PHNOM PENH: Japan will work with Cambodia to remove land mines from Ukraine and other war-torn countries, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said during a visit to Phnom Penh on Saturday.
Millions of land mines were laid in Cambodia during the nearly three decades of conflict that ended in 1998, with tens of thousands of people killed or maimed over the years.
The Southeast Asian country is widely regarded as a world leader in land mine countermeasures and has been working with Japan to clear the weapons since 1998.
“Cambodia is an essential partner in Japan’s global land mine removal efforts,” Kamikawa said at a press conference.
“I am confident Cambodia will contribute greatly to raising awareness of the inhumanity of anti-personnel land mines as a country that suffered from them.”
The minister said Japan would provide Ukraine with a large demining machine next week, and in August would train Ukrainian agencies in Cambodia on how to use the equipment.
Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), told reporters his organization and local deminers were “proud of this important initiative and strongly support the new strategy of the cooperation.”
“We are glad to take part in sharing experiences with countries that have problems with land mines and remnants of war in accordance with the policy of the (Cambodian) government,” he added.
Deaths caused by land mines occur frequently among civilians and soldiers in Ukraine, which has been littered with mines and explosive remnants since it was invaded by Russia in 2022.
According to Human Rights Watch, land mines have been documented in 11 of Ukraine’s 27 regions.
Russian forces are known to have used at least 13 types of anti-personnel mines since February 2022, the organization said.
Cambodia, meanwhile, is still littered with discarded ammunition and arms from decades of war starting in the 1960s.
Deaths from mines and unexploded ordnance are common, with around 20,000 fatalities since 1979, and twice that number injured.
In August last year, thousands of pieces of unexploded ordnance left over from the war were unearthed inside a school in the country’s northeast.
In 2018, an Australian and a Cambodian were killed when war-era ordnance exploded during a demining training exercise in southern Cambodia.
The government has vowed to clear all mines and unexploded ordnance by 2025.
Japan, Cambodia to help remove land mines from Ukraine
https://arab.news/5m55m
Japan, Cambodia to help remove land mines from Ukraine
- The minister said Japan would provide Ukraine with a large demining machine next week
- Deaths caused by land mines occur frequently among civilians and soldiers in Ukraine
Bangladesh halts controversial relocation of Rohingya refugees to remote island
- Administration of ousted PM Sheikh Hasina spent about $350m on the project
- Rohingya refuse to move to island and 10,000 have fled, top refugee official says
DHAKA: When Bangladesh launched a multi-million-dollar project to relocate Rohingya refugees to a remote island, it promised a better life. Five years on, the controversial plan has stalled, as authorities find it is unsustainable and refugees flee back to overcrowded mainland camps.
The Bhasan Char island emerged naturally from river sediments some 20 years ago. It lies in the Bay of Bengal, over 60 km from Bangladesh’s mainland.
Never inhabited, the 40 sq. km area was developed to accommodate 100,000 Rohingya refugees from the cramped camps of the coastal Cox’s Bazar district.
Relocation to the island started in early December 2020, despite protests from the UN and humanitarian organizations, which warned that it was vulnerable to cyclones and flooding, and that its isolation restricted access to emergency services.
Over 1,600 people were then moved to Bhasan Char by the Bangladesh Navy, followed by another 1,800 the same month. During 25 such transfers, more than 38,000 refugees were resettled on the island by October 2024.
The relocation project was spearheaded by the government of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last year. The new administration has since suspended it indefinitely.
“The Bangladesh government will not conduct any further relocation of the Rohingya to Bhasan Char island. The main reason is that the country’s present government considers the project not viable,” Mizanur Rahman, refugee relief and repatriation commissioner in Cox’s Bazar, told Arab News on Sunday.
The government’s decision was prompted by data from UN agencies, which showed that operations on Bhasan Char involved 30 percent higher costs compared with the mainland camps in Cox’s Bazar, Rahman said.
“On the other hand, the Rohingya are not voluntarily coming forward for relocation to the island. Many of those previously relocated have fled ... Around 29,000 are currently living on the island, while about 10,000 have returned to Cox’s Bazar on their own.”
A mostly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s and have faced systemic persecution ever since.
In 2017 alone, some 750,000 of them crossed to neighboring Bangladesh, fleeing a deadly crackdown by Myanmar’s military. Today, about 1.3 million of them shelter in 33 camps in the coastal Cox’s Bazar district, making it the world’s largest refugee settlement.
Bhasan Char, where the Bangladeshi government spent an estimated $350 million to construct concrete residential buildings, cyclone shelters, roads, freshwater systems, and other infrastructure, offered better living conditions than the squalid camps.
But there was no regular transport service to the island, its inhabitants were not allowed to travel freely, and livelihood opportunities were few and dependent on aid coming from the mainland.
Rahman said: “Considering all aspects, we can say that Rohingya relocation to Bhasan Char is currently halted. Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s regime, only one batch of Rohingya was relocated to the island.
“The relocation was conducted with government funding, but the government is no longer allowing any funds for this purpose.”
“The Bangladeshi government has spent around $350 million on it from its own funds ... It seems the project has not turned out to be successful.”
