This article was originally published in the Laotian Times.
By Eli Mechanic, Country Director for MAG Laos (Mines Advisory Group)
In the early hours of the morning in Sangpoongbone Village, a tractor moves slowly across a field, turning over soil that has been worked by generations of farmers. At first glance, there is little to distinguish this field from any other in Khammouane Province. But hidden beneath it lies a deadly threat. For Khambueang, who has worked as a tractor driver for over 10 years, this is a daily reality.
“Every day, I get on my tractor and plough the fields. I know there could be a bomb beneath the soil, but I still have to work. I have no choice – it’s my job,” Khambueang said.
This week, Laos is hosting the Third Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the international convention prohibiting the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of these weapons. This is an important moment for those of us working every day to make land contaminated with unexploded bombs safe again. It is also a moment that carries the substantial weight of history. The war that scattered these weapons across Laos may have ended more than 50 years ago, but for people like Khambueang, it never fully disappeared.
Between 1964 and 1973, more than 270 million cluster submunitions were dropped across Laos. Around 30 percent failed to detonate upon impact, resulting in an estimated 80 million unexploded ‘bombies’, small, tennis-ball-sized submunitions, scattered across the country.
Today, a bombie can remain hidden beneath the soil of a rice field or along a path used every day, waiting to be disturbed. A farmer can encounter one while preparing land for planting crops, or a child can find one while playing in a school playground. Such was the case for Khamla, one of our demining team leaders.
“The first time I found a cluster munition as a child, I didn’t know it was a bomb, so I played with it for a while. After adults told me what it was, I felt so scared and I didn’t want to play with anything anymore,” he said.
This is the legacy of cluster munitions: they cannot reliably distinguish between those taking part in conflict and those who are simply trying to live their lives. Their wide-area effects put civilians at grave risk at the time of use, and their indiscriminate effects remain long after the weapon is dropped, creating a danger that is passed from one generation to the next.
As Country Director for MAG in Laos, I see first-hand what it means for communities when land is finally cleared. In 2025 alone, MAG teams destroyed over 6,000 explosive items. This translates directly into communities being able to live free from fear, with over 10 million square metres of land returned to safe, productive use.
“Even though I am older now, at least I have left something for my children. They can use this safe land for the future. I don’t have to worry about them being harmed anymore,” said Bounmi, a mother of three whose land was cleared by MAG.
But clearance is painstaking work, and the scale of contamination means that Laos will be dealing with this legacy for many years to come, with an estimated 1,800km² of land still requiring clearance. That is why the Convention on Cluster Munitions matters – it establishes a clear international standard that these weapons should never be used in the first place.
However, a treaty can only provide meaningful protection if countries continue to join it and uphold its principles. The experience of Laos should make the case for universalisation impossible to ignore.
Currently, 112 countries are States Parties to the Treaty.
However, around the world, 17 countries still produce cluster munitions or retain the right to do so, and their well-documented use in recent conflicts shows that the international norm against these weapons is under pressure.
The Third Review Conference should send a clear message that the ban must be universal and that the use of cluster munitions must end completely, while affected countries such as Laos need sustained international cooperation and assistance for survey, clearance, risk education and support to affected communities. We must reinforce the stigma against any use and emphasise their unacceptable humanitarian impacts.
Having lived with these consequences for generations, Laos offers a window into the predictable and preventable future repercussions of current cluster munition use. The world should learn from that experience before another generation is forced to live with the same legacy of weapons in a war it did not choose.
