|Total U.S. Conventional Weapons Destruction Funding In Asia From All Sources, 1993-2011: $549,628,000. This chart shows the percentage of total funding allocated to each country within the region. Click for larger size.|
Asia, the world’s largest continent, is home to the world’s oldest continuous civilization and nearly two-thirds of its population. Despite rapid economic growth and development, it has been challenged with recent humanitarian crises, including natural disasters and war. Large gaps exist between the wealth of developed or nearly developed nations, such as Japan or China, and those of developing nations, such as Laos and Burma. Civilians throughout Southeast Asia regularly face injury or death from explosive remnants of war, landmines, and unexploded ordnance, resulting from decades of armed conflicts since World War II. Asia contains the world’s most heavily mined country, Afghanistan, and the country most heavily bombed per capita, Laos.
After more than three decades of violent conflict, Afghanistan has one of the highest levels of landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination in the world, as well as large stores of poorly secured conventional weapons and munitions. As of December 2011, the Mine Action Coordination Center of Afghanistan (MACCA) estimated that Afghanistan has 6,048 hazardous areas, affecting 588 square kilometers (more than 227 square miles) and 1,930 communities. Additionally, insurgents still use landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) as improvised explosive devices to attack civilian and military targets, as well as noncombatants. Although the Mine Action Program in Afghanistan (MAPA) has successfully cleared more than half of all suspected hazardous areas, deteriorating infrastructure, difficult terrain, and ongoing conflict leave the remaining contaminated land inaccessible. In FY2011, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) provided $40,475,000 for humanitarian demining activities. PM/WRA funds for Afghanistan in FY2011 were used as follows:
The Halo Trust facilitates demining operations in Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of The HALO Trust.
• United Nations Mine Action Service received funding to support MAPA with particular emphasis on host-nation capacity development within the Afghan Department of Mine Clearance. Responsibility and managerial oversight resided within MACCA and included operational program coordination; development and assessment of the national demining program; a minimum of five quality-assurance/quality-control visits The Halo Trust facilitates demining operations in Afghanistan.
• Afghan Technical Consultants was granted funding for continued mine-action operations in the East, Southeast, and Central provinces. Clearance operations included 13 manual demining teams, two mechanical demining units, five mine detection dog (MDD) groups, and three explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams.
• Clear Path International received funding to support 10 subgrant recipients that will expand and support integrated victim-assistance initiatives throughout North, East, and South Afghanistan.
• Counterinsurgency-related community based demining (CBD) was funded to support the International Security Assistance Force’s post-kinetic operations by providing security and infrastructure to locals while screening the population for insurgents, and establishing or re-establishing essential services using NGO and local workforces.
• Danish Demining Group (DDG) continued mine-clearance operations in Panjshir province with funding from PM/WRA. DDG conducted polygon surveys, cleared confirmed hazardous areas, destroyed excess and abandoned ordnance and small arms and light weapons, and conducted battle-area clearance on land contaminated with ERW.
• Demining Agency for Afghanistan received assistance to continue mine-clearance operations in Kabul, Kandahar, and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan. Operations included 13 manual demining teams, four mine-detection units, five MDD groups, three CBD teams, and two EOD teams.
• DynCorp International received funding for the oversight of mine-clearance projects, the mentoring of five NGOs, and the management of eight conventional weapons destruction EOD teams.
• The HALO Trust (HALO) received support for weapons and ammunition disposal teams in the East and Central provinces of Afghanistan and continued mine-clearance operations in the Central and Northern regions of Afghanistan. HALO’s clearance operations include: manual demining teams, mechanical demining units, and technical survey teams.
• Marshall Legacy Institute was funded to support the connection of two Afghan schools with two American “sister schools” through the implementation of the Children Against Mines Program. Funding also supported the travel and compensation for a specialized veterinarian to evaluate the MDD program in Afghanistan.
• Mine Clearance Planning Agency was funded for continued mine-action operations in Khost, Logar, Nangarhar, Paktiya, and Parwan provinces of Afghanistan. Clearance operations included
• 18 manual demining teams, five MDD groups, two EOD teams, and two mechanical demining units. It also received support to in Daman district, Kandahar.
• Mine Detection Dog Center was granted funding for continued mine-clearance operations in Nangarhar and Kandahar provinces.
• Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation received support for the deployment of 15 demining teams, four MDD groups, and one manual demining unit to Kabul, Laghman, Logar, and Nangarhar provinces in the East and Central regions of Afghanistan.
• Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) was funded to support continued demining operations in Darwaz district, Badakhshan province. This was the Afghan-side of a regional, cross-border demining project that collaborated project management and support through the Republic of Tajikistan. MACCA designated Darwaz district as one of the highest priority areas within Badakhshan province. FSD’s project operations included: two manual demining teams; two technical survey teams; one EOD team; and operational support and development of a regional medical clinic to assist casualty evacuation and treatment of injured deminers.
Also in FY2011, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research and Development (HD R&D) Program, in partnership with HALO, continued evaluations of equipment valued at $1 million. The equipment includes the Orbit Screen, which sifts mine-contaminated soil, several sifting excavator attachments, and the Mantis, an armored area-preparation and mine-clearance tractor. These systems have cleared more than 920,000 square meters (about a quarter of an acre) of land and sifted over 228,000 cubic meters (about 288 cubic yards) of soil. More than 25,000 mines and pieces of UXO were cleared or destroyed. In FY2011, the Raptor armored tractor with the Rotary Mine Comb anti-tank (AT) mine-clearance attachment began operation, clearing 61,000 square meters (15 acres) of land and finding two AT mines. In FY2012, the technologies will continue to clear mines and perform technical survey in villages and agricultural areas throughout Afghanistan. To learn more about the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit http://humanitarian-demining.org.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Burma. Photo courtesy of U.S. State Dept.
Burma has suffered from a prolonged series of internal conflicts and governmental crises throughout much of the last half century. As a result of these conflicts, landmines were frequently laid in many areas of Burma by various sides, including the government and armed ethnic groups, and it is possible that landmines continue to be laid in some areas of the country. Extensive areas are known to be contaminated, especially in the south and east, and unknown numbers of Burmese are killed or injured by landmines every year. Little or no assistance reaches most victims, but recent political progress in the country has made it possible to get medical and other aid to more victims and their families.
In FY2011, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) granted $189,106 to the Humpty Dumpty Institute to establish victim-assistance and mine-risk education programs inside Burma. These programs were organized in partnership with the Sitagu Association, a leading Buddhist humanitarian organization within Burma, to use the association’s network of 16 hospitals to implement programming activities in six regions and seven states.
A mine-risk education billboard in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of CISR/Suzanne Fiederlein.
Cambodia is severely affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war as a result of nearly three decades of armed conflicts involving the Khmer Rouge, the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, Vietnamese government forces, the United States, and the Thai Army. In particular, the K-5 landmine belt spans much of the border separating Cambodia and Thailand, limiting mobility. Eastern Cambodia is also heavily affected with unexploded ordnance (UXO) from conflicts with Vietnam, and from U.S. air and artillery strikes during the Vietnam War.
In FY2011, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) provided $5 million for clearance, capacity-building, victim assistance, and risk education to the following groups:
• DynCorp International was funded to support the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), including training for mobile mine/UXO clearance and deployment of roving UXO clearance teams in the eastern part of Cambodia.
• The HALO Trust (HALO) received funding to clear mines and UXO from the K-5 belt and newly-settled areas of the north.
• MAG (Mines Advisory Group) was granted funding to support battlefield clearance of mines and UXO, as well as mine/UXO education, in the Battambang region and elsewhere.
• Golden West Humanitarian Foundation (GWHF) was funded for the Explosive Harvesting Program and for providing training to CMAC personnel. GWHF also received funding for technical capacity building and for provision of explosives to all clearance operators in Cambodia.
• Clear Path International received support for victim assistance activities.
• Landmine Relief Fund was granted funds to support the clearance operations of the local nongovernmental organization Cambodian Self-Help Demining.
• Spirit of Soccer received funding for sports-based risk education. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research and Development (HD R&D) Program has also worked for many years in Cambodia, providing technologies for operational field evaluations (OFE) with CMAC, HALO, MAG, and GWHF valued at more than $3 million.
Demining operations in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of CISR/Suzanne Fiederlein.
Since 2006, HALO and MAG have integrated the dual-sensor Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System (HSTAMIDS) metal detector into their manual mine-clearance operations in densely cluttered minefields. In total, the HSTAMIDS operations have cleared 3.5 million square meters (865 acres) of land and detected 19,300 anti-personnel mines. The HD R&D Program continued the evaluation of Long-handled Tools to augment the speed of the HSTAMIDS preparatory and clutter investigation processes.
In FY2011, the HD R&D Program continued OFEs of the Badger, an area-preparation and mine-clearance excavator; the Storm area-preparation and mine-clearance excavator capable of operating on steep slopes; and the Tempest vegetation cutting flail. Also during FY2011, the HD R&D Program initiated OFEs of the Nemesis, a remote-controlled skid-steer with area preparation attachments, and the Rex, a small tracked excavator with area preparation and mine-clearance attachments. Those technologies have cleared 195,000 square meters (48 acres) of vegetation and suspect soil, finding 798 mines and pieces of UXO. Through FY2011 GWHF’s innovative Explosive Harvesting and Mine Cutting Systems operating in Cambodia have processed 10,475 pieces of ordnance, recovering 26,000 kilograms (29 U.S. tons) of explosives and 69,000 kilograms (76 U.S. tons) of metal for safe recycling. To learn more about the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit http://humanitariandemining.org.
Children get water in a refugee camp near Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan forced many from their homes in 2010. Photo courtesy of UN.
Kyrgyzstan is affected by landmines along its border with Uzbekistan, laid by both countries between 1999 and 2000. Unfortunately, rainfall and landslides have caused many of these mines to shift, and two mines found on a road in the capital city of Bishkek have raised fears of further contamination changes. Kyrgyzstan also faces instability from small arms and light weapons (SA/LW) stockpiles. In March 2011, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conducted an assessment and determined that current SA/LW, conventional weapons, and ammunitions storage sites pose serious dangers to the civilian population.
To help with weapons stability, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) provided $500,000 to OSCE to conduct conventional weapons destruction programs in FY2011. As a direct result of the grant, the project will develop a national regulatory framework for the management of SA/LW and conventional ammunition stockpiles to accommodate OSCE and United Nations best practices. Additionally, the project will help mitigate the threat of explosions and educate Kyrgyzstan’s military on the necessity for strict weapons storage guidelines.
During its prolonged air campaign against North Vietnamese forces operating in Laos, the U.S. military dropped more than two million tons of bombs, and estimates indicate that up to 30 percent of some types of these aerial munitions failed to detonate on impact. Cluster munitions are known to have had a particularly high failure rate. On a per capita basis, Laos is considered to be the most heavily bombed country in history, and unexploded ordnance (UXO) continues to take a heavy civilian toll, especially among children. Although casualty statistics remain unreliable, most observers agree UXO kills or wounds roughly 100 to 150 people a year in Laos. UXO also has considerable impact on economic development, driving up the cost of infrastructure construction and preventing large amounts of arable land from being safely farmed.
In 1996, the Lao government established UXO Lao as the national clearance organization to systematically address this explosive contamination, and in 2006 the government created the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) as the policy-level body for all aspects of UXO clearance efforts. Since clearance operations began, at least 186 types of munitions from all former combatants have been located, highlighting the complexity of the challenges faced by clearance personnel.
Since 1995 the United States has contributed more than $45 million to UXO removal, risk education, and victim-assistance programs in Laos, and the U.S. is by far the largest single donor to the UXO sector there. In FY2011, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) allotted more than $5 million for the following humanitarian UXO clearance and related work:
• Armor Group North America received funding to provide financial and technical support to UXO Lao and NRA.
• MAG (Mines Advisory Group) was funded to provide survey and clearance services.
• Norwegian People’s Aid received funding for survey and clearance work.
• World Education received financial support to provide victim assistance and risk education.
• Clear Path International was funded to provide victim assistance services.
• Spirit of Soccer received funding to provide risk education.
The Solomon Islands are contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a consequence of World War II. In FY2011, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) provided $400,000 to Golden West Humanitarian Foundation to provide International Mine Action Standards Level 2 Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) training to the Royal Solomon Islands Police EOD section, including medical, deep search, and excavation training. PM/WRA funding also supported the establishment of a headquarters facility on Guadalcanal, including necessary UXO-clearance operations to prepare the site.
Little Swoop was donated to the Sri Lankan Army’s Humanitarian Demining Unit through Marshall Legacy Institute’s (MLI) Mine Detection Dog Partnership Program in 2011. Nicholas, pictured with Little Swoop, is a student from an inner city school in Philadelphia. His school partnered with the Philadelphia Eagles football team to sponsor this dog for Sri Lanka. MLI took Nicholas, a student leader in the dog-sponsorship campaign, to Sri Lanka last summer to meet Little Swoop. Photo courtesy of MLI.
Armed conflict lasting nearly three decades between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam contaminated Sri Lanka with landmines and explosive remnants of war. Additional contamination occurred when a 2002 cease-fire collapsed in 2006. This contamination continues to challenge economic reconstruction and the return of internally displaced people (IDPs), thousands of whom are prevented, in part, from returning to their homes by the continued presence of mines.
From FY2002–FY2010 the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) spent $20,862,000 in Sri Lanka to address landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in affected areas, build operational capacity within the Sri Lankan Army, deliver mine-risk education, and expedite the resettlement of IDPs.
In addition, during FY2002–FY2010, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Leahy War Victims Fund provided $4,350,000 for orthotics, prosthetics, and victim assistance to help Sri Lankan victims of war. The U.S. Department of Defense also provided training and equipment support.
In FY2011, PM/WRA granted $2.5 million to sustain the following clearance operations in Sri Lanka:
• (MAG) Mines Advisory Group received funding to support the deployment of two community liaison teams, one mechanical Bozena demining machine with attached mine action team, two technical survey teams, and six mine-action teams to conduct clearance in high-priority areas for seven months.
• The HALO Trust received funding to support the deployment of one combined minefield survey, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and community liaison team; 13 manual demining sections; and one mechanical mine-clearance support team.
• Danish Demining Group received funding to support the deployment of three manual demining teams, one survey team, one quick-reaction team equipped with metal detectors, and one mechanical ground preparation unit.
• The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action received funding to support the deployment of two manual demining teams, three mechanical demining teams, and one EOD team.
• The Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) received funding to support the transportation, training, and sheltering of six mine-detection dogs previously purchased by donations raised by MLI.
In addition, in FY2011, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research and Development (HD R&D) Program, in partnership with MAG, began an evaluation of the Improved Backhoe system. The equipment, valued at $220,000, provides area preparation, area reduction and mine-clearance capabilities to release villages and agricultural land to returning IDPs. In its first six months of operation, the Improved Backhoe cleared vegetation and mines from 26,000 square meters (almost 6.5 acres) of land, itself uncovering 64 mines and assisting in the clearance of more than 1,000 additional mines in follow-up manual clearance. To learn more about the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit http://humanitarian-demining.org.
Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) weapons-and-ammunition disposal personnel prepare a 225-mm rocket for demolition in Tajikistan. Photo courtesy of FSD.
Tajikistan is contaminated with landmines from the Soviet-conducted border defense operations during the 1979–1989 occupation of Afghanistan, the 1992–1997 civil war, and the extension of Uzbekistan into Tajik territory to stop the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Demining activities are currently concentrated on the Tajik-Afghan border.
In FY2011, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) provided $1 million to the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) to support a weapons-and ammunition disposal team in stockpile reduction operations and to support land release through technical survey, battle-area clearance, and manual demining clearance.
As part of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA) ongoing support to Tajikistan and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Small Arms Light Weapons (SA/LW) Program of DTRA led an international team to Dushanbe in October 2010 to conduct a physical security and stockpile management (PSSM) technical seminar for 17 Tajik junior officers and noncommissioned officers who handle and maintain arms and ammunition on a daily basis. Instructors included PSSM experts from DTRA, U.S. Army Central Command, the Austrian Verification Agency, the Belgian Verification Agency, and the Swedish Verification Agency.
Since December 2004, DTRA has conducted four assessments and six seminars in support of the OSCE’s SA/LW and conventional ammunition program in Tajikistan. In less than five years, the OSCE program has eliminated more than 26,000 weapons and 99 tons of excess ammunition and explosives, while nine SA/LW storage facilities were constructed and 61 existing facilities were renovated. Additionally, more than 140 Tajik personnel from numerous government agencies have attended DTRA’s seminars on international best practices for PSSM of arms, ammunition, and explosives.
Also in FY2011, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research and Development (HD R&D) Program, in partnership with the Tajikistan Ministry of Defense, Tajikistan Mine Action Center and OSCE, continued an evaluation of the Mini MineWolf, which is a remote-controlled, earth-tilling system capable of clearing anti-personnel and antitank landmines. Tasked with locating and clearing unmarked minefields along the Tajik-Afghan border to allow better policing, the Mini MineWolf cleared 518,000 square meters (128 acres) of land and found or destroyed 793 mines and pieces of unexploded ordnance. The assistance, valued at $1.2 million, included support to operate and maintain the system. To learn more about the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit http://humanitarian-demining.org.
While the precise amount of landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination is unknown, a 2001 Landmine Impact Survey estimated the contamination at 2,557 square kilometers (987 square miles). In 2008, Thailand claimed only 1,202 square kilometers (464 square miles) of suspected hazardous area (SHA) still needed to be addressed, and of that number only 528.2 square kilometers (203.94 square miles) were considered “real minefields” requiring manual clearance. However, the Thailand Mine Action Center is still in the process of revising its official estimates.
In addition to these mines and ERW, unexploded ordnance and victim-activated improvised explosive devices still threaten national and regional security and stability, particularly where clustered around the borders with Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Malaysia. The 700-kilometer (435-mile) long Thai-Cambodian border, for example, is still heavily contaminated with unexploded artillery, mortar shells, and grenade and ammunition caches left behind by Cambodian non-state actors in the 1980s and 1990s.
In FY2011, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research and Development (HD R&D) Program partnered with the Thailand Mine Action Center to continue operational field evaluations of several mechanical technologies in Thailand. The technologies, some of which have been used in Thailand for 10 years, include the small remote-controlled Wolverine, Beaver, and Tempest systems, and the large-class Survivable Demining Tractors and Uni-Disk excavator. Valued at $1.5 million, the technologies are used for vegetation clearance and area preparation. Since 2001, in preparation for manual clearance, the machines have collectively cleared vegetation from more than 6.3 million square meters (almost 2.5 square miles) of SHA. To learn more about the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit http://humanitarian-demining.org.
Men wait their turn to be fitted for professionally made prosthetics at a prosthetic clinic in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of CISR/Ken Rutherford.
The heavy explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination in Vietnam is a result of a series of conflicts involving France, Japan, and the United States from World War II through the 1970s. The placement of landmines during conflicts with Cambodia and China in the late 1970s further exacerbated the situation. Vietnam’s border with Laos is also heavily affected by ERW as a result of U.S. bombings during the Vietnam War (1961–1973).
Vietnam has recently taken a number of significant steps to reform and refocus its national ERW program. These actions included establishing an inter-agency committee headed by the prime minister to direct sector policy, developing national mine-action standards, and implementing new land-release methodologies. To ensure efficacy, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) has mandated mine-action organizations use the findings of the PM/WRA-funded Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) in Vietnam before commencing projects. The final report of the six-province LIS was released in July 2009, and provides Vietnam and the donor community with vital information regarding the impact of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) upon communities. Surveys have now been completed in more than 20 additional provinces, but that data has not yet been made publicly available. Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs released a report in 2000 stating that UXO and landmines were responsible for killing 38,849 people and injuring 65,852 between 1975 and 2000. International observers have reported more than 1,600 casualties since 1999. In 2009 32 new landmine/ERW casualties were reported in Vietnam.
PM/WRA funded a total of $3.5 million in mine and ERW action in Vietnam in FY2011. Grantees included MAG (Mines Advisory Group), PeaceTrees Vietnam, the International Center/Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Clear Path International, Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, the Humpty Dumpty Institute, Catholic Relief Services, and the Vietnam Assistance Project.
In FY2011, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research and Development (HD R&D) Program, in partnership with MAG, continued an operational field evaluation of vegetation cutters, ultimately cutting 7,800 square meters (almost two acres) of vegetation. The vegetation cutters provide critical access in densely vegetated areas to manual clearance teams. Norwegian People’s Aid, in partnership with Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s Project RENEW, evaluated an armored excavator in area-preparation and clearance roles. Total assistance is valued at $275,000. To learn more about the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit http://humanitarian-demining.org.