Amputee grandmother adjacent to HALO clearance task, Malai District
Over 63,500 landmine and ERW casualties have been recorded in Cambodia since 1979, and with over 25,000 amputees Cambodia has the highest ratio per capita in the world.
Despite a considerable reduction in casualty numbers over recent years, down from 875 in 2005 to 286 in 2010, Cambodia’s mine and ERW problem still represents a major impediment to the social and economic development of the country. However, given more than 19 years of humanitarian demining, the landmine threat is now largely concentrated in just 21 north-west border districts.
In these rural districts the landmine problem continues to negatively affect much needed development by hindering access to:
- Land for agriculture and resettlement
- Infrastructure and basic social services
- Irrigation and safe drinking water
- Secondary and tertiary roads
- Land for cattle raising and foraging for forest products, as well as
- Placing financial and emotional hardship on families needing to care for a landmine survivor
- Causing psychological trauma for those forced to live alongside such a threat