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Nineteen-year-old Sareoun lost an eye when her hoe struck a cluster bomblet. |
Around the size of a small tangerine, and designed to explosively propel 260 lacerating shards of metal into a person, BLU series cluster bomb submunitions litter the countryside of eastern Cambodia.
Between 1960 and 1970 approximately 26 million cluster bomblets were dropped by aircraft in an attempt to disrupt movement along the Ho Chi Minh trail1.
Add this extraordinary statistic to the additional threat posed by other unexploded ordnance and landmines, the substantial level of danger in the countryside of eastern Cambodia is clear.
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Three BLU-26 submunitions excavated by MAG in July about 650 metres from the site of Sareoun’s accident. Hundreds of these bomblets are released from an air-dropped cluster bomb unit and scattered over a large area. Bomblets which fail to explode on impact pose the threat of death or injury long after conflict is over. |
One person who knows the frightening legacy of cluster bomblet contamination first hand is 19-year-old Khon Sareoun.
On 14 May 2010, Sareoun was working in a field in the Memot District of Kampong Cham Province. Having never attended school, her options were limited and a job as an agricultural labourer could provide a small but steady salary of $80 per month.
While turning soil in preparation for another crop cycle her hoe struck a BLU submunition, which detonated. In many ways she was lucky only to lose an eye. However, the implications of a blast injury are not just physicial.
“Things are different now,” she said. “People my age treat me differently because of how I look. I’m talked badly to, children talk down at me. I don’t often enjoy big celebrations in the village. I feel sad with shame.”
“Finding a husband will be difficult. I am not rich, so men will not look at me – l don’t like looking in the mirror.”
The main source of employment in eastern Cambodia is agricultural production and, as more of the jungle is claimed for productive purposes and wider infrastructure development, the more workers like Sareoun become exposed to the remnants of conflict.
Sareoun returned to work in the fields after a three-month recovery. She had little choice.
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Agricultural labourers such as these young women often face the greatest risk working in newly cultivated areas. MAG previously had two teams working in eastern Cambodia, dedicated to removing deadly items from these communities. Unfortunately, funding for this work ended in May. [Photos: MAG Cambodia] |
We previously had two Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams working in eastern Cambodia, dedicated to removing Explosive Remnants of War from communities such as Sareoun’s. Unfortunately, funding for this work ended in May.
MAG believes it is vital for the safety of traditional subsistence farmers, as well as more modern agricultural workers, to restart clearance work again in the east utilising our existing field knowledge and contacts.
As Cambodia develops, it is crucial that contaminated land is safely and efficiently cleared, so that the country can take further strides forward in its wider development.
Our thanks to the donors to MAG's Cambodia programme: Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Life with Dignity, Finn Church Aid and Government of Finland MFA; The Hurvis Foundation; UKaid (Department for International Development); US Department of Defence, Night Vision and Electronic Sensory Directorate (NVESD); US Department of State’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement.
Note:
1 Source: Human Rights Watch, Cluster Munitions in the Asia Pacific Region, 17 October 2008, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/48fc4c4e2.html [accessed 11 August 2009]
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• Reporting by Alistair Moir, Country Director, MAG Cambodia |
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6 October 2011
See also:
Why does MAG work in Cambodia?
More news and case studies from MAG Cambodia
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