Cambodia sees rise in landmine/UXO casualties in 1st 4 months
By Xinhua Net - May 17, 2019

Phnom Penh – Cambodia has recorded 47 landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) casualties in the first four months of 2019, up 96 percent compared with 24 casualties over the same period last year, said an official report on Thursday.

During the January-April period this year, eight people were killed, up from only five deaths over the same period last year, said the report of the Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA).

It added that 39 others were either injured or limps amputated during the first four months of this year, up from merely 19 over the same period last year.

In full: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-0 ... 063789.htm

This 2017 Cambodia Daily report gives historical figures;

"Landmine Casualties Dip Below 100 for First Time
By Zsombor Peter -January 4, 2017

The number of victims killed or injured by landmines or other unexploded ordnance is projected to have dropped below 100 last year, for the first time since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

According to the Cambodian Mine Action Authority, 77 Cambodians were killed or injured by mines and UXO between January and November, averaging seven a month.

At the current rate, Mr. Ratana said the total for last year would fall below 100 “for sure.”

Mines and UXO have caused more than 64,000 casualties since the Khmer Rouge were driven from power, killing nearly a third of them and leaving many of the survivors with debilitating lifelong injuries.

Casualties fell drastically after the regime’s fall in 1979. But they soon started climbing into the thousands again as remaining Khmer Rouge rebels and government forces littered the western provinces with millions of new mines and rockets over the course of a protracted civil war through the 1980s.

The casualty numbers have been falling steadily since peaking in 1996 at about 4,200

Casualties unexpectedly rose slightly in 2014 before falling to 111 in 2015, and Mr. Ratana said the same thing could happen again.

The Mine Action Authority is in the process of finalizing a new action plan to carry it through to 2025, by which time it hopes to finish clearing the bulk of the anti-personnel mines that are left.

But a recent assessment of Cambodia’s mine action sector by the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining, commissioned by the U.N. Development Program, said the country was not focusing enough resources on the deadliest and most densely contaminated fields and was at risk of missing its self-imposed deadline.""

The CMAC have been doing massive work clearing mines and UXOs this year - 9,400 UXOs were destroyed in three months.

CMAC destroys 9,400 mines, UXO
Khouth Sophak Chakrya | Publication date 03 April 2019 | 08:54 ICT
CMAC have detected and destroyed more than 9,400 mines and UXO across five provinces in the first three months of this year.

Experts from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) have cleared mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) from 25sqm of farmland and land set to be designated as economic zones in the first three months of this year, CMAC director Heng Ratana said on Monday.

“Over a three-month period, we have cleared mines on a total of 25sqm of land in the provinces of Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Pailin, Preah Vihear and Tbong Khmum. Our priorities are villagers’ farmland and land set to be established as trade zones. We are currently stationed in six locations where we will further carry out mine clearance,” he said.

Ratana said CMAC had detected and destroyed more than 9,400 mines and UXO across the provinces.

During the same period, the number of casualties from mines and unexploded ordnance stood at 44, while CMAC officials and local authorities educated more than 80,000 people about the danger of mines and UXO.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... -mines-uxo