Over the 20 years of the Vietnam War and the subsequent conflict, approximately 2.75 million tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia, and an estimated 4 to 6 million landmines were buried.
Following the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) was established by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) to address the landmine issue. In 1993, CMAC became a Cambodian government organization, but despite the signing of a peace agreement, conflict continued, slowing down landmine clearance operations.
Read more…
Source: Japan International Cooperation Agency
Sign up for Counter-IED Report Newsletter
Related:
- Cambodia to examine possibility to provide more training for Ukrainian deminers
May 29, 2024
Cambodia will examine the possibility of cooperating with Japan to provide more training for Ukrainian deminers. The pledge was made by Hun Sen, President of the Cambodian Senate, in a video conference meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Ruslan Stefanchuk yesterday afternoon. In reply to the Ukrainian side’s request for Cambodian deminers in Ukraine, Samdech Techo Hun ...
- Cambodia: MK-82 aerial bomb safely defused in Svay Rieng province
May 22, 2024
A Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) expert team has discovered another war-left U.S.-made MK-82 aerial bomb in southeast Svay Rieng province, a mine clearance chief said on Tuesday. According to the official, since the start of the year, the EOD team had unearthed and safely removed nine MK-82 aerial bombs and one 350-kg M117 aerial bomb ...
- Cambodia: Man dies trying to dismantle UXO with axe
May 13, 2024
A man died on Sunday after an unexploded ordnance (UXO), identified as a DK75 mortar shell, exploded while he attempted to dismantle it with an axe to sell as scrap metal. The incident occurred in Trang village, Phnom Dei commune in Banteay Meanchey province’s Phnom Srok district. Brigadier Chhim Bun Chhoeum, Commander of Phnom Srok Military ...
- Cambodia: Thuch backs Ukraine’s participation in Summit to address HRW allegations
May 10, 2024
The 2024 Ottawa Convention Conference chair Ly Thuch has endorsed Ukraine’s participation in the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine-Free World in November, amid allegations of the Ukrainian military’s use of banned antipersonnel mines. This support is in response to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) last year, which claimed it had evidence of the ...
- Cambodia: His Majesty the King visits and presents royal gifts to CMAC staff
May 6, 2024
His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni, King of the Kingdom of Cambodia, visited and donated royal gifts to CMAC staff throughout the country. The Royal Ceremony was held at the Technical Institute for Mine Action, located in Kampong Chhnang City, Kampong Chhnang Province, on the morning of May 6, 2024. Heng Ratana, the Royal Government delegate in ...
- Cambodia: M-82 aerial bomb rendered safe in Kampong Cham province
May 3, 2024
A Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC)’s expert team has found another war-left US-made MK-82 aerial bomb in southeast Kampong Cham province, a mine clearance chief said. CMAC’s director-general Heng Ratana said the MK-82 aerial bomb, weighing around 230kg, had been spotted while workers were digging a canal in Prey Chhor district. “This bomb has been buried ...
- Cambodia: Landmine victims almost doubled in first four months of 2024
May 1, 2024
In the first four months of 2024, mine casualties increased by 92% compared to the same period in 2023, when there were 12 victims. According to Long Kosal, officials at the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) noted that from January to April 2024, there were 23 victims of landmines. This figure represents an ...
- Mine Authority receives charitable funding from Cambodian Garment Training Institute
April 30, 2024
Ly Thuch, Senior Minister and First Vice President of the Mines Authority, presided over the handing-over ceremony of the charity fund of the Cambodian Garment Training Institute (CGTI), provided by Mr. Robert Hwang, Vice President of the Textile, Apparel, Footwear, and Travel Goods Association in Cambodia (TAFTAC), and Mr. Andrew Tey, Director of the CGTI, ...
- Cambodia: Five killed by unexploded ordnance over the weekend
April 22, 2024
Two separate explosions from ordnance left over from Cambodia’s decades of warfare killed five people and injured two others, the head of the country’s demining agency said Monday. Some 4 million to 6 million land mines and other unexploded munitions are estimated to have littered Cambodia’s countryside during almost three decades of war and disorder that ...
- Cambodia: US offers $12 million more in aid for demining mission
April 9, 2024
The United States, as part of its ongoing commitment to help Cambodia achieve its objective of becoming a country free of landmines by 2025, has increased its financial assistance for the Kingdom’s mine clearance activities. The US Embassy on its Facebook page said that the US will continue to support the Kingdom’s efforts to clear landmines ...
- ASEAN member states in Cambodia visit mine clearing activities in Oddar Meanchey province
April 7, 2024
Ly Thuch, First Vice President of Cambodia Mine Action Authority (CMAA), led a delegation from the Embassy of ASEAN Member States in Cambodia to inspect the demining activities of Halo Trust in Anlong Veng commune, Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province and also the representatives from the Embassy of Japan in Cambodia and Prince Holding ...
- UNDP: Landmines kill in seconds, their fallout lasts generations
April 3, 2024
On average, one person is killed or injured by landmines and other explosive ordnance every hour. Their destructive influence lasts long after armed conflict ends, inflicting horrific injuries and death, while trapping communities in poverty and fear. Millions of people are being put in harm’s way as conflict proliferates – from Afghanistan to Myanmar, to Sudan, ...
- Cambodia: CMAA declares Kratie as 15th province to be mine-free
March 26, 2024
Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) has declared Kratie province clear of landmines becoming the 15th mine-free province in the country. During the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 70s, intense fighting took place in Kratie province between opposing forces and it also suffered heavy US aerial bombing. According to the report ...
- Philippines, Cambodia forge alliance against illegal mine and explosive usage
March 20, 2024
In a significant diplomatic move, the Philippines and Cambodia have expressed the joint commitment to combat the grave threat posed by illegal mine and explosives usage, vowing to address the pressing issue that endangers people in both nations. The Philippines Department of National Defence (DND) disclosed that its head Gilberto Teodoro Jr. held discussions with Phan ...
- Cambodia: Landmine explosion kills one in Oddar Meanchey province
March 17, 2024
A boy was killed and his two younger sisters seriously wounded in a landmine explosion in northwest Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province on Sunday, a mine clearance chief said. Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), said the blast occurred Sunday morning in Anlong Veng district when the three siblings followed their mother to ...
- Cambodia records 32 landmine, ERW casualties in 2023, down 22 percent
March 15, 2024
Cambodia reported 32 landmine and explosive remnant of war (ERW) casualties in 2023, a 22 percent decline from 41 in 2022, according to an official report on Thursday. “Four people were killed, 18 others were injured, and the 10 others were amputated in 2023,” the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA)’s report said, adding ...
- Cambodia: Mine Authority and GICHD sign MOU on cooperation in the risk management of explosive remnants of war
March 6, 2024
The Mine Action Authority and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Residual Contamination Management in Cambodia on March 5, 2024. Senior Minister Ly Thuch, First Vice President of the Mine Authority and Chairman of the 2024 Ottawa Convention, presided over the signing ceremony, which was held ...
- Cambodia: CMAC defuse monster 340kg US bomb in Kampong Cham village
February 28, 2024
The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) successfully neutralised a large US air-dropped bomb in Kampong Cham province on February 27. The 340kg bomb, identified as an M117 US general purpose bomb, was defused by CMAC operatives, in a carefully planned operation. A CMAC statement said the large explosive remnant of war (ERW) was discovered in Chakar ...
- Cambodia: Britain allots additional $3.8 million for mine clearance
February 22, 2024
The United Kingdom has pledged a further $3.8 million in funding to support mine clearance efforts in Cambodia, as part of a broader commitment to aid eight countries across Africa and Asia. This new donation, raising the amount of funding to £17 million ($21.5 million), will be directed towards two leading British organisations, the Mines Advisory ...
- Cambodia: Monk injured in explosion in Banteay Meanchey
February 20, 2024
Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) forces will conduct a full search at the Borom Sal Prek Phnom Svaypagoda to ensure there are no more UXO in the pagoda after a monk was injured in an explosion of an unexploded ordnance, injuring his right thigh and near his ear. According to CMAC stated on February 19, 2024 ...
- Cambodia: A man injured in landmine accident in Banteay Meanchey province
February 11, 2024
A 35 years old man got seriously injure by landmine explosion (K59) on February 9, 2024, in Seila Khmer village, O’Bei Choan commune, O’Chrov district, Banteay Meanchey province. According to Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA) the victim named Van Komsort, suffered injuries on both legs. The incident happened when the victim was walking to pick leaves ...
- Cambodia: CMAA asks Laos to join Ottawa Treaty
February 8, 2024
The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) requested Laos at a meeting on Monday to join the other 164 countries attending the Ottawa Convention while Cambodia is chair and hosts the 5th Review Meeting of the organisation. Ly Thuch, Senior Minister and CMAA First Vice-President, met Buakeo Phumvongsay, Laotian Ambassador to Cambodia, at the ...