UN resident coordinator in Cambodia Pauline Tamesis praised the achievements of the demining sector during her four-year mission, which saw the UN support the organisation of the national conference on mine action and participate in the preparation and construction of the National Strategic Plan for Mine Action 2018-2025.
Tamesis shared the praise during a meeting with Ly Thuch, First Vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), as she paid a farewell courtesy visit to the CMAA headquarters on March 28.
Tamesis offered her appreciation of the leadership of the government, which has increased the country’s prosperity. She had clearly seen positive changes to the face of Cambodia in her time here, she said.
Tamesis also praised the achievements of the demining sector under the CMAA’s coordination and leadership.
“The UN will continue to engage with the government in the field of mine action and will mobilise resources to support the Kingdom’s goals until 2025,” she said.
She congratulated the government on setting a clear vision and including mine action as its 18th Sustainable Development Goal.
Thuch thanked Tamesis for her friendship and her cooperation with the government and the people of Cambodia, as well as for supporting the peacekeeping process and demining work in her mission mandate.
“Since the beginning of her mission in 2018, she has supported the preparation of the national conference on mine action and was heavily involved in the preparation and development of the National Strategic Plan for Mine Action 2018-2025,” he said.
Thuch said that to support the government’s priority of ensuring a mine-free Cambodia by 2025, the CMAA has prepared guidelines on the implementation of mine-free village mechanisms, with the aim of accelerating demining and attracting the support of new donors and the private sector.
He said the CMAA has been mobilising financial resources from development partners, friendly countries, national and international demining operators, investors and donors to clear mines from one village to another and from one province to another.
He added that the CMAA is the sole representative of the state and would manage, lead, coordinate and control the demining sector throughout the country.
Cambodia has clearly defined the extent and magnitude of the impact of landmines and unexploded ordnance throughout the country. As of 2021, the Kingdom has 2,017sq km to be cleared of land mines and unexploded ordnance, including 788sq km that must be cleared by 2025, he added.
He said the government has set out a plan that will see it declare the capital and six provinces mine-free – Phnom Penh (125ha), Prey Veng (3.6ha), Kandal (6.5ha), Kampong Cham (128ha), Preah Sihanouk Province (174ha), Ratanakkiri (340ha) and Takeo (363ha).