In 1997 Barry Buzan published “Rethinking Security after the Cold War”. In this article he identified five realms of security: military, environment, economic, social and political.[1] All these elements can be found in the ongoing issue with landmines in Cambodia. Although this issue is not frequently highlighted in the media, it is a security issue that came about due to military and political struggles and continues to have a disastrous affect socially and economically for Cambodia.

The estimated number of anti-personnel landmines scattered throughout Cambodia ranges. Some sources say one mine per person[2], which would equate to ten million landmines, while other sources claim that there are six million landmines in the country of ten million inhabitants. In total, 6422 villages in Cambodia are classified as “suspected hazardous area” because of landmines. This is 46.2 percent of all villages in Cambodia. So what military and political conditions in Cambodia led to this high number of landmines? The use of landmines in Cambodia began during Cambodia’s thirty-year period of war that ranged from 1970 through 1998. These years of war, and the landmines brought along with them, can be divided into five phases:

1)    The Cambodian civil war, 1970 -1975[3]. This conflict began when the Cambodian Communist Party of Kampuchea, known as the Khmer Rouge, and their allies the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Viet Cong fought against the existing Republican government force in Cambodia. During this time, Vietnamese soldiers set up about ten percent of the total landmines that can be found today in Cambodia. The Civil War ended with the victory for the Khmer Rouge[4].

2)    The rule of the Khmer Rouge 1975-1979. The Cambodian communist party was lead by notorious leaders such as Pol Pot, Nuon Chae, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan. This period is often known as the “Cambodian Holocaust” because government troops and child soldiers killed two million civilians [5]. The Khmer Rouge regime is responsible for bringing in fifty-five percent of all landmines into Cambodia[6]. Furthermore, mines arrived to Cambodia through military aid packages for resistance fighters against Pol Pot. These mines came from Vietnam, the United States, the USSR, China, Israel, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Germany and Czechoslovakia[7].

3)    Vietnamese invasion and occupation of Cambodia, 1979 – 1989. This invasion removed the Khmer Rouge from power but further distributed landmines in Cambodia by Vietnamese forces. These account for thirty percent of all total landmines in Cambodia.

4)    Second Cambodian Civil War, 1989 – 1993. During this time, Cambodians raised against the occupying Vietnamese government. Involvement of landmines.

5)    Infighting among competing political factions, 1993-1998. Involvement of landmines.

As can be seen through the above information, landmines came to Cambodia through various military and political issues. The turbulent thirty years claimed 2.5 million lives and introduced over thirty-six different types of landmines into Cambodia[8]. Although these events happened in the past, the landmines in Cambodia still represent a security issue because of the social and economic impact that is still felt today. Between the years of 1979 and 2011, landmines in Cambodia killed 19,608 people and further maimed 44,346 people. Sixty-one percent of these victims went into debt to pay for their medical treatment[9]. The majority of those injured by landmines are children. Currently, Cambodia has 40,000 living amputees due to landmines. This is two hundred times the rate of the United States[10]. Besides the social difficulties of being scared where to walk, as there is always a chance a landmine could be hidden, and the difficulties of finding good treatment if affected, Cambodia’s economy has also suffered. Sixty percent of Cambodians are farmers. Many farmers, however, are unable to work on their fields as they have been claimed “hazardous” but have not been cleared by landmines. This prevents many farmers from earning their income and feeding their family[11]. Without mines, it is estimated that Cambodia could at least double its agricultural productions[12].

The daily terror of landmines for locals in Cambodia is not the current highlight on BBC, CNN or Aljazeera, but it is a security issue. The infiltration of landmines in Cambodia came about due to military and political struggles and continues to have social and economic effects. At the current rate of clearing landmines, it will take another decade before Cambodia can rid itself of landmines. This is a daily and ongoing security issue for Cambodians[13].

 

[1] Lecture Slides Professor Aim Sinpeng. Poli 360, September 11, 2014.

[2]M. Buvinic, M. Das Gupta, O. N. Shemyakina, (2013) Armed Conflict, Gender and Schooling. The World Bank Economic Review.

[3]Merrouche, Ouarda. “The Long Term Educational Cost of War: Evidence from Landmine Contamination in Cambodia.” The Journal of Development Studies. no. 3 (2011): 399-416.

[4]Dmitry Mosyakov, “The Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese Communists: A History of Their Relations as Told in the Soviet Archives,” in Susan E. Cook, ed., Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda (Yale Genocide Studies Program Monograph Series No. 1, 2004),

[5]Locard, Henri, State Violence in Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) and Retribution (1979-2004), European Review of History, Vol. 12, No. 1, March 2005, pp.121–143

[6]Merrouche, Ouarda. “The Long Term Educational Cost of War: Evidence from Landmine Contamination in Cambodia.” The Journal of Development Studies. no. 3 (2011): 399-416.

[7]Chapman, Jean. “The Political Economy of Landmines: View from a Minefield in North-Western Cambodia.” Economic and political weekly. no. 36 (2010): 67-74.

[8]Merrouche, Ouarda. “The Long Term Educational Cost of War: Evidence from Landmine Contamination in Cambodia.” The Journal of Development Studies. no. 3 (2011): 399-416.

[9]”World’s largest anti-landmines conference kicks off in Cambodia.” Xinhua News Agency, 11 27, 2011.

[10]”Landmines in Cambodia; Past, Present, and Future.” Reference and Research Book News 26, no. 5 (10, 2011), http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/894456538?accountid=14656 (accessed October 2, 2014).

[11]Jenkins, Mark. National Geographic, “Cambodia’s Healing Fields.” Last modified January 2012. Accessed October 2, 2014.

[12]Peerman, Dean. “THE KILLING FIELDS STILL KILL.” The Christian Century. no. 10 (2007): 8.

[13]Jenkins, Mark. National Geographic, “Cambodia’s Healing Fields.” Last modified January 2012. Accessed October 2, 2014.