THAILAND’S LESSONS LEARNED TO PURSUE THE OTTAWA
CONVENTION
DIRECTOR
GENERAL OF
THAILAND
MINE ACTION CENTER (TMAC)
Mr. Co-Chairs, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and
Gentlemen,
The Director of Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC), would like to
thank you for giving me an opportunity to present about Thailand’s Lessons
learned to pursue the Ottawa Convention.
Our lessons learned
consist of several works that we have done to pursue the treaty. To better help
TMAC move forward more quickly to meet that goal, we have to analyze our past
work as well as strength and weakness and ask ourselves on how well we have
done so far to achieve this, whether there are any obstacles, if there are
some, how we solve them and so on.
I will try to answer
all questions in a systematic way of “Q & A” as the best I can so
that you can learn from our lessons learned to deal with this.
Q1: What have we done to pursue the Ottawa
Convention?
A1 : Thailand ratified the Ottawa
Convention on 27 November 1998 (53rd nation and the 1st
country in ASEAN), which came into effect on 1 May 1999. That means Thailand has to destroy
anti-personnel mines from the stockpiles within 4 years in 2003 and eradicate
all mines from Thai soil within 10 years in 2009.
On the earlier stage, the
Royal Thai Government established a permanent unit to take responsibilities for
this problem and all humanitarian demining assistance. Thailand mine Action Center (TMAC) under the direct command of Supreme Command Headquarters, was officially opened and began
operating on 18 January 1999 by
destruction of 10,000 APLs from the stockpile in Lop Buri province.
HMAU-1 began operating on 3 April 2000 with 99
personnel organized from the Army to operate demining along the border area of
Sa Kaeo province. This is the only
one unit receiving full support from the US, Canada, and Japan on mine
detectors, mechanical equipment, and mine detection dogs.
HMAU-2 began
operating on 4 August 2000 with 99 personnel organized from the Marine Corps to
operate demining at Chanthaburi province. HMAU-2 receives support from the US only
on demining equipment.
NPA coordinates with the TMAC to conduct the Level I Impact Survey
on landmines countrywide during September 2000-31 May 2001. The results found that 7 provinces
along the Thai-Cambodian border are highly mine contaminated. Landmines/UXO affect 295 communities,
located in 457 identified areas covering 1,823 square kilometers.
As a whole, 530 affected communities in
27 provinces were identified with a population of over 500,000. The impact
assessment showed 69 high-impacted communities. More than 2,560 square
kilometers of Thai territory is excluded from productive use due to fears of
landmine contamination. There are
at least 170 new mine-related casualties each year.
To deal with the
landmine problem effectively, the TMAC has to apply a fully integrated
humanitarian demining response which involves several procedures and more
advance technology to operate mine detection and clearance beginning with
minefield surveying, mapping, marking, detecting, searching and clearance until
handing over the safely demined areas to the local villagers- the complete
cycle of mine action.
In addition, to
increase their quality of lives in the long term, more involvement with several
concerned organizations both from governmental and non- governmental sectors is
very essential, particularly in providing the preventive measures of mine
awareness and risk reduction education as well as the holistic care for mine
victim assistance covering treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration.
So far, the
humanitarian demining operations have been carried out by HMAUs as shown at the
below table:
|
Mine
Action Operations |
HMAU-1 Sa
Kaeo (Feb
01-31 Mar 02) |
HMAU-2 Chanthaburi
and Trat (Apr
01-31 Mar 02) |
HMAU-3 Surin,
Buri Ram, &
Si Sa Ket (Aug
01-31 Mar 02) |
|
1.
NPA’s Level I Impact Survey |
31,221 villagers in 63 villages were
affected by mines planted in 181.6 sq.km. patches. |
55,386 villagers in 72 villages were affected by mines planted in 412.2
sq.km. patches. |
129,427
villagers in 162 villages were
affected by mines planted in 1,349.8 sq.km. patches. |
|
2. Casualty |
155 villagers were injured and 2
villagers were dead. |
86 villagers
were injured. |
Surin has72
mine victims, Buri Ram has 34 mine victims, and Si Sa Ket has
28 mine victims. |
|
Mine
Action Operations |
HMAU-1 Sa
Kaeo (Feb
01-31 Mar 02) |
HMAU-2 Chanthaburi
and Trat (Apr
01-31 Mar 02) |
HMAU-3 Surin,
Buri Ram, &
Si Sa Ket (Aug
01-31 Mar 02) |
|
3.Mine Awareness |
- Providing mine awareness programs
to 37,301 villagers in 60 villages. -Posting warning signs over mined areas of 60 villages |
- Providing mine awareness programs
to 3,623 villagers in 29
villages. -Posting warning signs signs over mined areas of 29 villages |
-Educating and
Providing mine awareness programs to 22,940 villagers in 35 villages. - Posting warning signs over mined areas of 35 villages |
|
4.Mine Victim Assistance |
- 8 mine victims referred to medical
centers without medical fees. - 208 mine victims received prostheses
from Aranyaprathet Hospital. -
158 mine victims and the families received financial support. - 158 mine victims and families received
vocational training. |
- 25 mine victims referred to medical
centers without medical fees. - 11 mine victims received prostheses
from the project of “Free Prostheses for Handicapped”or
Phra Pokao Hospital. - 20 mine victims and the families
received financial support. - 131 mine
victims and families received vocational training. |
- 3 mine victims referred to medical
centers without medical fees. - 55 mine victims received prostheses
from the project of “Free Prostheses for Handicapped”
or nearby hospitals. - 134 mine
victims and families received vocational training. |
|
Mine
Action Operations |
HMAU-1 Sa
Kaeo (Feb
01-31 Mar 02) |
HMAU-2 Chanthaburi
and Trat (Apr
01-31 Mar 02) |
HMAU-3 Surin,
Buri Ram, &
Si Sa Ket (Aug
01-31 Mar 02) |
|
5. prepared mine areas |
Vegetation clearance over 727,857 sq.m.
by using TEMPEST (68,630 sq.m.), SDTT (571,945 sq.m.),and BDM-48 (87,300
sq.m.). |
Vegetation clearance over 45,709 sq.m.
by using manual mine vegetation clearance. |
- |
|
6. Mine detection and clearance |
Mines
detection and clearance of 1,970,000 sq.m. by using mine
dog detection, TEMPEST, SDTT, BDM-48 at Ban Nong Ya Kaeo. |
Mines
detection and clearance of 44,062 sq.m. by using tractors and manual
detectors. |
- |
|
7.Number of mines Detected |
46 APMs, 38
UXO, 13,985 trip wires were detected. |
220 APMs, 3
ATMs, 794 UXO, and 7,374 trip wires were detected. |
- |
|
8. Rehabilitated mine areas |
44,800 sq.m.
out of 82,006 sq.m. ( 51 rai) of cleared mined areas were handed over to
local government to pass over to the villagers for making a living. |
17,695 sq.m.
(11.7 rai) of cleared mined areas have not been handed over to local government. |
- |
|
9. Support the other Units |
1. Support
mine detection and clearance at
Pak Chong district (26 Sep-26 Dec 01) 2. Support
demining at 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment,
Royal Guard, Aranyaprathet (29March 02). |
Team 1
& 2 Support mine detection and clearance
at Pak Chong on 965,000
sq.m. 6,045 APMs were detected
(27 Oct- 26 Dec 01). |
- |
Remark As
of 31 March 2002
For stockpile
destruction, Thailand has already destroyed 157,557 APLs during 1999-May
2002. We plan to destroy more
80,000 APLs this year as follows in June, August for 20,000 APLs each month,
and in July for 40,000 APLs.
In 2003, we plan
to destroy 100,168 APLs but the Army Arsenal exploded on 25th
October 2001, and on 29th January 2002 at Aranyaprathet district, Sa
Kaeo province, which destroyed
approximately 48,688 APLs.
Therefore, the plan of stockpile destruction has been changed due to the
number of exploded APLs.
Therefore,
there are 51,480 APLs left to destroy within April 2003 in accordance with the
Ottawa Convention. The number of
retained APLs will be 4,970 for training and research purposes.
The TMAC has put a
lot of efforts to increase the effectiveness of humanitarian demining
operations to achieve the Ottawa Convention; therefore, the strategic planning
on integrated humanitarian demining has to be done continuously into the future
as follows:
1. To Implement a one-year project of UNDP (August 2001-July 2002)
through financial support of 400,000 USD received from Japan to strengthen
National Mine Action Program to reach the establishment of National Mine Action
Center (NMAC) in the future.
2. To set up
the Project Steering Committee (PSC) from representatives of concerned
Ministries and organizations to monitor all mine action projects of TMAC,
particularly the projects supported by the donors from international
organizations/ countries as well as to assist the TMAC in establishing the NMAC
to solve landmine problems more effectively.
3. To train civilians for
Humanitarian Demining (HD), which the TMAC already trained 1 class of HD
Program (36 volunteers) and plans to train 2 classes each year by focusing on
the priority areas of most affected by mines in 7 provinces.
4. To continue training dogs for mine detection, which was supported by
the US.
5. To set up 2 more HMAUs: one for the Thai-Laos and
Thai-Myanmar borders, the other one for supporting the Border Patrol Police (BPP)
along the border throughout Thailand.
6. To equip more technologies in HMAU-2 and HMAU-3. So far, the TMAC has received equipment
support from:
Ø
the US; for both demining and mechanical equipment, e.g. TEMPEST, PEARSON
Cutter and Tractor, and Dogs, which 12 dogs/class were trained
Ø
Canada; for PROMAC BDM-48, FIXOR Explosives, which were handed over by
H.E. the Canadian Ambassador to Deputy Supreme Commander on 23 January after
having been testing since last July.
Ø
Japan; for financial support received from the Japanese government
through UNDP; mine detectors and other equipment received from the Lion Club
through JAHDS, which were presented last week; as well as the test bed project
of ‘Mine Eye’, the radar penetrating into the ground to see the picture and
size of objects.
However the TMAC has implemented the research project by
encouraging some technological institutions of Thailand to develop technology
on demining and mechanical equipment, which are tractors, mine detectors, and
robot. Particularly, the TMAC
plans to set up a competition of robot that will be able to identify mines this
year.
7. To cooperate with the CMAC to clear mined areas along
the Thai-Cambodian border (within 5 kilometers each side away from the border)
and also plan to set up the 2nd meeting in Bangkok within this year.
8. To seek financial support to implement 20 projects in
the Way Ahead and 5-year plan by inviting 10 donor countries, e.g. the US,
Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Japan, Norway, Sweden, German, France,
and from concerned organizations, e.g. UNDP and EU. The TMAC concerns the priority areas of high impact score,
which are less areas, e.g. tourist sites, routes of water access (Reservoir)
for consumption and agriculture, and rehabilitation of the residence areas.
9. To hold seminars by the donors’ sponsorship
1. Last 4-8 March 2002, the US was our
sponsorship for setting up a technical workshop on Humanitarian Demining Technology and Cooperation in Asia.
2. Last 13-15 May 2002, Thailand, Canada, Australia,
and Japan were co-hosts for setting up a regional seminar on Landmines in
Southeast Asia by inviting 10 ASEAN countries
3. As the first country in Asia, Thailand
is ready to be host of the fifth Meeting of States Parties (5MSP) in Bangkok around
September 2003. The Thai
government approves the budget of 5 million baht or 1.2 million USD for this
meeting.
Thailand would
like to encourage you as representatives from many countries around the world
to give us full support for the 5MSP.
We are looking forward to seeing you at the meeting in Bangkok around
September 2003.
Q2 : How well have we done so far to
achieve this?
A2 :
Even though the TMAC has been set up for only 3 years, we are satisfied
with the past work in spite of facing some obstacles. We have put a great effort to solve them to reach the better
future outcomes and represent our sincerity to pursue the Ottawa Convention’s
obligation. We also analyze our strength and weakness with SWOT Model to find
out the possible solutions to assist the TMAC to move quickly enough to operate
mine action effectively as follows (see annex):
1.
Thailand has TMAC as a firm organization
to take responsibility of mine action.
2.
TMAC has proposed practical mine action
plan to draw support from donors.
Weakness
1.
TMAC represents a mine action
organization of a unit level more than national level.
2.
TMAC has not enough qualified staff,
especially in English competency, which makes it difficult to deal with other
international organizations/ countries.
Opportunities
1.
TMAC personnel have clear understanding
to pursue the Ottawa Convention.
2.
TMAC staff view their future needs for
organizational change to recruit more permanent personnel from concerned
organizations.
Threats
1.
TMAC has a limited flexibility,
particularly requesting budget or available permanent staff.
2.
The Royal Thai Government has faced
budget constraints.
Q3: What would be the TMAC’s solutions to
overcome the weakness and threats?
A3: We use the strategic planning on
integrated humanitarian demining that we mentioned above. The solutions can be concluded as
follows:
1. Increasing
more concerned organization involvement both in national level (Ministries,
GOs, NGOs, and local civilian volunteers) and international level (neigbouring
countries and donors in forms of seminars and workshops)
2. Setting up
NMAC under the direct command of the Prime Minister Office, which consists of
permanent personnel from concerned organizations to better nationally address
landmine problem and employ more qualified staff. However the process of NMAC establishment takes time for the
documentation to get approval from the Prime Minister.
3. proposing
practical projects of humanitarian mine action to gain more continuous support
from donor countries/ organizations
The above
possible solutions can bring about more productive humanitarian demining to
demonstrate how effectively we have carried out humanitarian demining in the
past, the present and into the future.
Finally it can lead THAILAND to receive more national and international
cooperation and support.
As of 31 May 2002
Thank You.
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