Key developments since May 2005: During the visit of a Canadian
government delegation in November 2005 to promote the Mine Ban Treaty, officials
from both the defense and foreign ministries insisted that Vietnam no longer
produces antipersonnel mines. Several officials indicated that Vietnam will
join the treaty at some point and stressed that it already respects the spirit
of the treaty by not producing, selling or using antipersonnel mines. The pilot
phase of the UXO and Landmine Impact Assessment and Technical Survey concluded
in May 2005. Two NGOs ceased working in Vietnam at the end of 2005. UNICEF
received five-year funding for mine action focusing on mine risk education and
advocacy. There were at least 112 new casualties in 2005.
Mine Ban Policy
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Ministry of Defense has insisted that antipersonnel landmines are necessary
for defensive purposes. Vietnam has abstained from voting on every annual
pro-ban UN General Assembly resolution since 1996, including UNGA Resolution
60/80 on 8 December 2005 calling for universalization and full implementation of
the Mine Ban Treaty. Nevertheless, Vietnam has expressed its opposition to the
indiscriminate use of landmines and its support for the humanitarian objectives
of the Mine Ban Treaty.[1]
The Canadian government undertook a mission to Vietnam from 12-16 November
2005 to promote the Mine Ban Treaty. The delegation included retired General
Maurice Baril, the former head of the Canadian Armed Forces and now Special
Advisor for Mine Action. The delegation met with representatives of the
ministries of defense, foreign affairs, labor, war invalids and social affairs,
and the National Assembly.[2] Senior
officials indicated support for joining the Mine Ban Treaty, and sooner rather
than later. They stressed that Vietnam is respecting the spirit of the treaty
by not producing, selling or using antipersonnel
mines.[3]
In July 2005, a representative of the Technology Center for Bomb and Mine
Disposal (BOMICEN) of the Ministry of Defense told Landmine Monitor,
“Vietnam is already implementing many of the objectives and activities of
the Ottawa Treaty, even though we have not signed. Vietnam is on the road to
clearance, education, and helping victims, and these are the humanitarian
objectives of the treaty.”[4] In April 2005, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nguyen Duc Hung,
told Landmine Monitor, “On the Mine Ban Treaty, the legal authorities are
working hard on that.... We see the importance of this treaty, and we are
considering it.”[5]
Vietnam did not attend the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Zagreb, Croatia
in November-December 2005, or the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in
June 2005 and May 2006.
Vietnam has signed but not ratified the Convention on Conventional
Weapons.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, and Use
In March 2000, a defense official told Landmine Monitor that Vietnam
continued to produce antipersonnel
mines.[6] Without any statement to
the contrary since that time, Landmine Monitor has continued to list the country
as a producer.[7]
However, during the visit of the Canadian delegation in November 2005,
officials from both the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs
insisted that Vietnam no longer produces antipersonnel mines. Canadian General
Baril told the press, “In all our meetings, we were assured that Vietnam
does not produce any mines, is not now using any mines, will not sell any
mines.” He also noted 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.”[8]
Vietnam apparently maintains a policy against export of antipersonnel mines.
In 2001, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to Landmine Monitor that,
“Vietnam has never exported and will never export
mines.”[9] Despite the denial
of past export, it appears Vietnam provided antipersonnel mines to Cambodia,
perhaps until the early 1990s.[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] In 2000, a
BOMICEN official indicated that the Ministry of Defense was in the process of
destroying “tens of thousands” of unsafe pre-1975
mines.[12]
There have been no reports of recent use of antipersonnel mines by Vietnamese
government forces. The army last laid mines in significant numbers during
border conflicts with Cambodia and China in the late 1970s and during
Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia from 1979 to 1990.
Landmine and UXO Problem
Vietnam is heavily contaminated by unexploded ordnance (UXO), 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 by UXO and mines,[13] which
have been said to contaminate as much as 20 percent of Vietnam’s land
surface (or 66,578 square
kilometers).[14] The most affected
provinces are Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri located in central Vietnam.
Many UXO are also found along the border with Laos, a target of intensive
bombing during the war.[15]
Ministry of Defense officials cited by Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
(VVAF) said in 2003 that Vietnam still had some three million mines in the
ground.[16] Some mined areas date
back to the Dien Bien Phu campaign against French colonial rule in 1954, but
most result from conflicts with Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge in 1975 and with
China in the 1970s. Significant demining has been carried out on
Vietnam’s borders with these countries but mines reportedly remain a
serious problem.[17]
UXO pose a greater threat to the civilian population than do mines.
Officials have estimated the amount of war-era contamination at anywhere from
350,000 to 800,000 tons.[18] The
most common types of UXO are BLU 26/36 cluster bomblets and M79 rifle grenades,
which are together responsible for 65 percent of injuries since 1975. Although
casualties have fallen sharply from the levels reported in the 1990s, an impact
survey recorded 529 casualties in the three central provinces alone in the past
five years, including 249
deaths,[19] and UXO caused at least
112 new casualties in 2005 (See Landmine/UXO Casualties section in this
report).
Contamination was most severe in the years immediately after the war, but as
recently as 2003, 41 of Vietnam’s 64 provinces reported new UXO
finds.[20 ] UXO are found in every
type of topography, much of it 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.[21] Workers on the Ho Chi
Minh Highway running from the north to the south through affected areas near
Vietnam’s western borders have found tens of thousands of items of UXO
since 2001.[22] Coastal areas also
suffer contamination from ship-laid sea mines as well as air-dropped
ordnance.[23]
Mine/UXO Program
Vietnam does not have a formal national mine/UXO program. Clearance is
undertaken mainly by the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), directed at the
national level by BOMICEN and coordinated by provincial authorities at the
provincial level.
The Ministry of Defense is in charge of military security aspects of the mine
issue and shares responsibility for policy matters with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.[24]
The Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN), part of the
Ministry of Defense, acts as a central coordinating body for clearance
activities. [25] However, NGOs
working across several humanitarian aid sectors and which carry out mine action
are registered under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. In effect, each
project may have its own coordinating agency for its activities without
belonging directly to the national coordination system in the mine action
sector.[26]
The Landmine Working Group acts as a de facto coordinating body for
international NGOs and donors, and meets quarterly. International organizations
coordinate their efforts with the Vietnamese Army. All clearance activity is
conducted with either military observers or military personnel and explosive
ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians leading the teams; all disposal of ordnance,
whether site-based or roving, must be approved by the provincial military units
that have sole access to
explosives.[27]
Mine action priorities are set by the provincial government, which are then
communicated to international organizations. District People’s Committees
decide which sub-districts or other areas should be targeted. According to an
official of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Quang Tri province, the task of
overlaying district-level priorities with provincial aims, and using impact
survey and casualty survey data, remains to be
accomplished.[28]
Demining
BOMICEN and PAVN have undertaken most of the UXO and mine clearance in
Vietnam, but details of their operations are not released. International and
local NGOs also engaged in mine and UXO clearance in 2005 were Mines Advisory
Group, Solidarity Service International, PeaceTrees Vietnam, Project RENEW, and
Potsdam Kommunication and Australian Volunteers International, which finished
working in Vietnam at the end of 2005.
Identification of Mine/UXO-Affected Areas: Surveys and Assessments
In 2005, Vietnam was in the process of conducting its first major survey, the
UXO and Landmine Impact Assessment and Technical Survey, funded by the US
Department of State and implemented by BOMICEN with technical advice, training
and monitoring provided by the VVAF. The survey aimed to provide baseline data
using internationally-accepted methodologies, to conduct technical surveys in
the communes visited, to create a national mine/UXO database incorporating
historical records and on-site verification provided by survey teams, to assess
the socioeconomic impact and rank communities according to the severity of
contamination, and to provide a casualty database to help target victim
assistance and mine risk education.[29]
After two years of negotiation, the first pilot phase of the survey started
in March 2004 and was completed in May 2005, covering the three heavily
contaminated central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri. BOMICEN
teams implemented the survey while VVAF developed protocols for the survey,
trained survey teams and undertook quality assurance in the field as the survey
was conducted. VVAF also installed an Information Management System for Mine
Action (IMSMA) database in BOMICEN headquarters in Hanoi and trained data
management staff.[30] The report of
the first phase was released unofficially in mid-June 2006, but awaited official
approval. The Ministry of Defense also approved a mechanism for providing
survey data to operators, but as of June 2006 no data had been requested or
released.[31]
Survey teams, using a sample survey approach, surveyed 344 communes (63
percent of all communes) in all 27 districts of the three provinces, with a
population at the time of 1.8 million
people.[32] As virtually all
communes had some measure of contamination, the communes were ranked according
to the degree of hazard and the threat of incidents. 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.[33]
Unlike other landmine impact surveys, a major component of this project was
mine/UXO clearance. Between June and November 2004, technical survey teams also
cleared 4.2 square kilometers of land, destroying 32 antipersonnel mines and
6,173 items of UXO, including five bombs of 250 to 1,000lb
weight.[34]
Under the original plan, completion of the first phase was expected to lead
to a survey of the remaining 61 provinces. In 2006, the Ministry of Defense and
US Department of State decided on a phased approach, surveying five or six
provinces a year. This approach imposed less pressure on BOMICEN human
resources and on US funding of the survey’s costs, expected ultimately to
total more than US$10
million.[35]
The US Department of State was due to sign an agreement in July 2006 on
providing $1,280,573 for continuation of the project from May 2006 until March
2007.[36] After training survey
teams in October and November 2006, VVAF expected fieldwork for the second phase
of the survey to begin in December and continue until March 2007 in five
provinces. VVAF planned to deploy some 460 people for this phase, including 400
mine/UXO clearance technicians working in 20 teams. In response to complaints
by commune and provincial authorities in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri,
survey teams were to return to these provinces to survey the 214 communes not
included in the pilot phase; the other provinces to be covered included Nghe An
and Thua Thien Hue.[37]
A further eight provinces were proposed for survey in the second year of
phase II from September 2007 to August 2008. These included the south central
provinces of Quang Ngai, Kon Tum, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Gia Lai, Khanh Hoa, Dac
Lak and Dac Nong.[38]
Mine and UXO Clearance
Mines Advisory Group (MAG), working in two provinces with six international
staff and 190 nationals, was the biggest international operator in Vietnam and
the only one employing and training civilians to undertake 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. In 2005, in addition to clearing 1.1 million square
meters of land in large sites, destroying 2,495 items of UXO and four landmines,
MAG teams also undertook 3,009 EOD tasks and cleared 52 villages of all known or
reported items, destroying 22,003
UXO.[39]
In the first quarter of 2006, MAG’s site teams cleared 176,489 square
meters of land and destroyed 89 UXO; roving teams cleared 48 villages of all
known UXO, undertaking 1,156 EOD tasks and destroying 19 landmines and 7,109
UXO.[40]
Throughout 2005 and the first half of 2006, MAG moved gradually from
large-site clearance to mobile EOD tasks in a bid to reduce the risk of
accidents and increase the social impact of clearance operations and
particularly to address the needs of poor, rural communities. To that end, MAG
provided limited funding for small-scale infrastructure projects, so that
cleared land served as much of the community as
possible.[41]
MAG explored the possibility of participating with a Finnish integrated rural
development project in Quang Tri and with other development NGOs in central
Vietnam. In 2005, MAG finished three years of technical support, advice and
training to UXO clearance operations conducted by two military teams working
under Australian Volunteers International, which completed its project at the
end of August 2005.[42]
PeaceTrees Vietnam worked in Quang Tri province, with a 14-person EOD team as
a joint initiative with provincial authorities and Project
RENEW.[43] The PeaceTrees Vietnam
EOD unit comprises seven deminers, who are soldiers provided by army units
stationed in the province. The unit takes on tasks in response to community
requests. From 2004 through October 2005, in Trieu Phong and Hai Lang
districts, 27,692 square meters and 4,215 items of UXO were cleared. In October
2005, the focus shifted to Huong Hoa district. In the first six months of 2006,
PeaceTrees Vietnam reported clearing 27,129 square meters and destroying 540
UXO.[44]
The German NGO Solidarity Service International (SODI), which was the first
international organization to undertake mine/UXO clearance in Vietnam, operated
in 2005 with three German EOD experts and 52 nationals in Quang Tri province.
Mine/UXO clearance was integrated with community development projects mainly
supporting resettlement. These focused on village infrastructure such as roads,
water and electrical supply, construction of schools and kindergartens, family
houses with sanitation systems, as well as income generation schemes. SODI also
trains EOD supervisors seconded from the army.
In 2005, SODI cleared a total of 910,200 square meters, destroying 5,704
items of UXO. This included 704,900 square meters of area clearance in which
3,345 UXO were destroyed and 205,300 square meters were cleared by two roving
teams undertaking small EOD tasks in response to community requests, which
destroyed 2,359 UXO. Since April 2006, SODI became active in the neighboring
province of Thua Thien Hue following up projects initiated by Potsdam
Kommunikation; it added a project manager to its staff to oversee humanitarian
demining in both provinces.[45]
Potsdam Kommunikation worked from 17 January 2005 until the end of the year
with a staff of three German advisors and 50 Vietnamese conducting EOD with site
clearance and mobile teams as part of integrated development projects in three
districts of Thua Thien Hue province. In that period, site clearance teams
cleared 776,100 square meters of land and mobile teams cleared 174,300 square
meters.[46]
Australian Volunteers International operated site clearance and roving EOD
teams in Phong Dien district of Thua Thien Hue as part of a project that started
in 2003 and finished at the end of 2005 aimed at building the capacity of
Vietnamese army clearance and survey teams. With technical support from MAG, it
provided training for 51 clearance technicians and four team leaders deployed in
two teams who were said to be “fully aware of” international
standards; the project’s completion report commented that “the rate
at which these standards will be adopted by local military units responsible for
mine clearance is not known.” Mine/UXO clearance operations in 2005,
which concluded at the end of August, resulted in clearance of 420,000 square
meters of land and removal of 6,867 UXO (1,660 removed during site clearance and
5,207 by roving EOD operations).[47]
Mine/UXO Risk Education
Six international organizations working with Vietnamese counterparts carried
out mine/UXO risk education (MRE) activities in 2005: UNICEF, Project RENEW,
Catholic Relief Services, PeaceTrees Vietnam, SODI and Potsdam Kommunikation.
Australian Volunteers International was not involved in MRE in 2005. Potsdam
Kommunikation’s MRE activities were taken over by SODI in 2006.
Over 230,000 people received MRE directly during
2005.[48] Most MRE activities
continued to focus on the three central provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Tri and
Thua Thien Hue, with more resources being directed to the Ho Chi Minh Highway
corridor. Some MRE was also conducted in three provinces of the Central
Highlands (Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Dac
Nong).[49] Coordination is focused
at the provincial level with international organizations working in partnership
with regional government or para-statal bodies. UNICEF is one of the few
organizations working nationwide on MRE.
UNICEF expanded its engagement in mine/UXO risk education with annual funding
of $275,000 (from Canada, Sweden and the US) for the period 2006-2010. In
January 2006, a full-time MRE officer was appointed under UNICEF’s
Childhood Injury Prevention Program.[50]
UNICEF’s central counterpart has been the Committee for Population,
Family and Children; at the provincial level, UNICEF worked in partnership with
the Youth Union and Department of Education and Training in Quang Tri province,
and with mine action NGOs. The Ministry of Defense remained UNICEF’s
advisory agency for this project. In 2005-2006, UNICEF targeted the general
public, but with a focus on children in the most heavily-affected areas of Quang
Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue provinces, and in 2005 in Gia Lai, Kon Tum
and Dac Nong provinces. In addition to MRE provided directly to some 80,000
children and 80,000 adults, mass media are estimated to have reached around 2.5
million people.[51]
As well as mass media, UNICEF provided MRE via communities and schools,
mainly as a stand-alone activity, which was not linked to demining or EOD
operators.[52] UNICEF supported
mainstreaming of MRE in primary schools throughout Quang Tri province.
Child-to-child activities were conducted on a small scale in Kon Tum province to
follow-up on MRE undertaken in
2005.[53]
In May-June 2006, UNICEF started implementing a project with a special focus
on MRE and advocacy. The project aimed to provide training opportunities in MRE
and project management for existing and new counterparts, and to support them
publicizing information about the UXO/mine situation in Vietnam. It was also
planned to examine the need for national MRE
standards.[54] A Geneva
International Centre for Humanitarian Demining training course for 25 MRE
practitioners was organized in early
2006.[55]
UNICEF considers that MRE in Vietnam needs better coordination to make sure
that organizations work in a more consistent and complementary manner; there is
“no formal Mine Action coordination entity.” The lack of updated
nationwide UXO/mine casualty data makes it difficult to plan interventions and
to measure their impact.[56]
Project RENEW continued its MRE program in Trieu Phong district in Quang Tri
province in 2005 and expanded its activities to Hai Lang district. It worked
through local partnerships with the provincial television and radio station, the
Youth Union and Children’s House. In 2005, Project RENEW produced the
first MRE mass media program in the native language of an ethnic minority group
in the province. It estimated that mass media reached about 500,000 people in
the province; it reported exposing 132,520 people to MRE messages communicated
by loudspeaker. It has organized community camping events, parades, art
performances and painting competitions in several communes, with games and plays
used as effective tools to highlight mine awareness messages reaching more than
40,000 people, mainly children. A particularly effective method to deliver MRE
was “to integrate MRE into village meetings.” The project divides
the targeted audience into five groups: farmers, children, women, youth and
private deminers.[57]
Project RENEW’s telephone hotline for people to report suspected items
received 38 calls in 2005. Initially people had to pay for the calls; since
November 2005 they can call free of
charge.[58]
With additional funding
received in August 2005, Project RENEW planned to expand its MRE activities to
the entire province of Quang Tri.[59] The US Department of State granted $32,919 to the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund (VVMF) to provide first aid training and medical equipment to
Vietnamese health workers in Quang Binh province relevant to mine/UXO incidents,
and to provide MRE to at-risk adults who recycle scrap metal from
UXO.[60]
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) continued school-based MRE in cooperation with
the departments of education and training in Quang Tri province and with the
support of UNICEF. In 2005, it provided MRE to an additional 11 schools in
Trieu Phong and in a new district, Gio Linh, reaching 9,500 people (5,000 were
children and 4,000 were parents attending school/community meetings). Since
2000, 400 teachers and school administrators have been trained in MRE. CRS
revised and reprinted the MRE curriculum as well as other materials with the
support of an international consultant and in an ongoing exchange with partners
in Laos. CRS continued its effort to mainstream MRE into all schools
province-wide.[61]
SODI included MRE
components in its integrated mine action project in Quang Tri province, mainly
in the districts of Trieu Phong, Cam Lo and in Dong Ha town. In 2005,
SODI’s mobile MRE team in cooperation with the Women’s Union and
with schools, reached 7,159 people, including 6,800 schoolchildren. Since 1998,
SODI has provided MRE to about 21,000 people. Teaching materials for teachers
were developed and
tested.[62]
PeaceTrees Vietnam, also active in Quang Tri province in an integrated mine
action program primarily in two districts, Gio Linh and Vinh Linh, received a
grant of $25,000 from UNICEF in 2005 to implement MRE. PeaceTrees Vietnam
cooperated with the Women’s Union and provided teaching materials to local
libraries, and worked with the Committee for Population, Family and Children of
Quang Tri province and the provincial military. Its community awareness team
relies on MRE tools such as posters, paintings and other visual
media.[63]
Potsdam Kommunikation worked on an integrated mine action project in three
districts of Thua Thien Hue province during 2005, reaching 12,750 persons with
MRE messages. It also trained future teachers in the provision of
MRE.[64]
Funding and Assistance
In 2005, six countries reported providing US$5,736,918 for mine action in
Vietnam, an increase from 2004 ($4,924,451 provided by four
countries).[65] Donors in 2005
were:
Australia: A$80,000 ($61,016) to LSN for survivor assistance peer support
networks;[66]
Canada: C$150,000 ($123,813) to UNICEF for
MRE;[67]
Germany: €1,064,123 ($1,324,727), consisting of €558,284
($695,008) to SODI for UXO and mine clearance in Quang Tri province, and
€505,839 ($629,719) to Potsdam Kommunikation for mine/UXO clearance in Hue
province;[68]
Norway: NOK430,500 ($66,835) to the Tromsø Mine Victim Resource
Center;[69]
Switzerland: CHF200,000 ($160,527) to ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled;
and,[70]
US: $4,000,000, consisting of $2,850,000 from the Department of State
(including $1,046,000 to MAG for its community-based program in Central
Vietnam), $750,000 from USAID/Leahy War Victims Fund, and $400,000 from the
Centers for Disease Control.[71]
International mine action NGOs working in Vietnam also received funding from
a variety of other bilateral, multilateral and private sources. Landmine
Monitor identified contributions from Adopt-A-Minefield of $370,467 in 2005
($360,467 to MAG for mine clearance, and $10,000 to Clear Path International for
survivor assistance), and from SODI of €32,962 ($41,034) for integrated
demining, UXO clearance and resettlement in Quang Tri Province. Including these
private contributions, total international donor funding reported in 2005
amounted to $6,148,419.
The US Department of State planned to contribute $3.3 million in its 2006
fiscal year.[72]USAID’s
Leahy War Victims Fund was reported to have provided more than $19 million to
Vietnam since fiscal year
1991.[73]
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.[74]
Landmine/UXO Casualties
In 2005, there were at least 112 new landmine/UXO casualties from 76
incidents; 35 were killed (eight children) and 77 were injured (31 children);
males accounted for 88 percent of casualties. Incidents were reported in seven
provinces, including 44 in Quang Tri province and 30 in Quang
Binh.[75] This is a significant
decrease compared to 238 casualties in 130 incidents reported in 2004 (89 killed
and 149 injured).[76] However, with
no nationwide data collection this may not accurately represent the situation,
as casualties are believed to be significantly under-reported, particularly in
the mountainous areas. Estimates of new casualties range from between 1,200 and
about 3,000 each year.[77]
The majority of casualties in Vietnam are caused by cluster munitions and
other UXO (55 percent of casualties from 2003 to 2005), rather than
antipersonnel mines (11 percent).[78] Survivors of cluster munition and UXO incidents suffer greater incidences
of upper body trauma, upper limb loss and blindness. Scrap metal collection,
“bomb hunting” and tampering with ordnance were the most common
activities at the time of recent incidents, representing at least 62 percent of
casualties from 2001 to 2005 in the three provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Binh and
Ha Tinh; farming, tending livestock, collecting firewood and fetching water
accounted for at least 34 percent of recent
casualties.[79]
One demining accident was reported in 2005: on 18 May, a deminer was killed
in Linh Hai commune during clearance
operations.[80]
Casualties continued to be reported in 2006; from January to May, there were
at least 26 including 10 killed (four children) and 16 injured (9
children).[81] On 30 May 2006, six
children in Gia Lai found a cluster munition in a spring where their grandfather
had thrown it after finding it in his field; three of the children were killed
and three were injured.[82]
The total number of mine/UXO casualties in Vietnam is not known. The most
up- to-date available nationwide statistics continued to be those released by
the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in December 2000, which
reported 38,849 people killed and 65,852 injured since
1975.[83] Limited information made available from the UXO/Landmine Impact Survey
conducted by BOMICEN and VVAF provided some insight into incidents in the
provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri, where 524 (66 percent) of the
communes were surveyed. Between 1975 and 2000, there were at least 10,068
casualties (4,568 killed and 5,500 injured): Quang Tri had 4,998 casualties (50
percent) with 2,152 killed and 2,846 injured; Quang Binh had 3,482 casualties
(34 percent) with 1,706 killed and 1,776 injured; and Ha Tinh had 1,588
casualties (16 percent) with 710 killed and 878 injured. Between 2001 and 2005
there were at least 529 casualties (249 killed and 280 injured). Quang Tri had
273 casualties (52 percent) with 120 killed and 153 injured; Quang Binh had 186
casualties (35 percent) with 100 killed and 86 injured; and Ha Tinh had 70
casualties (13 percent), with 29 killed and 41 injured. For the 2001-2005 data
only, details of age, gender, location and activity at the time of the incident
were avialable: of the 506 casualties whose gender and age were known, 445 (88
percent) were male, 61 (12 percent) were female, and 160 were children (131 male
and 29 female).[84] The
BOMICEN/VVAF data confirmed that of other organizations in the three provinces:
scrap metal collection and tampering account for at least 62 percent of recent
casualties where the activity was known; normal daily activities, such as
farming, herding and construction, accounted for 34 percent of recent
casualties. Fourteen casualties (eight killed and six injured) were attributed
to military demining operations. The incident rate per 1,000 of population in
the mountainous areas is 3.2 times higher than the next highest rate (midlands)
and 9.4 times higher than the lowest rate (inland
delta).[85]
Survivor Assistance
Medical and healthcare services in Vietnam are provided by the Ministry of
Health at the provincial, district and sub-district levels; rehabilitation
services are provided by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor,
Invalids and Social Affairs. There are adequate healthcare and rehabilitation
services for mine/UXO survivors, but they face obstacles accessing services
because of cost and distance of medical facilities from the affected areas. A
health insurance program for people with disabilities covers only one percent of
the estimated disabled population.[86] The government-sponsored community-based rehabilitation (CBR) program
operates in 46 of the 64 provinces, providing services, vocational training and
social reintegration for people with
disabilities.[87]
Clear Path International (CPI), which changed to national staff management in
March 2005, provided emergency assistance to mine/UXO casualties in nine
provinces from central to southern Vietnam, and continued direct assistance in
the districts of Vinh Linh in Quang Tri and Le Thuy in Quang
Binh.[88] In 2005, CPI responded to
77 mine/UXO incidents, assisting 113
casualties.[89] The Emergency
Outreach Services program provides transportation and financial support for
emergency medical needs, and offers financial assistance to
families.[90] Since 2003, CPI has
sponsored survivor participation in local, regional and national Paragames
events; 85 were sponsored in 2005.[91] In 2005, CPI assessed a further 117 households in Vinh Linh district and
direct assistance was provided to 747 mine/UXO survivors and their families.
This included 102 new trauma care patients, 12 ongoing medical care patients,
386 scholarships, 243 matching grants in two districts and 560 wheelchairs
distributed. Planned redistribution of a “pig bank” revolving fund,
begun in June 2004 with 20 families from Vinh Linh, was postponed in late 2005
and again in early 2006 due to outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in the
region. CPI completed assistance to Vinh Linh district in December 2005, after
four years of implementation. In the same month, it signed an agreement to
provide direct assistance in the neighboring district of Cam Lo; as of March
2006, household assessments had been conducted in three of the nine
sub-districts.[92] Previously, CPI
had conducted assessment, implementation and monitoring of assistance through
outreach teams comprising survivors and local partners. Grant funding for the
outreach team project ended in 2005, and the teams were disbanded; however, one
survivor from Cam Lo district continued working with CPI on a part-time
basis.[93] Emergency medical
support was also provided to one Lao casualty who was treated in Dong
Ha.[94]
The Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD) of the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) has supported the Ho Chi Minh City Rehabilitation Center and
eight prosthetic centers. Annual Tripartite Co-operation Agreements with the
Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Vietnam Red Cross
extended ICRC-SFD support for the program, which covers the cost of the first
prosthetic fitting of amputees without state support. The Vietnam Red Cross was
responsible for identifying amputees in need of services and providing follow-up
nationwide. In 2005, the Red Cross component of the project was expanded to
cover 59 out of 64 provinces, making the SFD the principal provider of
prosthetics in the country. In 2005, centers supported by ICRC-SFD produced
4,453 prostheses, including 2,875 for war-related amputees (mainly due to
mines), and distributed 6,696 crutches and 487 wheelchairs. ICRC-SFD also
provided ongoing training for prosthetic/orthotic technicians and
physiotherapists, and included two practical tutorials in Kon Tum for
manufacture of trans-femoral
prostheses.[95]
The US-based Prosthetics Outreach Foundation (POF) supported the Prosthetics
Outreach Center in Hanoi, the Ba Vi Orthopedic Technology Center in Ha Tay
province, and rehabilitation centers and prosthetic clinics in the Nghe An,
Quang Binh, Quang Ninh and Thai Binh
provinces.[96] After three years of
assistance funded by USAID, the project to assist the Orthopedic Technical
Rehabilitation Center ended, having assured access to a broad range of assistive
devices for the first time. In 2005, POF served 257 amputees, mostly through
mobile outreach to remote rural areas with prosthetic components made in
Vietnam, and provided 54 orthopedic
surgeries;[97] one female landmine
survivor from Lao Cai province received a
prosthesis.[98] In December 2005,
three Vietnamese athletes competed in the 2005 ASEAN Paragames in Manila,
Philippines, with specialized prosthetics provided by
POF;[99] one of the competitors
was a survivor from Quang Tri
province.[100]
Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH) continued assistance to five
rehabilitation centers. In 2005, it distributed 3,400 devices (1,670 prosthetic
limbs and 1,730 wheelchairs). It also operated a grassroots project for skills
training and employment for war survivors and other people with disabilities.
The program rotates through different provinces on an annual basis; in 2005, the
project was completed in Da Nang and began in 2006 in Ho Chi Minh
City.[101]
The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation has funded five rehabilitation
centers in Hanoi, Hoa Binh, Ha Nam, Thai Binh, Ha Giang and Nam Dinh provinces,
where it developed workshops and provided training. In 2005, the Mobile
Outreach Program worked in Ha Giang and Nam Dinh provinces. Previously, the
program was active in eight provinces, but in 2005 the strategy changed: in
provinces where new prosthetics workshops and training have begun, a year is
spent developing local staff capacity before beginning outreach activities. In
2005, 1,534 people with disabilities were assisted, of which 35 were survivors,
and 30 received prostheses and rehabilitation in Ha
Giang.[102] VVAF, with funding
from Adopt-A-Minefield, collected data in Ha Giang related to the incidence of
mine/UXO casualties in the province, which was found to be low. Nevertheless,
the activity led to the development of the Ha Giang orthopedic center and an
orthotic workshop in Nam
Dinh.[103]
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and Project RENEW operated a survivor
assistance program in Trieu Phong and Hai Lang districts of Quang Tri province.
First aid training specific to mine/UXO casualties was provided to 459 local
healthcare workers through the Trauma Care Foundation; emergency first aid is
available to new casualties and the estimated time of transport to provincial
medical facilities is about one hour. The project also worked with mine/UXO
survivors and the Vietnam Women’s Union to reintegrate survivors into the
workforce. As of May 2006, 265 beneficiaries had achieved “income levels
equal to or above the per capita” in Quang Tri, and there was a waiting
list for assistance. In 2005, Project RENEW also provided 79 prostheses and 21
orthoses through its cooperation with Quang Tri Provincial Hospital’s
prosthetics and orthotics workshop in Dong Ha. Project RENEW planned to begin a
phased replication of the project over the next five years in five more
districts in Quang Tri.[104] It
will also facilitate the relocation of the provincial prosthetics and orthotics
workshop to the Kids First Rehabilitation Village to utilize state of the art
productions facilities available
there.[105]
Landmine Survivors Network in Vietnam (LSNV) continued to use peer support to
assist mine/UXO survivors and other amputees in Quang Binh province, extending
its work with local authorities to 2009, and expanding into 15 communes of the
Bo Trach district (from an initial six communes). LSNV conducted a survey in
these 15 communes that identified 1,639 survivors and amputees in 2005. There
is a waiting list for LSNV services. In 2005, direct assistance was provided to
350 people with disabilities; 2,300 people received indirect benefits from
activities such as institutional support to four sub-district clinics, and
community social integration events. LSNV planned to expand to one more
district of Quang Binh in
2006.[106]
The American NGO, Kids First Vietnam, provided assistance to survivors in
Quang Tri through a scholarship program for disadvantaged youth, including 272
students with war-related disabilities during the 2005-2006 school year. As of
June 2006, the medical clinic was active at the Kids First Rehabilitation
Village under construction in Dong Ha, Quang
Tri.[107]
PeaceTrees Vietnam provided assistance to 60 mine/UXO survivors in 2005, of
which, 14 received medical treatment for ongoing
needs.[108]
Other organizations assisting mine/UXO survivors in Vietnam included the
Support Association for People with Disabilities (in each sub-district),
American Red Cross, Handicap International, Health Volunteers Overseas and Ho
Chi Minh City Sponsoring Association for Poor Patients. Other charitable groups
are based in Buddhist temples and Catholic
churches.[109]
The American NGO, Fund for Reconciliation and Development, and the Vietnam
Peace and Development Fund, co-sponsored the first international workshop in
Vietnam on survivor assistance, in Hue on 19-20 December 2005, with funding from
UNICEF. The War Legacies Survivor Assistance Workshop for the Mekong Sub-Region
brought together 75 participants, including survivors, from government agencies
and NGOs in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to identify key concepts, characteristics
and challenges.[110] Social
reintegration and risk reduction were identified as key concepts; key
characteristics were availability, timeliness, coordination, integration and
sustainability of transfer to national management; key challenges were funding,
cooperation and coordination, data collection, and some form of economic
replacement for scrap metal collection was lacking. The event was a follow-up
activity to a similar workshop held in 2004 in Siem Reap that focused on
MRE.[111]
Vietnam has legislation to protect the rights of people with disabilities to
health care, education, employment, physical access and social participation.
However, implementation remains weak, lacking mechanisms for monitoring and
enforcement.
Decree 88, adopted by the prime minister in July 2003, provided a legal basis
for independent associations to register with the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In 2005, the government provided VND12 billion
($751,524)[113] for vocational
training of people with disabilities, and government agencies worked with both
domestic and foreign organizations to provide protection, support, physical
access, education and employment. The Ministry of Construction, which enacted
two codes relating to access for people with disabilities in the construction or
major renovation of new government and large public buildings, has trained
architects and engineers in the new requirements. During 2005, the government
established two provincial enforcement units to work on an enforcement and
compliance process to support the codes.
The Vietnam Business Association for Disabled Employees, set up in April
2003, is the first commercial organization for people with disabilities working
in the private sector. People with disabilities own more than 400 businesses in
Vietnam, employing 20,000 other people with disabilities. Vietnamese law
established a quota of two to three percent of employees who must be people with
disabilities. Firms that comply with the law receive preferential treatment and
firms that do not are subject to fines; however, the law was not enforced
uniformly.
The Disability Forum, a coalition of local organizations, works to raise
awareness on the rights and needs of people with disabilities.
[1] For developments in
Vietnam’s policy from 1997-2004, see Landmine Monitor Report 2004,
pp. 1159-1160. [2] “Canada Wishes to
Cooperate with Viet Nam in Landmine Elimination,” Vietnam News Agency
Bulletin (Hanoi), 16 November 2005. The delegation met with Deputy Foreign
Minister Le Van Bang, Deputy Minister of Defense Gen. Nguyen Huy Hieu, and
BOMICEN Director Lt. Col. Nguyen Trong Canh, among others. [3] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor by members of the Canadian delegation. [4] Interview with Lt. Col. Nguyen
Trong Canh, Director, Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN),
Ministry of Defense, Hanoi, 27 June 2005. He went on to note that decisions on
acceding to international conventions are made at overall government level and
do not come under the review of BOMICEN, which is a technical implementation
agency only. [5] Meeting with Nguyen Duc Hung,
Director General, Americas Department, and Assistant Minister, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Hanoi, 20 April 2005. On 14 June 2005, the National Assembly
of Vietnam passed the “Law on Signing, Accession and Implementation of
International Treaties,” which sets out detailed procedures for
consideration and participation in all forms of international treaties. Among
the principles the law establishes are that Vietnam should participate in
international treaties that “respect freedom, independence, territorial
integrity, and prohibit the use or threat of force.” In the case of a
multilateral treaty involving issues of borders and security, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs bears primary responsibility for the accession process.
However, the Ministry of Justice must also consider the legal questions
involved, and “other concerned agencies and organizations” must also
submit their opinions before the treaty is presented to the Prime Minister for
signing. National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, “Luat Ky
ket, Gia nhap va Thuc hien cac Dieu uoc Quoc te (Law on Signing, Accession and
Implementation of International Treaties),” Law # 41/2005/QH11, passed 14
June 2005; see articles 3, 5, 9 and 49. [6] Interview with Col. Bui Minh
Tam, Ministry of Defense, Hanoi, 15 March 2000. [7] In the past, Vietnam produced
copies of US, Chinese and Soviet mines. The only mine Vietnam is known to have
produced since the 1990s is the “apple mine,” which is a recycled
version of the BLU-24 bomblet dropped by the US during the war. See Landmine
Monitor Report 1999, p. 513. [8] “Canada Wishes to
Cooperate with Viet Nam in Landmine Elimination,” Vietnam News Agency
Bulletin (Hanoi), 16 November 2005; information provided to Landmine Monitor
by members of the Canadian delegation. [9] Correspondence from Nguyen
Manh Hung, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 March 2001. An internal policy
document provided to Landmine Monitor by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
“The Question of Antipersonnel Mines,” 2 March 2000, also stated
that Vietnam has not, and will never, export antipersonnel mines. [10] Human Rights Watch,
Landmines: A Deadly Legacy, 1993, pp. 103-104; Paul Davies, War of the
Mines, 1994, pp. 13-19, 44. [11] Interview with Lt. Gen. Vu
Tan, Ministry of Defense, Hanoi, 13 May 2003. [12] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2000, p. 542. [13] BOMICEN and Vietnam Veterans
of America Foundation (VVAF), “Executive Summary, Unexploded Ordnance and
Landmine Impact Assessment and Technical Survey Report, Phase 1,” Hanoi,
14 October 2005, pp. 2-3. [14] “You will never be
able to enumerate the sufferings,” interview with Lt. Col. Nguyen Trong
Canh, BOMICEN, People’s Army Newspaper, Hanoi, 25 December 2005;
see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1161. [15] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, pp. 1161-1162. [16] Ibid. [17] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 920. [18] 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; Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tan, Regional Workshop on Development
Challenges of Mine Clearance and Victim Assistance, Bangkok, 30-31 August 2004.
[19] BOMICEN/VVAF,
“Executive Summary, Unexploded Ordnance and Landmine Impact Assessment and
Technical Survey Report, Phase 1,” Hanoi, 14 October 2005, p. 6. [20 ] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 1162. [21] BOMICEN/VVAF,
“Executive Summary, Unexploded Ordnance and Landmine Impact Assessment and
Technical Survey Report, Phase 1,” Hanoi, 14 October 2005, pp. 2-3. [22] Interview with Stephen
Bradley, MAG, Dong Ha, 15 April 2005; interview with Rob White, Head of
Operations, MAG, Geneva, 19 September 2005. [23] Interview with Lt. Col.
Nguyen Trong Canh, BOMICEN, Hanoi, 27 June 2005. [24] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 1164. [25] BOMICEN was formerly known
as BOMICO. [26] Interview with Lt. Col.
Nguyen Trong Canh, BOMICEN, Hanoi, 27 June 2005. [27] Ibid; see Landmine
Monitor Report 2004, p. 1165. [28] Interview with Nguyen Duc
Quang, Director, Foreign Relations, Department of Foreign Affairs, Dong Ha,
Quang Tri, 14 April 2005; see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp.
1164-1165. [29] BOMICEN/VVAF,
“Executive Summary, Unexploded Ordnance and Landmine Impact Assessment and
Technical Survey Report, Phase 1,” Hanoi, 14 October 2005, p. 2. [30] Ibid. [31] Telephone interview with Kim
Spurway, Survey Program Manager, VVAF, Hanoi, 7 July 2006; email from William
Barron, Director, Information Management and Mine Action Programs, VVAF, 20 July
2006. [32] Email from William Barron,
VVAF, 20 July 2006. [33] BOMICEN/VVAF,
“Executive Summary, Unexploded Ordnance and Landmine Impact Assessment and
Technical Survey Report, Phase 1,” Hanoi, 14 October 2005, p. 4. [34] Ibid, pp. 1-7; BOMICEN/VVAF,
“Survey Analysis Results, Unexploded Ordnance and Landmine Impact
Assessment and Technical Survey Report, Phase 1,” Hanoi, 14 October 2005,
p. 7. [35] Telephone interview with Kim
Spurway, VVAF, Hanoi, 7 July 2006. [36] Telephone interview with,
and email from, John Stevens, Foreign Affairs Officer, US Department of State,
30 June 2006. [37] Telephone interview with Kim
Spurway, VVAF, Hanoi, 7 July 2006; email from William Barron, VVAF, 20 July
2006. [38] Ibid. [39] Email from Rudi Kohnert,
Country Program Manager, MAG, 25 April 2006. [40] Ibid. [41] Ibid. [42] Ibid. [43] Project RENEW,
“Project Overview,” www.landmines.org.vn. RENEW stands for
Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War. Project
RENEW is a joint effort of the Quang Tri People’s Committee and Vietnam
Veterans Memorial Fund. [44] Email from Pham Thi Hoang
Ha, Project Officer, PeaceTrees Vietnam, 27 June 2006. [45] Emails from Ilona
Schleicher, SODI, Berlin, 3 May and 6 June 2006; Ilona Schleicher,
“Vietnam: Minenräumer-Team klärt Lehrer auf,” SODI Report,
1/2006, www.sodi.de, accessed 20 June
2006. [46] Email from Katja Weger, Task
Force Humanitarian Aid, German Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, 5 July 2006. [47] Australian Volunteers
International (AVI), “Final Activity Completion Report, UXO Clearance and
Community Development in Thua Thien Hue Project in Vietnam,” December
2005. [48] In 2005, MRE was provided to
9,500 people by Catholic Relief Services, 7,159 by SODI, 12,750 by Potsdam
Kommunikation, 40,604 by Project RENEW and 160,000 by UNICEF. No data was
obtained from other organizations. [49] Response to Landmine Monitor
MRE Questionnaire by Nguyen Thi Thanh An, Child Injury Prevention Section,
UNICEF Vietnam, 20 March 2006. [50] Response to Landmine Monitor
MRE Questionnaire by Nguyen Thi Thanh An, UNICEF Vietnam, 20 March 2006, and
email, 20 June 2006. [51] Ibid. [52] Response to Landmine Monitor
MRE Questionnaire by Nguyen Thi Thanh An, UNICEF Vietnam, 20 March 2006; see
Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 926. [53] Emails from Nguyen Thi Thanh
An, UNICEF Vietnam, 20 March and 20 June 2006. [54] Ibid. [55] Mine Action Support Group,
“MASG Newsletter – First Quarter 2006,” Washington DC. [56] Email from Nguyen Thi Thanh
An, UNICEF Vietnam, 20 June 2006. [57] Response to Landmine Monitor
MRE Questionnaire by Duong Trong Hue, Officer, Project RENEW, 22 March 2006, and
emails, 19 June and 5 July 2006; www.vvmf.org,
accessed 19 June 2006. [58] Response to Landmine Monitor
MRE Questionnaire by Duong Trong Hue, Project RENEW, 22 March 2006, and email,
19 June 2006; Landmine Working Group of Vietnam, minutes from meeting 3 March
2006. [59] Project RENEW, www.landmines.org.vn, 19 August 2005,
accessed 19 June 2006. [60] US Department of State,
“New Grants to Reinforce U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action,” Washington
DC, 7 March 2006. [61] Response to Landmine Monitor
MRE Questionnaire by Andrew Wells-Dang, Deputy Representative, Catholic Relief
Services (CRS) Hanoi, 10 April 2006; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005,
pp. 926-927; Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1169. [62] Email from Ilona Schleicher,
SODI, 3 May 2006; email from Markus Haake, Actiongroup Landmine.de, Berlin, 8
June 2006; SODI, www.sodi.de; Ilona Schleicher,
“Vietnam: Minenräumer-Team klärt Lehrer auf,” SODI Report,
1/2006. [63] Landmine Working Group of
Vietnam, minutes from meeting 3 March 2006; PeaceTrees Vietnam, Newsletter,
Winter 2005. [64] Email from Katja Weger,
Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, 5 July 2006. [65] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 928. [66] Australia Article 7 Report,
Form J, 27 April 2006. Average exchange rate for 2005: A$1 = US$0.7627. US
Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2006.
[67] Mine Action Investments
database; email from Carly Volkes, DFAIT, 7 June 2006. Average exchange rate
for 2005: US$1 = C$1.2115. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates
(Annual),” 3 January 2006. [68] Germany Article 7 Report,
Form J, 27 April 2006; Mine Action Investments database; Average exchange rate
for 2005: €1 = US$1.2449. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange
Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2006. SODI reported receiving an additional
€98,777 ($122,967) from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development; this is not included in the Landmine Monitor total for 2005. [69] Email from Annette A.
Landell-Mills, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 June 2006. Average exchange rate
for 2005: US$1 = NOK6.4412. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates
(Annual),” 3 January 2006. [70] Email from Rémy
Friedmann, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 April 2006. Average exchange rate
for 2005: US$1 = CHF1.2459. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates
(Annual),” 3 January 2006. [71] Email from H. Murphey McCloy
Jr., Senior Demining Advisor, US Department of State, 19 July 2006. [72] US Embassy in Hanoi,
“U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Assistance,” Press Release, 4 April
2006. [73] “US plans $3.3m more
to demine Viet Nam,” Vietnam News (Hanoi), 6 April 2006. [74] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 928. [75] Landmine Monitor analysis of
data provided by Tran Hong Chi, Program Coordinator, Clear Path International
(CPI), 17 April 2006. [76] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 928. [77] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, pp. 1171-1172. [78] Landmine Monitor analysis of
data provided by Tran Hong Chi, CPI, 17 April 2006. [79] Landmine Monitor analysis of
data from BOMICEN/VVAF, “Survey Analysis Results, Unexploded Ordnance and
Landmine Impact Assessment and Technical Survey Report, Phase 1,” Hanoi,
14 October 2005, pp. 16-17; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 929. [80] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 929. [81] Landmine Monitor analysis of
data provided by Tran Hong Chi, CPI, 17 April and 21 June 2006. [82] “Three siblings killed
by Vietnam War era shell,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur (Hanoi), 1 June
2006. [83] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 929. [84] The information provided
indicated that children were 15 years of age and under. [85] BOMICEN/VVAF, “Survey
Analysis Results, Unexploded Ordnance and Landmine Impact Assessment and
Technical Survey Report, Phase 1,” Hanoi, 14 October 2005, pp. 13-22;
BOMICEN/VVAF, “Executive Summary, Unexploded Ordnance and Landmine Impact
Assessment and Technical Survey Report, Phase 1,” Hanoi, 14 October 2005,
p. 6. [86] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 929. [87] Ibid. [88] Response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire by Tran Hong Chi, CPI, 17 April 2006; CPI, “Assisting
Landmine Survivors, their Families and their Communities,” www.cpi.org, accessed 18 April 2006. [89] Landmine Monitor analysis of
data provided by Tran Hong Chi, CPI, 17 April 2006. [90] Response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire by Tran Hong Chi, CPI, 17 April 2006. [91] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor by Tran Hong Chi, CPI, 21 June 2006. [92] Response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire by Tran Hong Chi, CPI, 17 April 2006. [93] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor by Le Thi Yen Nhi, Program Officer, CPI, 22 June 2006. [94] Response to Landmine Monitor
Questionnaire by Tran Hong Chi, CPI, 17 April 2006. [95] ICRC, “Special Fund
for the Disabled, Annual Report 2005,” Geneva, 10 March 2006, pp. 26-28;
ICRC “Annual Report 2005,” Geneva, June 2006, p. 172. See
Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 930. [96] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 930. [97] Prosthetics Outreach
Foundation (POF), “Year 2005 in Review,” January 2006. [98] POF, “Farming Again
After Landmine Explosion Claims Limb,” www.pofsea.org, accessed 6 June
2006. [99] POF, “Three
Vietnamese track and field amputee athletes competed in December 2005,” www.pofsea.org, accessed 6 June 2006. [100] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor by Tran Hong Chi, CPI, 20 June 2006. Le Thi Hoai Phuong is a
survivor and was a member of the CPI Outreach Team from Vinh Linh before
completion of the project in December 2005. See Landmine Monitor Report
2005, p. 930. [101] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor by Bui Van Toan, VNAH, 22 June 2006, and telephone interview,
21 June 2006; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 930-931. [102] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Wendell Endley, Manager, Rehabilitation Program, VVAF,
Hanoi, 19 April 2006. [103] Telephone interview with
Wendell Endley, VVAF, Hanoi, 22 June 2006. [104] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Hoang Nam, Project Coordinator, Project RENEW, and
Chuck Searcy, Country Representative, VVMF, 8 May 2006; see Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 931. [105] Telephone interview with
John Ward, Director, Kids First Rehabilitation Village, Kids First Vietnam, Dong
Ha, 21 June 2006. [106] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Nguyen Hoa Hoc, Director, LSN Vietnam, 3 May 2006;
email from Kirsten Young, LSN, 19 July 2006; see Landmine Monitor Report
2005, p. 931. [107] Telephone interview with
John Ward, Kids First Vietnam, Dong Ha, 21 June 2006; see Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 931. [108] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by Quang Le, In-country Representative, PeaceTrees
Vietnam, 28 March 2006. [109] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2005, p. 932. [110] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor by Hugh Hosman, War Legacies Program Coordinator, Fund for
Reconciliation and Development, 9 December 2005. [111] Fund for Reconciliation
and Development, “War Legacies Survivor Assistance Workshop for the Mekong
Sub-Region: Panel Discussion Summary,” 20 December 2005, pp. 2-4. [112] US Department of State,
“Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Vietnam,”
Washington DC, 8 March 2006; see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1177;
Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 731. [113] Average exchange rate for
2005: US$1 = VND15967.53534. Landmine Monitor estimate based on www.oanda.com.
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