Southeast Asian nations increase cooperation on removing land mines
Southeast Asian nations intensified their joint efforts in recent months to mitigate the hazards of land mines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) in Indo-Pacific countries.
Components of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) hosted meetings and a training event in August 2019 and a joint exercise in September 2019, all built around the theme of taking action to counter threats posed by land mines and ERW in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Half of the countries in the ASEAN region are impacted by land mines and explosive remnants of war, with Cambodia, Lao PDR [Laos], Myanmar [Burma], Thailand and Vietnam amongst the affected states,” said Ly Thuch, senior minister and first vice president of Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, in his opening remarks at the August 19, 2019, training event, pictured, in Phnom Penh. It was co-hosted by the ASEAN Regional Mine Action Center (ARMAC), the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining and the government of Ireland.
“This has had, and continues to have, devastating impact on these nations with tens of thousands of civilian fatalities and over 130,000 people injured,” Ly said.
ARMAC also coordinated a quartet of national consultative meetings on ASEAN mine risk education in Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam on August 13, 16, 22, and September 16, respectively, funded by the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund.
Issues related to locating, isolating and clearing unexploded mines and ERW were a key focus of the largest joint exercise involving all the armed forces of the 10 ASEAN countries and their eight dialogue partner countries in Sentul, Indonesia, the week of September 14-20, 2019.
The ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus expert working group on peacekeeping operations and humanitarian mine action field training exercise succeeded in building “mutual trust and respect,” among the nearly 800 participants, enabling them “to share knowledge and technical skills,” Indonesian National Armed Forces Commander Hadi Tjahjanto said at the close of the exercises.
Ly emphasized the critical need for concerted efforts for mine action such as the six-day training, which was attended by mine action professionals and managers across ASEAN member states, ARMAC reported. Training modules covered operational efficiency and effectiveness, governance, and such aspects of management as quality, risk, information and resources.
The four national consultative meetings focused on building a “comprehensive and integrated approach” to mine risk education on the basis of the best practices of ASEAN member states to educate their populations on the perils of landmines and ERW.
Pooling the lessons learned from the four participating countries is “of critical importance to develop an integrated approach to mine risk education,” said Ly Panharith, ARMAC’s executive director.
“Nine out of Myanmar’s [Burma’s] 15 states/regions are contaminated with land mines and ERW,” U Win Naing Tun, director general of Burma’s department of rehabilitation, ministry of social welfare, relief and resettlement, said at the consultative meeting in Naypyitaw. His office worked with UNICEF to establish his country’s mine risk working group in 2012 to bring mine action interventions into line with international standards and lessons learned, Tun explained. The group now works with ARMAC and other international forums to share his country’s experience with mine action and “better respond to the needs of the affected population.”
Tom Abke is a FORUM contributor reporting from Singapore.
