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Improving access to farmland helps communities escape poverty. |
The UK Government has appointed MAG to remove and destroy thousands of mines and items of unexploded ordnance, and to teach the dangers of these deadly weapons, to communities in two of the countries most seriously affected by deadly remnants of conflict.
This vital funding from the Department for International Development (DFID) will allow MAG to expand its lifesaving work in Cambodia and Lao PDR, both countries where MAG has been working since the early 1990s, but where ongoing donor support for our work is crucial.
With the approved DFID funding, MAG will reduce the daily threat of injury to more than 62,000 men, women and children across at least 83 villages in Cambodia, a country that still has one of the world’s highest casualty rates from mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).
It will allow MAG to clear and release more than nine million square metres of land in Cambodia and Lao PDR, benefiting at least 200,000 people across both countries.
Landmine and UXO threat remains
“We are very pleased to have been awarded the tender,” said MAG’s Chief Executive Lou McGrath.
“Over the next three years many thousands of families in Cambodia and Laos will benefit from this partnership, and I’m really pleased on their behalf.
“MAG’s commitment to landmine clearance has always been to integrate our work with development, working with partners to ensure a cost-effective beneficiary-focused approach, and making sure our work really does help people to build better futures for themselves.
“The threat posed by deadly landmines and UXO in Cambodia and Laos sadly remains very real. Just three weeks ago, I was in Cambodia and witnessed the devastating effects of an anti-tank landmine accident, where 13 people were tragically killed, so this funding has particular resonance with me and with MAG’s programme staff.”
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A cluster submunition in Laos, the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world. |
Improving access to schools and farmland
The DFID contract was awarded to MAG following an open and competitive tender under standard UK procurement rules. In addition to MAG’s capability to clear mines and ordnance, DFID recognised MAG’s commitment to ensure our work plans help communities’ economic development by removing the threat of mines and UXO.
As well as saving lives and reducing casualties, the funding will make journeys to schools and hospitals safer, and release land to benefit local economies and open the way for aid agencies to support agricultural expansion, schools and roads.
Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell said: “Thousands of people still live with the aftermath of conflict as they face an uneasy and dangerous daily existence under the threat of permanent injury or death.
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Children at a Mine/UXO Risk Education session given by MAG in Laos. |
“The UK Government is committed to continuing its efforts to help men, women and children live their lives free from the threat of landmines and to prevent further casualties.
“Mines Advisory Group and their partners will not just set people free from the constant fear of injury or death, but also help them escape poverty by improving access to schools and farmland.”
Working in the poorest areas
Despite years of peace, 244 people in Cambodia and 134 in Laos were killed or injured last year alone by anti-personnel or anti-vehicle mines, munitions, improvised explosive devices or other explosive remnants from decades of conflict.
In Cambodia, MAG will work in the five most heavily mined districts on the north-western border. These districts are the most fertile for rice farming, however the threat from landmines and other UXO makes agricultural land unusable and blocks routes to local markets or essential services for local people and aid workers alike.
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MAG deminers in Cambodia, where MAG will work in the five most heavily mined north-western border districts. |
In Laos, MAG will work in four of the poorest and most contaminated provinces – Khammouane, Sekong, Xieng Khouang and Savannakhet.
MAG’s demining teams will work closely with local communities to identify priority areas and create a detailed map of the contaminated area.
Mobile teams will be ready respond quickly to surface mines and unexploded ordnance reported by local communities.
The Department for International Development will fund this work through a new £6 million contract to MAG over the next two-and-a-half years.
9 December 2010
See also:
- Why does MAG work in Cambodia?
- Why does MAG work in Lao PDR?
- The unexploded ordnance problem in Lao PDR: statistics
- Development impact and the Millennium Development Goals
- UK Department for International Development website [external link]
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