Key
developments since May 2000: In 2000, 7.42 million square meters of land
were cleared and 80,538 UXO and mines were destroyed. In the half of 2001,
43,851 UXO and mines were destroyed. According to UXO LAO, in 2000, 39 people
were killed and 63 injured by UXO.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos)
has not acceded to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
began a review of its stand on the Mine Ban Treaty in late 2000 and sent a
translation of the treaty in Laotian to the office of the Prime Minister and to
the National Assembly as a part of that
process.[1] Ambassador Alounkeo
Kittikhoun told the UN General Assembly in October 2000, “We share the
concern of the international community over the indiscriminate use of
antipersonnel landmines. In this regard, while noting the Ottawa Convention
[Mine Ban Treaty], we maintain the view that States have the legitimate right to
use such weapons for the defense of their national independence and territorial
integrity as provided for in the Charter of the United
Nations.”[2]
Laos did
not participate as an observer in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the
Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000, or the intersessional Standing Committee
meetings in December 2000 and May 2001. Laos has been absent from every vote on
pro-ban resolutions of the UN General Assembly since 1996, including the
November 2000 vote. Laos has not ratified Amended Protocol II to the Convention
on Conventional Weapons.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, Use
Laos is not thought to have ever produced or
exported antipersonnel mines. Laos is believed to maintain a stockpile of
mines, but no details are available. There are no allegations of recent use of
antipersonnel mines by the Laotian armed forces.
The civilian population of Laos is threatened by the presence of landmines
and a wide variety of unexploded ordnance (UXO) -- up to 230 different types in
one province alone.[4] Fifteen
out of eighteen provinces are considered dangerous due to these explosive
remnants of war.[5]
Contamination by unexploded ordnance, particularly antipersonnel submunitions,
is far greater than that of antipersonnel
mines.[6] Unexploded bomblets
(“bombies”) from the United States cluster bombs are a major
problem.[7] UXO LAO believes
more than two million tons of ordnance were dropped on the country,
predominantly by the United States but also by the Thai and Lao Air Forces,
during the Indochina War, especially 1964-1973. UXO LAO estimates that up to
30% of the air-dropped ordnance may remain as unexploded, and potentially
lethal, war remnants.[8]
Explosive war remnants remain a serious obstacle to the development of the
country. A survey for unexploded ordnance and mines should be conducted prior
to any development project, whether it is the opening of a new field by a
farmer, the building of a new wing of a school or a hospital by the government,
or the construction of a new road. Few donors take this requirement into
account, leading to severe delays, and unexpected extra
costs.[9]
Mine Action Funding
In 1995, a Trust Fund was established under UNDP
to finance a nationwide program of UXO/mine clearance. Prior to 2001, many
governments opted to bypass the Trust Fund, and provided their contribution
directly through NGOs or national organizations. For example, the Australian
government provides its support through the NGO World Vision Australia, the
German government provides its support through its contract with the German
company Gerbera. Beginning in 2000, most of UXO LAO's international partners
began transferring all personnel and assets for UXO LAO to manage, with some
NGOs scheduling to depart the country. Donor governments have been asked to
place their funding directly into the Trust Fund.
The following governments
have been past contributors either to the Trust Fund or bilaterally: Australia,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States, as
well as the European Union, UNDP, UNICEF, and UNV (UN Volunteers).
According
to other Landmine Monitor Report 2001 country reports, the following
governments contributed to mine action in Laos in 2000: Australia US$924,793;
Belgium US$370,699; Denmark US$2,444,681 (Trust Fund); Germany US$1,000,000
(UNMAS); Luxembourg US$227,525 (Trust Fund); Netherlands US$500,000 (Trust
Fund); New Zealand US$56,975; United Kingdom US$1,201,692 (MAG); United
States US$1,886,000.
Between 1994-2000, the United States provided $15.8
million in assistance for UXO/mine clearance, including $1.886 million in its
fiscal year 2000 (down from $3.3 million the previous year). The majority of
the United States assistance has been in-kind, through the provision of
detection and operations equipment, trucks and radios, and US military staff for
training in ordnance removal and
disposal.[10] In March 2001,
the United States placed $682,000 into the Trust Fund for the support of
mutually agreed line items of the UXO LAO
budget.[11]
According to UXO
LAO, in 2001 the total overall budget for mine action is US$9.53 million. This
includes $6.08 million for the national UXO LAO budget and $3.45 million for
Implementing Partner
Support.[12] The national
budget portion includes $4.22 million for salaries and operating costs, $700,000
for advanced training, $682,000 for equipment support, $360,000 for truck
procurement, and $120,000 for provincial staff capacity building. Budget
documents showed a shortfall in funding of $1.4 million.
The Lao
government appears to accord little priority to clearance of unexploded
ordnance. The Lao government has no known budget of its own for mine/UXO
removal. The budget for UXO LAO is autonomous and is overseen jointly by the
government with UNDP and UNICEF.
UXO LAO is responsible for clearance activities throughout the country. It
has a staff of more than 1,100 people, making it one of the country’s
largest employers.[14] Four
NGOs (Handicap International (Belgium), the Mines Advisory Group, Norwegian
People’s Aid and World Vision Australia), as well as the Belgian military
and the commercial company Gerbera, provide technical assistance and capacity
building as implementing partners to the UXO LAO provincial programs, with
financial assistance from international
donors.[15] These six
implementing partners currently provide technical assistance in the nine
provinces with clearance operations (see Landmine Monitor Report 2000 for
details). The implementing partners have transferred national staff and have
handed over equipment and vehicles to UXO LAO, and are expected to withdraw
completely over the next few
years.[16]
From January to
December 2000, UXO LAO teams removed or destroyed 80,538 explosive war remnants,
including 751 landmines. A total of 7.42 million square meters of land were
cleared.[17] In the first half
of 2001, 43,851 explosive war remnants were removed or destroyed, of which 288
were landmines.[18]The
UXO LAO target for 2001 is 9.5 million square meters of land
cleared.[19]
Laotian staff
who carry out clearance and related activities are trained at a center in Ban
Ylai. During 2000, 252 people graduated from the various courses offered at
this institution, including four Basic Clearance courses, as well as a course to
update and advance the skills of current UXO LAO staff. The Ban Ylai training
center seeks and trains candidates for each provincial program according to the
projection developed in the yearly national work plan of UXO
LAO.[20]
UXO LAO clearance
teams are not trained to clear minefields, and in practice do not attempt to
clear hand-laid minefields, because they are not seen as a priority for
community development.[21] MAG
estimates that there are 1,000 minefields in the country, but no survey of their
location has been
undertaken.[22] Landmine
Monitor has been told that only two of these are fenced, and none appear to be
marked.[23]
Clearance
activities outside UXO LAO are undertaken by the Lao Army, which is involved in
clearance on large infrastructure projects, like national roads, funded by
multilateral agencies. Milsearch, an Australian-Lao Army joint venture, does
commercial demining.
Costs
A March 2000 case study on Laos by the United
Nations Development Program and the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian
Demining projected that as productivity of UXO LAO increases (as it has each
year since its inception), and startup costs, including international partners,
are phased out, the cost of clearance of land for agricultural purposes is
justified on economic grounds
alone.[24]
The Geneva
Center/UNDP case study found that clearance costs per hectare (10,000 square
meters) ranged from under US$4,000 for long-established operations to more than
$20,000 for new operations. The study concluded that average costs should fall
below $3,000 per hectare well before
2002.[25]
Mine/UXO Awareness
UXO LAO has 18 Community Awareness (CA) teams
which provide UXO risk awareness education in the nine provinces in which UXO
LAO is active. UNICEF provides support to UXO LAO CA activities. UXO LAO
Community Awareness teams made 814 village visits during 2000, benefiting an
estimated 256,582 people, of whom 113,845 were
children.[26]
The UXO LAO
target for Community Awareness for 2001 is 847 villages visited and 324,000
people briefed.[27] UXO LAO has
a goal of having CA teams visit every village in the nine provinces at least
once by the end of 2001.
UNICEF commissioned an external evaluation of CA
activity in late 2000.[28] This
report notes that in some areas of the country the number of UXO accidents seems
to be increasing and the cause of this is not clear. The report noted that not
all people are currently being reached because of a high level of ethnic
diversity: 54% of the population in the provinces where UXO LAO is active are
non-Lao speakers, but only 12% of the CA teams are non-Lao. Most materials for
Community Awareness have been generated for a Lao speaking
audience.[29]
Mine/UXO Casualties
From the end of the war until the mid-1990s, an
estimated 240 persons per year were victims of UXO and
mines.[30] Since that time the
number of victims has dropped to approximately 100 per year. According to UXO
LAO, during 2000, thirty-nine people died and sixty-three were injured by
UXO.[31] No antipersonnel mine
victims or accidents were reported by UXO LAO for the year
2000.[32] However, a
humanitarian aid worker interviewed a Lao Army soldier at the National
Rehabilitation Center who became a mine victim in mid-2000 while on duty near
the border.[33] As noted above,
a UNICEF study in late 2000 noted that in some areas of the country the number
of UXO accidents seems to be
increasing.[34]
There is a
great deal of skepticism in Laos regarding statistics on UXO casualties.
Virtually all organizations interviewed, including UXO LAO, believe that UXO
casualties are significantly under-reported. A disclaimer accompanies UXO LAO
statistics. Poor infrastructure, lack of reach into affected communities,
little understanding of the value of statistics, cultural embarrassment or fear
of reporting were all cited as reasons for the unreliability of
statistics.
Survivor Assistance
Assistance varies according to a victim's ability
to reach the few medical establishments within the country capable of dealing
with their specific injury. Antipersonnel submunitions frequently produce upper
body injuries in the victim. Blindness, loss of upper limbs and lacerations are
common in survivors. Currently there are no services available to those who
suffer blindness from a UXO
incident.[35] Health care is
unavailable to persons who cannot afford to pay for it, and some services are
only possible in the capital, to which few of the rural poor have access.
The
War Victims Assistance Project, a US-funded program administered by Consortium
Laos, estimates that the average cost of treatment can use up to half a rural
family’s annual income. The Consortium administers a War Victims Medical
Fund that provides direct assistance to pay the medical needs of UXO victims in
Xieng Khouang Province, and since 1 May 2001 in Xepon District of Savannakhet
Province.[36] The War Victims
Assistance Project also has attempted to improve emergency medical care by
training doctors and nurses and investing in the upgrading of medical
facilities.[37]
The Ministry
of Public Health’s National Rehabilitation Center (NRC) and the
Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) provide prostheses,
orthoses, and some other assistance
devices.[38] A National Plan of
Action, prepared by POWER with the cooperation all COPE partners, governs the
work of COPE. COPE’s services are delivered through the NRC in Vientiane
and four provincial centers in Luang Prabang, Phonsavane, Savannakhet and Pakse.
All five centers have been completely rebuilt or refurbished and re-equipped and
the personnel retrained, but provincial branches still suffer from a lack of
skilled and motivated
personnel.[39] There are eleven
Lao students in training at the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics,
and they are intended to fill this gap as they arrive back in Laos over the next
two years. Outreach to the provinces tends to be ad hoc, and there is no
ongoing program to actively bring patients into the Center for care. The COPE
program refunds costs of travel to and from the centers, and provides
accommodation, or meets its cost, for all persons attending any of its five
centers. COPE seeks to provide all assistive devices and services free since
civilian victims of mines and UXO do not receive socio-economic assistance from
the government. Military victims receive some assistance. A mid-term
evaluation of COPE showed that most of its services are taken up by male
below-knee amputees from the capital region. Disabled women, children, and
minorities are underrepresented amongst the
patients.[40]
UXO LAO is not
involved in Survivor Assistance. There is a lack of communication between UXO
LAO and COPE, compounded by the fact that two different government ministries
are involved. Mine clearance and awareness is under the Ministry of Labor and
Social Welfare, whereas most assistance to victims comes under the Ministry of
Public Health. UXO LAO’s CA field teams appear to have little knowledge
of available victim assistance programs. Although they frequently meet mine
survivors in the course of their visits to villages, they do not pass on
information of victims in need of assistance to concerned
authorities.
Currently COPE and the National Rehabilitation Center do not
have any access to Trust Fund
support.[41] COPE has been
consistently under-funded and frequently in danger of closing. Thanks to
assistance provided by World Vision Australia, it is now secure until December
2001. Significant further funds were under application at the time of writing
and the future of the program may be secured before the World Vision money
expires.[42]
Disability Policy and Practice
Disabled people suffer discrimination within Laos,
and may be prevented from returning to their former profession if disfigured. It
is generally believed that disabled people have lesser capacity, and this is
even put across in some UXO Awareness
messages.[43] Disabled people
are not allowed to enter the government's vocational rehabilitation training
program.[44] In January 2001, a
Vocational School for the Disabled opened in Ban Sikeud in Vientiane Prefecture,
built and operated by the St. Paul Foundation. It has enrolled 102 students
with a variety of mobility disabilities in a 3-year vocational training
program.
There are currently no disability laws in Lao PDR. A Lao Disabled
Peoples Association (LDPA) has recruited 300 members in Vientiane Municipality,
Vientiane Province, and Bolikhamxay Province, but has no legal recognition. It
has applied for approval to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare who has
been considering their case for some years now. The LDPA asked the Ministry to
draft a national disability law in 1998. The current status of this activity is
unknown. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund has given £100,000 for
capacity building of the
LDPA.[45]
[1] Interview with
Phonesavanh Chantavilay, Chief of the UN Systems Division of the Lao Foreign
Ministry, Vientiane, 1 February
2001.
[2] Statement by
Ambassador Alounkeo Kittikhoun, Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to the
United Nations, to the First Committee of the 55th Session of the UN
General Assembly, New York, 11 October 2000, p.
3.
[3]
See Landmine Monitor Report 1999 and Landmine Monitor Report 2000
for a fuller description of the landmine and UXO problem in
Laos.
[4] Interview with Luc
Delneuville, Program Director, Handicap International (Belgium) Laos, Vientiane,
27 December 2000.
[5]
Handicap International (Belgium), Living with UXO: Final Report National
Survey on the Socio-Economic Impact of UXO in Lao PDR, 1997, p.
79.
[6] Out of 80,538
explosive war remnants removed and destroyed by UXO LAO during the year 2000,
751 were mines.
[7] Bombs and
cluster bomb submunitions make up roughly half the ordnance cleared by UXO LAO.
Out of the 80,538 munitions removed and destroyed in the year 2000, a total of
39,000 were cluster submunitions and
bombs.
[8] Interview with
Bounpone Sayasenh, National Program Director, Lao National UXO Programme,
Vientiane, 25 December 2000; see also, Geneva International Center for
Humanitarian Demining and United Nations Development Programme, A Study of
Socio-Economic Approaches to Mine Action, March 2001, p.
124.
[9] Interview, Bounpone
Sayasenh, National Program Director, Lao National UXO Programme, Vientiane, 25
December 2000; see also, Conclusions and Recommendations in Executive Summary
of the Study on Reimbursable Demining, commissioned by UXO LAO in
2000.
[10] US Military
Trainers completed their mission in 1999, and UXO LAO trainers now carry on all
basic clearance courses for new staff. The UXO LAO Community Awareness program
was also developed under the guidance of the US Special Forces (4th
Psychological Warfare Battalion- Airborne). Interview with Phil Bean, Chief
Technical Advisor, UXO LAO, Vientiane, 10 May
2001.
[11] Interview with
Phil Bean, Chief Technical Advisor, UXO LAO, Vientiane, 10 May
2001.
[12] UXO LAO,
“Proposed Budget for 2001-2003, Implementing Partner Support
2001-2003.” Somewhat different budget figures are provided in the United
Nations Portfolio of Mine-Related Projects. This indicates the UXO LAO budget
in 2001 is US$9.73 million. This includes nearly $3.9 million in operational
expenses, $1.3 million for procurement of vehicles and equipment, $820,000 for
training projects, and $3.7 million for technical advisor support from
implementing partners. According to this document, as of April 2001, UXO LAO
had a funding shortfall of $1.3 million. United Nations Portfolio of
Mine-Related Projects, Lao PDR, April 2001, p. 159. The UN reports that the
budget is expected to decrease to $7 million in 2002 and $5 million in
2003.
[13]
See Landmine Monitor Report 1999 and Landmine Monitor Report 2000
for a description of mine/UXO clearance programs from 1996 to early
2000.
[14] As of December
2000, UXO LAO's Personnel Monthly Report showed 1,120, of whom 581 are clearance
personnel and 35 are Technical
Advisors.
[15] Throughout the
interviews and research for this report, Landmine Monitor consistently received
conflicting information. NGOs often demonstrated a lack of information about
the activities of other agencies who might be running similar programs in
another province.
[16] Email
from Phil Bean, Chief Technical Advisor, UXO LAO, to Landmine Monitor (HRW), 30
July 2001.
[17] UXO LAO
Progress Summary Report, 1 January – 31 December
2000.
[18] Email from Phil
Bean, Chief Technical Advisor, UXO LAO, to Landmine Monitor (HRW), 30 July
2001.
[19] United Nations
Portfolio of Mine-Related Projects, Lao PDR, April 2001, p.
158.
[20] Interview with
Bounpone Sayasenh, National Program Director, Lao National UXO Programme,
Vientiane, 25 December
2000.
[21] Email from Phil
Bean, Chief Technical Advisor, UXO LAO, to Landmine Monitor (HRW), 30 July
2001.
[22] Interview with MAG
Technical Advisor in Xieng Khuang Province, 8 May
2001.
[23] Two minefields in
the Phaxay District of Xieng Khuang Province were fenced by clearance teams. The
minefields were part of the defense of a former firebase for Thai mercenaries
and contained M16 and M14 US-made mines. The fences are periodically checked
and marked, but the signs reportedly disappear each time they are put up. None
were in evidence when Landmine Monitor visited. Researchers were told these
were the only minefields with maintained fences in the country. In Savannakhet
researchers visited another minefield on the edge of a school playground. No
signs were present. Researchers were told that all locals know the area is
dangerous and do not enter
it.
[24] Geneva International
Center for Humanitarian Demining and United Nations Development Program, A
Study of Socio-Economic Approaches to Mine Action, March 2001, p.
140.
[25] Geneva
International Center for Humanitarian Demining and United Nations Development
Program, A Study of Socio-Economic Approaches to Mine Action, March 2001,
p. 139. A yet to be released UXO LAO Cost/Benefit Analysis Report gives an
average cost of US$3,400 per hectare during the year 2000. The
GICHD/UNDP study said private firms indicated costs around $2,200 (and up) per
hectare. The commercial firm Milsearch provided Landmine Monitor with an
estimate of $2-5,000 per hectare. Interview with Paul McGuiness, Manager of
Milsearch, Vientiane, 31 January
2001.
[26] UXO LAO Progress
Summary Report, 1 January – 31 December
2000.
[27] United Nations
Portfolio of Mine-Related Projects, Lao PDR, April 2001, p.
158.
[28] UXO Awareness
Education Activities supported by UNICEF in the Lao PDR, External Evaluation,
June-July 2000.
[29]
Consortium's CA puppet troupe was an exception, as they were Xieng Khouang
Hmong. An undetermined amount of radio programming exists in the three next
largest ethnic languages: Kamu, Hmong and
Bru.
[30]Landmine Monitor
Report 1999 and
2000.
[31] UXO LAO
Summary Report of UXO Accidents, 1 January – 31 December
2000.
[32] UXO LAO Progress
Summary Report, 1 January – 31 December
2000.
[33] Interview with
Mike Boddington of Prosthetic and Orthotic Worldwide Education and Relief,
Washington, DC, 9 March
2001.
[34] UXO Awareness
Education Activities supported by UNICEF in the Lao PDR, External Evaluation,
June-July 2000.
[35] Four
percent according to the 1997 survey by Handicap International (Belgium). A
small school for the blind does exist in the National Rehabilitation Center but
only accepts children who have been blind since
birth.
[36] The War Victim
Assistance Fund is supported by the US Leahy War Victims Fund, which has
committed US$2.6 million over a 3-year timeframe until June
2003.
[37] Consortium Lao
information sheet, “The War Victims Assistance
Project.”
[38] COPE is
a partnership between the Ministry of Public Health, POWER, the International
Limb Project, World Vision, the Cambodian School for Prosthetics and Orthotics
(CSPO) and the Association for Aid and Relief
(AAR).
[39] Interview with
humanitarian aid worker, Vientiane, 31 January
2001.
[40] Interview with
Thomas Keolker, Country Director of COPE, Vientiane, 5 May 2001. He stated that
while they know the victims in these groups are out there, they do not come to
the Center. COPE is trying to discover
why.
[41] In the Trust Fund
founding document, it outlines the interventions eligible to receive its support
and Point 8 includes: Assistance to provincial and district health services to
strengthen the capacity to deal with accident victims, especially with regards
to emergency treatment of trauma injuries, or rehabilitation. To date, COPE has
been told that they cannot use money allotted to the Trust
Fund.
[42] Interview with
Thomas Keolker, Country Director of COPE, Vientiane, 5 May 2001, Email to
Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Mike Boddington, Director, POWER, 26 July
2001.
[43] Interview with
humanitarian aid worker, Vientiane, 31 January 2001. The worker observed UXO LAO
Community Awareness workers make an ordinary presentation to school children
during which they repeatedly stated that if the children became a survivor of an
UXO incident they would be able to do nothing for themselves. Also in UXO
Awareness Education Activities supported by UNICEF in the Lao PDR, see 3.7
Destigmatise UXO Accident Survivors, p.
18-19.
[44] Interviews with
persons working with disabled people, Vientiane, 31 January 2001 and 5 & 9
May 2001.
[45] The Diana Fund
has given £100,000 of a £277,000 budget for a 3-year capacity building
program for the LDPA through POWER, one of the COPE NGO partners.