UXO continues to kill and injure

Unexploded ordnance (UXO) remaining from the war continues to kill and maim Lao people and is one of the biggest hurdles to socio-economic development, National Regulatory Authority (NRA) Director Mr Phoukhieo Chanthasomboun said at a press conference on Friday.
It is now almost one year since the Convention on Cluster Munitions entered into force, and Laos ratified the agreement, on August 1 2010.

Mr Phoukhieo Chanthasomboun

Although extensive progress has been made in efforts to remove UXO and educate the population of its dangers, hundreds of people are still killed and many more injured each year.


Furthermore, about one-third of people killed and injured every year by cluster sub-munitions are children, Mr Phoukhieo said.

During the Indochina war from 1964-1973, Laos became the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world.

In a total of 580,000 bombing missions that were conducted – one mission every eight minutes around the clock for almost ten years – over 275 million cluster munitions were dropped on the country, of which about 30 percent (75 million) did not explode.

The UXO was scattered across 14 of Laos’ 17 provinces, covering an area of about 87,000sq km out of the country’s total 236,800sq km.

Between 1964 and 2008, more than 50,000 people were killed or injured by UXO, according to the NRA’s Victim Assistance Unit.

Up until 2009, the number of UXO casualties was about 300 people per year, of which 40 percent were children, but the number dropped to about 117 in 2009 and less than 75 in 2010, Mr Phoukhieo said.
A major reason for the reduction in the number of casualties and deaths can be attributed to initiatives undertaken by the government and international organisations.

In 1995, the Lao government established the Lao National UXO Programme (UXO Lao), to clear bombs in the provinces of Luang Prabang, Huaphan, Xieng Khuang, Khammuan, Savannakhet, Saravan, Xekong, Champassak and Attapeu.

More than 30,000 hectares of land were cleared between 1996 and May 2011 and more than 1.3 million munitions destroyed, including large bombs, cluster sub-munitions, mines and other UXO fragments.

In addition, UXO Lao staff have visited almost 130,344 villages and conducted community awareness pro-grammes on the dangers of unexploded ordnance.

Laos has also become a leader in the international struggle to ban the manufacture, stockpiling, transfer and use of cluster munitions.

In November last year, Laos hosted the First Meeting of States Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, which was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Thongloun Sisoulith.

The convention not only deals with banning cluster munitions but also recognises the importance of assistance to victims and the clearance of contaminated areas. To date, 109 countries are party to the convention and 59 have ratified the agreement.

Over 1,200 delegates from 122 countries, and 159 international organisations attended the meeting. While in attendance, 40 countries ratified the agreement and 47 became new signatories to the convention.

During the meeting, Laos announced a reduction in the country’s bombs to meet its legal obligations under the convention and to reach its Millennium Development Goals by 2020.

Eradicating the threats posed by UXO is also in line with the government’s National Strategic Plan for the UXO Sector in Laos, “The Safe Path Forward II” for 2011-2020, the seventh National Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2011-15, which includes the concepts of the poverty eradication programme, and the National Standards for UXO Mine Action in Laos.

To commemorate the anniversary of the convention’s entry into force Laos is organising a march from Vientiane’s Patuxay Park to the President’s Palace on Sunday from 6:30 to 7:30 am.
Following the march there will be a football competition and a display of UXO at Chao Anouvong Stadium from 8am to 4pm.

Source: Vientiane Times
By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update July 30, 2011)