UN Resident Coordinator’s opening remarks at the Regional Seminar on the Human Cost of Landmines

UN Resident Coordinator’s opening remarks at the Regional Seminar on the Human Cost of Landmines

Phnom Penh, 20 September 2011

H.E. Prak Sokhonn; Mr. Jacques Stroun, Head of ICRC Regional Delegation; Mr. Chan Neang; Excellencies; Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great pleasure to be here today, welcome you to Phnom Penh and to take part in this milestone event. 

Landmines and explosive remnants of war are indiscriminate weapons that continue to cause death and injury. Between 1979 and June 2011 there were a total of 63,922 mine/ERW casualties recorded in Cambodia by the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA).

Even more frightening is the number of people civilians that have fallen victim to this weapon around the world. 

The vast majority of these casualties are innocent civilians, including a high proportion of children. Victims from landmines are, for the most part, villagers collecting firewood, farmers cultivating their land or children laying and enjoying their freedom. 

Furthermore, landmines are a considerable obstacle to a country’s economic and social development. Landmines prevent access to arable farming land. They slow down the construction of critical infrastructure such as schools, health centers and roads. They create fear and leave people with a feeling of insecurity, many years after the conflicts have ended. Those that survive a landmine accident will require medical and social welfare support for their entire lives. 

Landmines are a burden that weighs heavily on a country’s social and economic development. 

Here in Cambodia, too many have lived with this fear for the past 20 years.  Today, in the 56 most affected districts of Cambodia, the CMAA estimates that more than 618,000 people are living in or near a suspected mined area. 

Mao Run’s story is one of many that have benefitted from sustained mine clearance efforts in Cambodia. In Battambang Province, Mao Run, a 45 year-old landmine survivor, owned 6,000 square meters of land, half of which was contaminated by landmines. He was struggling to support his family. In 2010, his land was cleared after it was made a priority through Cambodia’s community-based mine clearance planning process. Now, where landmines used to lie, Mao Run is growing pineapples. As a result, his income has increased and he is considering renovating his house to provide a better environment for his family.

Landmines have a direct human cost, killing or permanently injuring innocent people and weakening families, but their legacy lies even stronger in the longer socio-economic burden it imposes on fragile communities. It is this human impact which is at the heart of the United Nations’ commitment towards a world free of landmines. 

Since the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention came into force 12 years ago, there have been many signs of progress in the most mine-affected countries, including a steady decline in casualty rates, the return of areas formerly contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war to productive use, and the destruction of tens of millions of these deadly, indiscriminate weapons. 

Tremendous efforts by national authorities, civil society, the International Committee for the Red Cross and a number of United Nations organizations have contributed to achieving these successes which would not have been possible without the important and sustained assistance from the international community. 

More importantly, 156 countries have joined the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, a direct acknowledgment that the human cost of landmines overpasses its military utility. We still need to work together on the 39 countries that have not yet joined the Convention

In Cambodia, the United Nations through the work of UNDP and UNICEF have worked hand-in-hand with the government in its efforts to address the impact of landmines and to achieve progress towards the milestones set by the Mine Ban Convention. 

With nearly twenty years of cooperation, thousands of women, men and children have been educated on the danger posed by landmines and other explosive remnants of war.

Thousands of landmines have been destroyed and more than  50 million square meters have been cleared to save lives and limbs, support resettlement efforts and assist development of rural areas and infrastructure in hundreds of communities across the most affected provinces.  

Overall, several hundred thousand people have benefited directly or indirectly from these substantial efforts.

Cambodia’s recent history and achievement in mine action is a story of a heavily mine-affected country that has risen to be a leader, assisting other nations that are suffering from similar experiences of armed conflict. From demining and mine risk education to victim assistance and humanitarian demining missions carried out under the UN flag in Southern Sudan and Lebanon, Cambodia’s leadership in this area has been observed by delegations from a half dozen countries that have visited in the last year.

As the representative of the United Nations in Cambodia, I would like to reaffirm the UN’s continued support to the universalization and full implementation of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and other international disarmament instruments and encourage all the countries present today to fully accede as soon as possible to these instruments. 

The recent use of anti-personnel landmines in Libya clearly demonstrates that even if not employed for many years, there is a strong potential that armed actors will deploy landmines without considering their humanitarian and long-term socioeconomic consequences if they remain accessible for use. 

This underscores that only universal accession and adherence to the Convention and its faithful and timely implementation could ensure a mine-free world.

I also would like to reiterate the UN’s commitment to assist mine-affected countries in meeting their obligations to clear affected areas, assist victims, destroy stockpiled munitions, and educate men and women, boys and girls about the dangers of mines and explosive remnants of war.

Finally, I would like to recall the Secretary-General’s support to a mine-free world. On the 4th of April, at the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, he noted that mine action efforts are essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. He called for universal adherence to important treaties, increased support for mine awareness and mine action, and greater global solidarity in support of this critical element in our drive to build a safer and more prosperous world for all. To that extent, the UN General Assembly Resolution on the Convention which will be voted in NY in the coming weeks is an opportunity to lend support to the goals of the Convention. 

I am confident that under the chairmanship and leadership of H.E. Prak Sokhonn and with the contribution of all organizations present today, you will have a fruitful and constructive dialogue and make progress towards addressing the human costs of anti-personnel landmines. 

Orkun Charan.