Speech of H.E. Mr. Heng Ratana,
adviser to Samdach Akkei Moha Sena Badei Decho Hun Sen
aid Director General of Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC)
during the Handover Ceremony of Demining Equipments (Phase VI)
to the Royal Government of Cambodia and CMAC
- Excellency Dr. Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister in Charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers;
- Excellency Mr. Masafumi Kuroki, Japanese Ambassador to the IGngdom of Cambodia;
- Mr. Yasujiro SUZUKI, President ofJapan International Cooperation Agency;
- Excellency Mr. Sou Phirin, Governor of Siem Reap Province;
- Excellencies, Honourable National and International Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen; - Fellow Cambodians, seniors and juniors,
Fellow staff member of CMAC
It
is a very auspicious day today for CMAC to organize the handover
ceremony of demining equipments– a generous donation from the people and
the Government of Japan to the Royal Government of Cambodia in support
of demining operations carried out by CMAC (Technical Support Phase VI).
To
begin with, on behalf of staff member of CMAC and on my own behalf, I
would like to express my sincere gratitude and respect to H.E. Dr. Sok
An, revered representative of Samdach Akkei Moha Sena Badei Decho Hun
Sen, for his honorable presence in and presiding over this event
despites his busy work schedule. A revered presence of H.E. Dr. Sok An
clearly is a manifestation of a strong commitment and attention by the
Royal Government of Cambodia, particularly his personal attention to and
concern for the well-being of the population as well as those who are
vulnerable to the danger caused by landmines and UXOs.
Taking
this ample opportunity, I would also like to extend my sincere thanks
to and appreciation for the presence of H.E. Ambassador Masafumi Kuroki
who represents the people and the Government of Japan. My sincere thanks
and appreciation also go to H.E. Ambassadors, Excellencies, Ladies and
Gentlemen for their valuable presence today.
Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen
Today
marks another important milestone when the people and the Government of
Japan provides this very important assistance in support of demining
sector to the Royal Government of Cambodia and CMAC in addition to the
on-going assistance we have been receiving. The support in technical
equipments Phase VI that we recieves today worths US$ 16.5 million. ft
inclues 8 units of heavey equipments, 115 units of different types of
vehicles, 492 mine detectors, 86 stationary and mobile tents, 115 units
of GPS devices, 205 radio communication devices, 27 generators and spare
parts.
I
would like to take this opportunity to recall the exchange of note with
regard to the approval of this technical support Phase VI that was
signed between H.E. Mr. Hor Nam Hong, Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation and H.E. Mr. Masafumi Kuroki, Japanese Ambassador to
Cambodia. The signing of the exchange of note was presided over by
Samdach Akkei Moha Sena Badei Decho Hun Sen on 15 March 2011. The
signing of agreement on project implementation between Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, H.E. Mr. Keat Chhon and
Mr. Yasujiro SUZUKI, President of JICA was made on 16 March 2011 which
was only 4 or 5 days following the unfortunate and tragic Tsunami
disaster hitting Japan. The decision made at that time by the Government
of Japan to continue to provide this assistance when people of Japan
was still in a difficult time clearly indicates her strong commitment
and full support to the people of Cambodia. The demining equipments
support that is here today truly respond to the need of CMAC in support
of the Royal Government of Cambodia to speed up the demining operations
and UXO clearance in order to release the once - mine/UXO contaminated
land contributing to reduction of casualty and supporting development.
Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen
Allow me to briefly report on our background and productivity as follows:
Cambodia
has gone thru an internal conflict and civil war for nearly three
decades. National infrastructure was destroyed as a result of the war.
The war also causes trauma to our people and the loss of national unity.
It has never been an easy job to restores these losses. We have been
fortunate, however, to have the Royal Government under the wise
leadership of Samdach Akkei Moha Sena Badei Decho Hun Sen who has
demonstrated strong commitment, determination, wisdom and vision in
taking Cambodian on the right direction full of hope and confidence. For
instance, the win-win policy and the policy of national reconciliation
puts forth by Samdach Decho has been implemented successfully, steering
Cambodia out of civil war and bringing about peace, national unity and
real freedom and turning a new page of development in all fields both in
secular and religious front.
Although
that war was ended in 1998 the legacy of the war has left Cambodia with
many explosive remnants the hidden killer, scattered all over Cambodia.
This is a huge burden and challenge for the people and the government
of Cambodia. Although the issue of landmine and UXOs poses a tremendous
challenge the hand work and commitment made by the Royal Government of
Cambodia and developments partners and operators under the coordination
of CMAA has contributed to a remarkable drop of mine/UXO related
casualty. Responding to the challenge of mine/UXOs clearance, CMAC
strictly carries out four main activities: 1)Mine/UXO Awareness
activity, 2) Survey and Marking 3) Mine/UXO clearance and 4) Training in
Mine Action.
CMAC
currently has a staff strength of nearly 2,100 personnel stationed in
Phnom Penh Headquarter and 6 different demining units and a Training
Center in the provinces. We deploy our teams and resources in areas
where there are right rate of mine/UXO casualty. In addition, we also
have deployed our smaller mobile teams and resources in response to the
need on an urgent basis. Over the past 20 year, CMAC has actively
participated with the Government under coordination of CMAA in
implementing rules and regulations aiming at achieving a successful
implementation of international treaty on the ban of anti‑personnel
mines, in particular, at releasing cleared land to the people. Our
achievement over the past 20 year can be briefly summarized as follows:
- Mine/UXO Awareness Program
This
program plays an important role in the prevention and reduction of
mine/UXO casualty. CMAC closely cooperates with several development
partners i.e. EU, UNDP, UNICEF, NPA and HIB by formulating several
mechanism. In addition, CMAC has cooperate with CMAA, National Police
and local authorities in order to formulate a systematic work in
response to urgent and actual need of the people. Aside from clearance
operations in support of development, CMAC has responded to request of
urgent nature of more than 10,000 cases per year. This is an indication
of the level of threats by mine/UX0 faced by our population and the work
required of CMAC.
- Survey and Marking
This
is also an important program given the fact the mine/UXOs are scattered
across the country without record, map as well as their source of
information in relation to this scattering. Therefore, the survey and
marking teams need to employ certain and specific information/data
collection method to confirm contaminated areas and to mark them. With
support from CMAA, survey and marking teams requires participation from
local residents living near or inside the areas suspected of
contamination for data/information collection since these residents are
the only source of reliable information. At present, CMAC is increasing
base line survey teams in order to determine the nature of each
minefield, making it easier for efficient deployment of resources and
speeding up of clearance.
- Mine/UXO Clearance
This
is the core program of CMAC. Up to year 2011, CMAC has found and
destroyed over 466,274 anti-personnel, 9,012 anti-tank mines, and
1,727,649 UXOs. These amount to a total number of mine and UXOs found
and destroyed of more than 2,192,631. CMAC has cleared minefield of over
35,000 hectares and released suspected minefield of over 19,000
hectares. It should be noted that in order to achieve the result above,
CMAC need a strength of more than 2,000 deminers. In 2005, CMAC was able
to only dear from 10 to 12 square kilometers per year. However,
clearance productivity rises remarkably following new equipment support.
The productivity has risen to roughly 80 square kilometers per year
while employ same level of budget and workforce. For in stance, in 2012
CMAC sets a clearance target of 82 square kilometers. The rise in
clearance productivity is due in part to factors such as a) enhancing of
mufti skills among the workforce, b) better planning from top to bottom
level, c)decentralization of decision power making and d) equipping of
better and modem clearance equipments and tools. With respect to
equipments, CMAC receives full and strong support from the Government of
Japan in order to achieve CMACs set target. I would like to draw your
attention that the 2.2 million of mine/UXO found and destroyed by CMAC
does not only mean saving lives, but also actively contribute to the
building and development of the country.
- Training, Research and Development
Given
the changing context and the competition for the more efficient and
speedier clearance, CMAC considers training, research and development a
very important tool in its mine action mission. With support from
donors, especially from the Government of Japan, CMAC has cooperated
with companies and Japanese techinical experts in developing and
building mechanical clearance equipments to support mine/UXO clearance
of higher capability and effectiveness. It should be noted that
equipments that have been successfully deployed in Cambodia are also
taken to be deployed in other countries affected with mine/UXOs. Of
course, techinical equipments are important, however, capable human
resources and talents are the foremost important Therefore, in the
context of training, mufti-skill is important for deminer i.e. in
mapping, survey and neutralisation of mines. CMAC has also helped to
train National Police and several member of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces
(RCAF). The experince and success of CMAC has drawn many interest from
other countries infected with mine/UXOs i.e. Laos, Vietnam, Thailand,
Sri Lanka, countries in Africa and Columbia as these countries have
requested CMAC to share and exhange this experience. In 2011, the
Government of Japan, thru JICA, provided support to CMAC enabling the
latter to provide training to 45 officers and deminers from Columbia.
Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen
Going
foreward: Despites strong and full committment from the Royal
Government and development partners under coordination of CMAA that has
led to success on many fronts in terms of mine action, the threat of
mine/UXO remains relatively strong. That was the reason why the Royal
Government has requested the extention of anther 10 years– that is until
1 January 2020. CMAC, as a national operator, is a secretariate to the
Royal Government has prepared a five- year rolling plan 2012 - 2017 in
accordance with the need of the people and the government by ensuring a
clearance of 50,000 hectares, releasing suspect arear of 10,000 hectares
on a yearly basis. This includes the strenthening of capacity in
response to urgent request of about 20,000 from the people and local
authorities.
To
achieve this plan, CMAC need resources and a budget of more than US$
100 million over the next five years. May i stress that mine/UXO
clearance in Cambodia faces many challenges and difficulties i.e.
minefields are covered with thick bushes and hard soil, minefield full
of deeply-laid anti-tank mines, antipersonnel mines that may
potentially causes casualty during operations. Budget and human
resources are also our other challenges. Mine clearance strongly relies
on grants from development partners,
Development of Cleared Land:
Aside
from our core program in mine action, I have always garnered supports
from donors and friends near or far to help our people living in remote
areas, in particular in our cleared areas. For instance, we have
received support for construction of 16 school buildings, 51 rooms for
two health centers, 97 wells, digging of 20 ponds, and other agriculture
related training including small scale irrigation projects and building
of laterite roads for several villages.
Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen
Reform:
May I remind that under the guidance of Samdach Akkei Moha Sena Badei
Decho Hun Sen and H.E. Dr. Sok An, CMAC has undertaken its reform
program successfully both in term of human resources and technical
equipments. As a clear example, CMAC has achieved an ISO 9001-2008 and
has built a successful operational demining unit offices, workshop and
training centers i.e. Phnom Penh headquarters, demining unit office in
Kompong Cham, in Siem Reap, in Battambang and in Kampong Chhnang. In the
past, CMAC rented all these offices.
Once
again, i wish to extend my sincere thanks to the people and the
Government of Japan who have always provided support to mine action
operations in order to save lives and support developement for Cambodia.
The people and the Government of Japan has provided support to mine
action in many different ways i.e. provision of operational
budget/financial support, equipments and technical experts. Since 2000,
financial support provided by Japan is worth over US$ 100 millions. The
provision of technical equipments support since 2000 has now been in
Phase VI.
May
i solemly declare that the equipments that we receive today from the
Government of Japan will be deployed and used for the right purpose and
in an effective way in order to speed up demining operations and to
enable CMAC to better fullfill its operational mission in saving lives
and end the threat posed by mine/UXOs.
Finally,
may I wish Your Excellency Dr. Sok An all the best and success in
leading the people and Cambodia to peace, national unity and prosperity.
I would also like to wish Your Excellencies, national and internal
guests, ladies and gentlemen, civil servants, and all CMAC staff the
four Buddha blessings.
My
special thanks also extend to H.E. Mr. Sou Phirin, Governor of Siem
Reap, and all level relevant authorities for their cooperation with CMAC
staff, who are conducting demining and UXO clearance operation in Siem
Reap province and especially Your Excellency and all level of provincial
official provided coordination in gathering our local people to join
this ceremony making this event successful.
Thank you,