KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA Nation Religion King The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction Request for an extension of the deadline for completing the destruction of anti-personnel mines in mined areas in accordance with Article 5, paragraph 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION The Kingdom of Cambodia signed the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 28 July 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 January 2000. Due to the magnitude and nature of the AP mine problem in the country, Cambodia needed to extend its AP mine clearance deadline, with the APMBC setting a new deadline for 1 January 2020. The period of the first extension request is from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2019. For this document, figures are from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2018 (as retrieved on 31 January 2019) unless otherwise specified. Overview of the achievements since the first extension request was granted Cambodia exceeded the targets outlined in the first extension request, releasing 577,171,932 square meters of AP mine affected land (target: 470,048,519 square meters or 123 per cent). 946 villages can be declared as known AP mine-free. The table below shows the annual clearance achievements of the entire sector and the percentages achieved against the annual target. Table. Annual clearance targets and achievements (2010 to 2018) Year Annual target Achieved (total) % achieved Achieved % achieved Achieved Achieved sqm (total) against (APM) sqm (APM) against (ATM) sqm (ERW) sqm annual target annual target 2010 39,400,173 79,961,756 203% 49,394,551 125% 30,567,205 2011 40,188,176 39,492,062 98% 33,001,925 82% 3,339,770 3,150,367 2012 40,991,940 42,023,355 103% 32,225,361 79% 6,648,910 3,149,084 2013 41,811,778 49,403,722 118% 43,442,472 104% 4,983,086 978,164 2014 42,648,014 104,313,842 245% 88,344,919 207% 6,779,617 9,189,306 2015 43,500,974 146,051,269 336% 125,178,877 288% 8,630,526 12,241,866 2016 44,370,994 124,310,046 280% 72,529,407 163% 6,995,632 44,785,007 2017 45,258,414 110,121,377 243% 67,278,920 149% 6,398,939 36,443,519 2018 46,163,582 106,951,136 232% 65,775,501 142% 7,260,185 33,915,450 2019 47,086,854 TOTAL 470,048,519 802,628,564 171% 577,171,932 123% 51,036,665 174,419,967 The targets were exceeded mainly by improving land release procedures and Cambodian Mine Action Standards or CMAS. This included moving away from clearance towards a toolbox approach, non-technical survey, technical survey and clearance. Other factors were the improved personnel skills, improvements in planning and prioritisation, the use of innovative technology, online data entry/reporting, integration of drones into non-technical and technical survey, integration of mechanical and animal detection systems into operations as well as improved access to contaminated areas with the construction of better roads. ACHIEVEMENTS SINCE THE EXTENSION REQUEST WAS GRANTED (2010-2018) Baseline survey The baseline survey (BLS) project led to the reduction of the known AP mine affected land area, from 1,377,172,548 square meters to 890,437,236 square meters as seen in the following table. The information replaced the level one survey (L1S) data and superseded all previous contamination information. 2 Table. Baseline survey project results (January 2009 to December 2018) Year Original BLS Remaining BLS No. SHA BLS Area Identified(sqm) No. SHA Remaining Area Size(sqm) 2009 3,350 183,894,207 1,831 91,794,601 2010 5,861 573,066,422 2,615 255,746,976 2011 1,358 141,721,122 1,085 113,532,213 2012 1,263 131,309,291 1,136 121,795,667 Total AP Mine 2009-2012 11,832 1,029,991,042 6,667 582,869,457 2013 361 41,558,596 227 35,623,173 2014 848 51,508,878 783 48,955,189 2015 653 78,306,207 500 57,413,553 2016 206 10,436,558 167 9,003,690 2017 914 127,271,669 919 118,631,240 2018 490 38,099,598 542 37,940,934 Total AP Mine 2013-2018 3,472 347,181,506 3,138 307,567,779 Grand Total 15,304 1,377,172,548 9,805 890,437,236 BLS activities are ongoing across 73 districts that were not surveyed or were only partially surveyed. To date, 23 districts have been surveyed and it is expected that the remaining 50 will be surveyed by 2020. Cambodia has updated the Convention with the new information. Land release Cambodia released 577,171,932 square metres of AP mine affected land between 2010 and 2018. Operations removed and destroyed 101,424 anti-personnel mines, 1,560 anti-tank mines and 73,231 items of explosive remnants of war. Achievements per year are seen in the following table. Achievements are further broken down by land release methods (non-technical survey, technical survey and clearance) as defined under Cambodian Mine Action Standards (CMAS) 15 on land release (approved October 2014). CMAS 15 provides guidance on the overall land release process and supersedes the 2006 Area Reduction Policy. Table. Summary of AP mine affected land released annually according to land release methods (2010-2018) Year AP mine affected land released (square metres) No. Polygon Released Area APM NTS/C TS/C2 Clearance/C3 (sqm) 2010 589 49,394,551 0 0 49,394,551 2011 375 33,001,925 231,532 3,158,104 29,612,289 2012 520 32,225,361 4,967,884 6,565,570 20,691,907 2013 718 43,442,472 3,909,920 8,893,758 30,638,794 2014 1,131 88,344,919 21,436,220 22,492,492 44,416,207 2015 2,152 125,178,877 66,260,553 27,718,410 31,199,914 2016 959 72,529,407 29,353,971 19,166,433 24,009,004 2017 972 67,278,920 26,280,065 15,506,559 25,492,297 2018 874 65,775,501 22,644,386 6,469,355 36,661,760 Grand Total 8,290 577,171,932 175,084,530 109,970,680 292,116,722 Land is accepted as cleared by Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA)1 when the clearance organization has ensured the removal and destruction of all mines, cluster munitions and other ERW hazards from the specified area, to the depth specified in the clearance standard and all quality management processes have been carried out and fully recorded. 1 The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) was established in September 2000 under Royal Decree No. 177. CMAA is mandated to regulate, monitor and coordinate the mine action sector in Cambodia. 3 Methods and standards of controlling and assuring quality CMAA regulates and monitors all mine action operations in Cambodia. This includes licensing of mine action organisations as well as monitoring and reporting on their performance against the national standards and guidelines. Quality management provides the framework for the implementation of a monitoring system as part of the mine action process in Cambodia. Monitoring activities consists of quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). The creation of CMAA quality management teams (QMT) in 2008 contributed to increased quality. QMT monitor demining activities to ensure that operations comply with demining operator standard operating procedures and CMAS. QMT also check land before it is handed over to the community and conducts QA/QC activities throughout the year. Information management CMAA manages the national mine action database, the main repository of information of the Cambodian mine action sector. CMAA improved and diversified the technology it uses to generate various datasets, allowing more information to be shared and thereby supporting strategic planning and prioritisation of all activities in the mine action sector. Risk education Mine risk education (MRE) sessions were delivered to 1,500,751 men, 1,320,084 women, 1,166,974 boys and 1,050,563 girls 2 across the country. The main aim of MRE continues to be reducing high risk behaviour by people living or working in areas affected by mines and other explosive remnants of war. MRE programmes continue to target very high-risk areas, children, mobile adult populations and poor segments of the population to maximize use of resources. The Royal Government of Cambodia contributed $750,000 annually since 2013 to mine risk education. The funds were used for mine risk education activities delivered by the Cambodian Red Cross, Cambodian National Police, Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), National Centre for Peacekeeping Forces, Mines and ERW Clearance (NPMEC) and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS). Casualty reduction Casualty numbers are decreasing. The Cambodia mine/ERW Victim Information System (CMVIS) recorded 257 AP mine casualties during the period. Accidents are mainly caused by handling mines, as a bystander, while farming and collecting wood. Socio-economic issues -economic development. The most commonly reported blockages are access to agricultural land, pasture land, forests and water resources. 2 These numbers are indicative as a certain individual may have attended more than one MRE session. 4 Planning and prioritisation mechanism improvement Planning and prioritisation guidelines used by the Provincial Mine Action Committee (PMAC) and the Mine Action Planning Unit (MAPU) were improved in 2017, allowing clearance resources to be better targeted (from commune to village level).