interim steps and measures Vietnam could consider to bring it closer to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Vietnam has signed but not ratified the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, Transfer, and Stockpiling

Vietnam has produced antipersonnel mines in the past.^[6] Officials from both the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs insisted to the ICBL and Canadian delegations that Vietnam no longer produces antipersonnel mines.^[7] However, until Vietnam makes an official public statement that it no longer produces antipersonnel mines and will not do so in the future, Landmine Monitor will keep Vietnam on its list of producers. Landmine Monitor requested formal clarification for both its 2006 and 2007 reports, but did not receive a reply.^[8]

Vietnam apparently maintains a policy against export of antipersonnel mines. In addition to the comments made to the ICBL and Canadian delegations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to Landmine Monitor stating, “Vietnam has never exported and will never export mines.”^[9]

The Ministry of Defense told the ICBL in October 2006 that the only stockpile of antipersonnel mines that Vietnam maintains consists of those recovered from cleared minefields, and indicated its willingness to provide information on the size of the stockpile.^[10] A Ministry of Defense official confirmed the existence of a stockpile of antipersonnel mines in a May 2003 interview, but gave no details about its size or composition other than to state, “Vietnam does not keep large stores of landmines, but we have enough to protect our country against invasion.”^[11]

Landmine and ERW Problem

Vietnam is heavily contaminated by explosive remnants of war (ERW), primarily unexploded ordnance (UXO) including cluster submunitions, mainly from the war in the 1960s and first half of the 1970s, and to a lesser extent by landmines, which mostly date from conflicts in the 1970s with neighboring Cambodia and China. Almost all Vietnam’s provinces and cities are affected to some extent. The most affected provinces are Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri in central Vietnam on either side of the former Demilitarized Zone that divided north and south during the war. Many UXO are also found along the border with Laos, a target of intensive bombing during the war.^[12]

Vietnamese officials estimated that by 2006 clearance operations had tackled only nine to 12 percent of the area affected by mines and UXO, and about a quarter of the mines and UXO that contaminate it.^[13] Some 60,000 square kilometers of Vietnam, over 21 percent of the country’s land surface, remained mine/UXO-contaminated; up to 600,000 tons of war-era bombs remain buried across the country.^[14]

Much UXO contamination is on the surface, but considerable quantities are found below the surface at depths of up to five meters and, in cases of heavy ordnance, at depths of up to 20 meters.^[15] Despite extensive surface clearance operations since the war, contamination at depths of 30 centimeters or more remain “hardly investigated” and pose a significant threat.^[16]

UXO poses a greater threat to the civilian population than do mines, particularly BLU 26/36 cluster bomblets and M79 rifle grenades, which have together been responsible for 65 percent of injuries since 1975. Although casualties have fallen sharply from the levels reported in the 1990s, an impact survey completed in 2005 recorded 529 casualties in the three central provinces alone in the past five years, including 249 deaths.^[17] The contamination also imposes a heavy financial cost at a time of rapid economic modernization, limiting cultivation of affected agricultural areas and requiring major infrastructure and industrial development projects to provide for costly clearance operations.^[18]

Mine Action Program

Vietnam does not have a formal national mine/UXO program. Under the Prime Minister’s Decision 96/2006/QD-TTg of 4 May 2006, the Ministry of National Defense oversees mine action at the national level and clearance is undertaken by the Army Engineering Corps of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN), part of the Ministry of Defense, has acted as a central coordinating body for clearance activities. The Ministry of National Defense reported that “appropriate authorities” were considering changes needed to put the Prime Minister’s order into effect.^[19]

Provincial authorities coordinate mine action below the national level. NGOs engaging in mine action must sign a memorandum of understanding with Department of Foreign Affairs of the province in which they work. Mine action priorities are set by the provincial government. District People’s Committees decide which subdistricts or other areas should be targeted.^[20]

Demining

BOMICEN and PAVN have undertaken most of the UXO and mine clearance in Vietnam, but details of their operations are not routinely made public. International and local NGOs also engaged in mine and UXO clearance in 2006 were Mines Advisory Group, the German NGO Solidarity Service International and PeaceTrees Vietnam.

Identification of Affected Areas

After two years of negotiations Vietnam embarked on a Landmine Impact Survey in 2004 funded by the US Department of State and implemented by BOMICEN with technical advice, training, monitoring and quality assurance by Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF). VVAF also set up an Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database in BOMICEN headquarters in Hanoi and trained data management staff.^[21]

In the first phase, completed in May 2005, teams surveyed three heavily contaminated central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri. Among the 344 communes visited, 89 were rated as high or very high hazard, 174 as medium hazard and 81 as low hazard. Survey teams confirmed 1,308 square kilometers of land as contaminated and a further 3,057 square kilometers as suspect.^[22]

The survey’s second phase started in November 2006, covering the remaining 214 communes of the first three provinces and all 619 communes of two additional provinces, Nghe An and Thua Thien-Hue. Fieldwork was completed by the end of June 2007 and a comprehensive report on UXO/mine contamination in all communes of the five provinces was expected to be released by the end of 2007.^[23]

The second phase, with direct implementation costs of US$805,573 funded by the US Department of State, involved 24 two-person survey teams collecting data at the commune level and 20 rapid technical response teams which conducted verification and clearance of the communities’ priority areas identified during the survey. BOMICEN reported that teams verified 7.85 square kilometers of land to a depth of five meters and destroyed nearly 17,000 items of UXO found to a depth of one meter. Another 40 detector signals indicating items buried at a depth of more than one meter were marked and reported to provincial military authorities.^[24]

Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation planned a third phase to start in 2008 and expected the timing and list of provinces to be surveyed to be decided in August 2007.^[25]

Mine/ERW Clearance

Mines Advisory Group (MAG), working in two provinces in 2006 with six international staff and 196 nationals, was the biggest international operator in Vietnam and the only one employing and training civilians to undertake mine/UXO clearance. MAG deployed four multi-skilled mine action teams in Quang Binh province and five in Quang Tri, working with electronic sub-surface search equipment and supported by mechanical excavators.^[26]

MAG reduced its site clearance and shifted to predominantly mobile explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) operations to enable a more rapid removal of the large amounts of UXO found in almost all villages and reduce the risk of accidents. It considers that this approach increases the socioeconomic impact of clearance and better meets the needs of poor, rural communities. MAG continued to provide limited co-funding for small infrastructure projects so that cleared land more immediately serves community needs.^[27]

In 2006 MAG teams cleared all known and reported mines/UXO from 269 villages in 32 communes, conducting 5,927 EOD tasks, searching 108,878 square meters of land and destroying 28,489 items of UXO and 61 mines. MAG also cleared 671,559 square meters of land on 27 separate sites in support of resettlement and community development projects, destroying a further 964 UXO and four landmines.^[28]

In the first half of 2007 MAG’s mobile teams cleared all known and reported mines and UXO from 107 villages in 16 communes, conducting 3,313 EOD tasks, searching 47,514 square meters and destroying 11,620 items of UXO and 14 mines. MAG also cleared 250,577 square meters and technically surveyed 2,029 square meters on 17 separate sites in support of resettlement and community development projects, destroying a further 181 UXO and one landmine.^[29]

Solidarity Service International (SODI) operated in Quang Tri province since 2005. In 2006 it also took over the program operated by Potsdam Kommunikation in Thua Thien-Hue province. SODI operates in each province with a field team for site clearance and one mobile team. In 2006 the two field teams cleared 966,300 square meters and 5,458 UXO, while the mobile teams cleared 6,191 UXO. In 2006, for the first time, all cleared areas were externally quality assured by army engineers before they were handed over to provincial people’s committees.^[30]

PeaceTrees Vietnam operated in Quang Tri province in 2006, primarily in Huong Hoa district, with a mobile EOD team of seven technicians provided by the provincial army authorities. In 2006 the team cleared 48,956 square meters of land and 2,755 items of UXO. In the first six months of 2007 the team cleared 87,321 square meters and 4,558 UXO. In 2007 PeaceTrees Vietnam sought funding to operate a second EOD team in Quang Tri’s Dakrong district.^[31]

Mine/UXO Risk Education

Five organizations working with Vietnamese counterparts carried out mine/UXO risk education (MRE) activities in 2006: UNICEF, Project RENEW, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), PeaceTrees Vietnam and Solidarity Service International, which took over Potsdam Kommunikation’s MRE activities.^[32] Counterpart International received funding from the US Department of State to carry out MRE as part of its Safe Farms, Safe Schools program in 2007.^[33]

In 2006 over 878,143 people received MRE directly in at least six provinces of Vietnam (including 303,840 adults and 538,683 children; the age of the remainder was unknown). ^[34] During the year, 931 teachers, other education professionals and local MRE personnel were trained. Most MRE continued to focus on the three central provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue. In 2006 all five organizations carried out MRE in Quang Tri province. UNICEF carried out MRE in Quang Binh in 2006, joined by CRS in 2007; UNICEF and SODI carried out MRE in Thua Thien-Hue province. Coordination is focused at the provincial level with international organizations working in partnership with regional government or para-state bodies. UNICEF is one of the few organizations working nationwide on MRE in Vietnam.^[35]

Young men, children, and ethnic minorities are the groups most at risk from mines and UXO in Vietnam. As of 2007 MRE focused on ethnic majority children. CRS was the only organization providing direct MRE in districts (Dakrong and Huong Hoa in Quang Tri) with mostly ethnic minorities. CRS’ school-based MRE in areas with large percentages of ethnic minority students encountered a problem with materials only printed in Vietnamese.^[36] In 2006 Project RENEW continued to produce a mass media program in the native language of an ethnic minority group.^[37]

UNICEF continued to focus its MRE activities on children in the most heavily-affected areas of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and Thanh Hoa provinces, using mass media and school/community-based campaigns. In 2006 and January-June 2007 UNICEF provided direct MRE to 500,000 children and 300,000 adults during about 2,500 MRE sessions.^[38]

Project RENEW continued its MRE program in Trieu Phong and Hai Lang districts in Quang Tri province in 2006, reaching more than 43,455 people through community and training events.^[39] Project RENEW’s telephone hotline for people to report suspected items received 66 calls that resulted in 350 clearance operations.^[40]

Catholic Relief Services provided school-based MRE for 20 primary schools in 12 target communities; 9,600 people took part in MRE sessions (6,000 children and 3,600 adults) in 1,012 sessions. CRS provided one-week training courses for all teachers in the program and trained an additional 419 teachers and local education administrators in six districts in Quang Tri province. MRE textbooks and teachers’ guides were distributed in November 2006.^[41] CRS continued to support mainstreaming of MRE in primary schools in five districts in Quang Tri province and in one district in Quang Binh in cooperation with UNICEF.^[42]

SODI included MRE in its integrated mine action and development project in Quang Tri, as in previous years, and extended into Thua Thien-Hue province in 2006. SODI’s mobile MRE teams, in cooperation with the Women’s Union, the Fatherlands Front and primary schools, reached 10,084 people (including 9,360 schoolchildren) in Quang Tri and 15,004 people (including 13,708 schoolchildren) in Thua Thien-Hue. Since 1998, SODI has provided MRE to approximately 45,845 people. SODI also trained an additional 512 MRE trainers in 2006.^[43]

PeaceTrees Vietnam cooperated with the Women’s Union to provide support to two primary schools in Gio Linh and Vinh Linh districts in Quang Tri. In late 2006 it produced over 3,000 posters, placed in primary schools and libraries in Quang Tri, with MRE messages based on six paintings by children created during a 2005 UNICEF-funded event. PeaceTrees Vietnam started a program to put billboards at public libraries with MRE messages and completed nine in 2006. Funding for this program ended in 2007.^[44]

Developing its view that MRE in Vietnam needs better coordination, UNICEF carried out a pilot program for a coordinating body for mine action NGOs in Quang Tri which, if successful, it planned to expand to a national level.^[45]

Ongoing challenges to MRE in Vietnam include the lack of updated nationwide UXO/mine casualty data, making it difficult to plan interventions and to measure their impact. Discussions during the May 2007 Landmine Monitor Working Group focused on the need for inter-agency cooperation and information sharing.^[46] Another challenge is that, despite MRE, scrap metal collection continues to increase; this remains lucrative and is therefore difficult to discourage with MRE.^[47] Moreover, MRE does not cover all affected areas of Vietnam.

Landmine/ERW Casualties^[48]

In 2006 there were at least 96 new mine/ERW casualties in Vietnam, with 39 people killed and 57 injured in 68 incidents. This is a decrease compared to the 112 casualties reported in 76 incidents in 2005. But due to limited data collection in Vietnam this comparison may not indicate a trend. Incidents were reported in nine provinces, with the most casualties in Quang Tri (39) and Quang Binh (13). Cluster submunitions caused 20 casualties, other UXO caused 36, and mines caused only four casualties (36 were caused by unknown devices, which are often submunitions).^[49] Males were 92 percent (88) of all casualties and boys aged 11 to 15 years accounted for 20 percent (19) of total casualties, forming the group at greatest risk. Children were 44 percent (42) of total casualties; almost all of them were boys (36). Boys constitute 60 percent of all cluster submunition casualties (12). Agriculture and other activities that disturb the soil accounted for 23 percent (22) of casualties, followed by scrap metal collection at 21 percent (20) of casualties, and then playing with ERW at 19 percent (18).

Casualties continued to occur in January-June 2007, but at a lower rate than in 2006. There were 33 casualties, including 10 people killed and 23 injured in 21 incidents by 20 June.^[50]

Data Collection

There is no comprehensive casualty data collection in Vietnam. Several NGOs have either performed surveys or conducted passive casualty data collection but these projects are confined to one province or are at most partial regional efforts. Since 2001 Clear Path International (CPI) has conducted passive casualty collection based on news media and reports from local authorities in 14 provinces, but only records and reports casualties for whom it has provided services.^[51] Project RENEW has maintained a database of casualties in Quang Tri province covering the period from 1975 to 2005 which was updated with information from CPI in 2006.^[52] Mines Advisory Group receives regular casualty updates from CPI for areas in which it has clearance operations but a formal mechanism for collecting or disseminating casualty data for mine action planning does not exist.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs reported that it collects information on mine/ERW casualties and provides that information to the Ministry of Health for its national injury surveillance reporting.^[53] Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation in partnership with BOMICEN completed an ERW/Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, and Quang Tri provinces in 2005.^[54] In January 2007 VVAF/BOMICEN announced the LIS would be extended to Nghe An and Thua Thien-Hue provinces.^[55] At the Landmine Working Group meeting in Hue on 25 May 2007, NGOs called for better coordination of casualty data collection and distribution between provincial authorities, hospitals, NGOs and BOMICEN. VVAF had resources to compile casualty data, but stressed the need for a reporting mechanism in which others send monthly updates.^[56]

There is under-reporting of casualties in Vietnam, mostly among ethnic minorities and scrap metal collectors. Although scrap metal collection is not illegal, civilian possession or use of explosives is illegal, making scrap metal collectors less likely to report incidents.^[57]

The cumulative number of mine/ERW casualties in Vietnam is not known. Based on Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs statistics and casualties reported by Landmine Monitor since 2001, there have been an estimated 105,586 mine/ERW casualties in Vietnam, with 39,206 killed and 66,380 injured from 1975 to 2006.

Accurate information about the number of people with disabilities and their living circumstances is also lacking. In 2006 the Medical Committee of the Netherlands-Vietnam and SINTEF Health Research hosted three workshops aimed at establishing a national data collection mechanism for disability. SINTEF also assessed the disability reporting system and found it suffered from inconsistencies in definition and concepts of disability.^[58] Disability data collection became a responsibility of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in late 2007 but, due to inadequate funding, data collection will likely begin on a regional basis.^[59]

Survivor Assistance

Landmine/ERW survivors are a considerable proportion of people with disabilities in Vietnam, and therefore may be a drain on the country’s assistance facilities.^[60] Services for healthcare and rehabilitation for survivors are adequate but difficult to access, particularly in rural and mountainous areas where survivors live far from services and travel is difficult. Costs can also be an obstacle as national health insurance only covers a fraction of the disabled population. Medical and healthcare services in Vietnam are provided by the Ministry of Health at provincial, district and subdistrict levels; rehabilitation services are provided by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs at regional and provincial levels. Psychosocial support, economic reintegration activities and economic replacement initiatives for scrap metal collection are limited. However, there is a government-sponsored community-based rehabilitation program in 46 of the 59 provinces and five administrative municipalities, providing medical and rehabilitation services, vocational training and social reintegration for people with disabilities.^[61] In 2006, the government provided $750,000 for vocational training for people with disabilities.^[62]

Vietnam has legislation protecting the rights of people with disabilities in employment and education, a barrier-free access code and national standards.  Reportedly, a law on preferential treatment of people with disabilities was enforced unevenly.^[63] In October 2006 the National Action Plan to Support People with Disabilities 2006-2010 was approved.  Key activities include: a national survey on disability, development of a national disability database and standardized criteria for classification of disability, revision or replacement of existing disability laws, establishment of self-help groups, and access to social security and poverty reduction programs.  There are specific and measurable actions to be taken within time frames, allowing progress to be evaluated.^[64]  

The 2002 Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy contained actions that benefit survivors, such as efforts to increase grassroots democracy, vocational training, and reduction of hospital fees for vulnerable groups.^[65] Many of these provisions were strengthened in the Five Year Socio-Economic Development Plan 2006-2010.^[66] Vietnam has a National Coordinating Council on Disability with 14 members from relevant ministries and a Disabled People’s Organization (DPO) which conducts advocacy and dissemination of information about disability. The Disability Forum, a coalition of local disability organizations, is the representative body of the DPO. The Disability Working Group acts as a coordinating body for NGO disability activities in Vietnam.^[67]

As of July 2007 Vietnam had not signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or its Optional Protocol which allows for the monitoring of disability activities.

At least 8,647 people with disabilities in Vietnam received services in 2006, including at least 3,930 survivors or their families: 96 new mine/ERW casualties received emergency assistance, 11 received continuing medical care, about 2,854 received physical rehabilitation, 233 received socioeconomic reintegration services, 513 received educational assistance, 115 participated in sports events and 108 received unspecified assistance. Within this total the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD), in cooperation with the Vietnamese Red Cross, assisted 3,785 people with prosthetic devices (survivors estimated at 2,120) and provided for training for 22 technicians.^[68] VVAF provided physical rehabilitation to 700 people (90 survivors); Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH) provided physical rehabilitation to 2,100 people and vocational training to 50.^[69] Prosthetics Outreach Foundation (POF) provided physical rehabilitation to 242 people (13 survivors) and prosthetics repair for 63 people.^[70] CPI assisted 672 mine/ERW survivors and their families: 96 received trauma, medical or burial assistance, 11 received continuing medical care, 209 received economic reintegration, 241 child survivors or children of survivors received educational support and 115 survivors were sponsored to compete in sport events.^[71] Landmine Survivors Network in Vietnam (LSNVN) assisted 108 survivors with peer support services and material support.^[72] Project RENEW provided physical rehabilitation to 94 survivors and trained 26 healthcare workers.^[73] Kids First Vietnam provided 272 children with educational support.^[74] PeaceTrees Vietnam provided economic reintegration services to at least 24 survivor families.^[75]

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs provides prosthetics and orthotics to former soldiers and veterans with the support of ICRC-SFD and the Vietnamese Red Cross (VNRC).^[76] The ICRC-SFD continued to support the Ho Chi Minh City Rehabilitation Center and eight prosthetic centers and continued to train technicians.^[77] It also covers the cost of first prostheses for new patients. The VNRC was responsible for identifying amputees in need of services and providing nationwide follow-up. In 2006 VNRC services expanded nationwide, with SFD support, becoming the principal provider of prosthetics in the country.^[78]

VVAF support for five rehabilitation centers is scheduled until the end of 2008 and support for the Mobile Outreach Program in Ha Giang and Nam Dinh will end in December 2007.^[79]

Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped continued assistance to five rehabilitation centers, as well as its grassroots project for skills training and employment of war survivors and other people with disabilities. VNAH planned to build a rehabilitation department within a private hospital in Da Nang in late 2007.^[80] 

The US-based Prosthetics Outreach Foundation continued supporting rehabilitation and prosthetics facilities, providing ad hoc rehabilitative services to amputees in 27 provinces, mostly in northern Vietnam.^[81]

Clear Path International (CPI) continued to provide emergency medical assistance to new mine/ERW casualties in 11 provinces, medical and economic reintegration assistance in two provinces, and ongoing support for scholarships and survivor athletes’ participation in regional and national sports events.^[82]

Project RENEW provides access to emergency medical support, physical rehabilitation services and economic reintegration activities through local partnerships with provincial and district agencies in Quang Tri province.^[83] In 2006, RENEW provided emergency medical training for district level health workers.^[84]

Landmine Survivors Network in Vietnam extended its program of peer support for mine/ERW survivors and other amputees in Quang Binh province to 2009 and expanded to additional communes of Bo Trach district and Dong Hoi city. In 2006 it identified 465 survivors and amputees in Bo Trach and 115 in Dong Hoi.^[85]

PeaceTrees Vietnam’s micro-credit program ended in October 2006.^[86]

The American NGO, Kids First Vietnam, scholarship program for disadvantaged youth ceased in June 2006.^[87]

Funding and Assistance

In 2006 international donations totaling $8,256,167 (€6,571,812) for mine action in Vietnam were reported by six countries, an increase of 44 percent from 2005 ($5,736,918 provided by six countries). ^[88] Donor countries reporting funding in 2006 were:

• Australia: A$500,000 ($376,750) to the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled for victim assistance;^[89]
• Canada: C$200,000 (US$176,360) to UNICEF for MRE;^[90]
• Germany: €410,362 ($515,538) to SODI for UXO and mine clearance in Quang Tri;^[91]
• New Zealand: NZ$25,000 ($16,230) to LSNVN for victim assistance in Quang Binh;^[92]
• Spain: €165,000 ($207,290) to UNICEF for MRE;^[93]
• US: $6,964,000, consisting of $3,300,000 from the Department of State, $3,264,000 from USAID/Leahy War Victims Fund, and $400,000 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.^[94]

France reported in-kind funding for Vietnam in 2006 in the form of mine clearance training, but did not report the value of the contribution.^[95]

The 2006 end-year review of the UN’s Portfolio of Mine Action Projects reported that Vietnam received 21 percent ($467,577) of funds requested through the appeal process in 2006.^[96] The UN reported that a “considerable funding gap” in Vietnam in 2006 resulted in the reduction of MRE programs and in some cases prevented post-clearance community development activities.^[97]

The 2007 Portfolio of Mine Action Projects includes eight projects for Vietnam with budgets totaling $3,822,867, of which $1,234,986 had been funded by November 2006. ^[98]

National Contribution to Mine Action

Vietnam has no published national budget for mine action, but official sources have stated that the government invests “hundreds of billions of dong (tens of millions of US dollars) for mine detection and clearance” each year.^[99]