Lao PDR

Ms Sonam Yangchen Rana, UNDP Resident Representative, and Mr Francois Sénémaud, Ambassador Extraordinary of the French Embassy signed the contribution of France to the UXO trust fund. Photo: UNDP Lao PDR/Phoutsavong Phatsouda

The presence and scale of UXO pose humanitarian challenges and are an impediment to poverty reduction and development in the Lao PDR. 

Bombies have caused death and injuries to average 300 people a year over the past decade.  In addition, they prevent access to agricultural land and require substantial extra resources for UXO clearance before any kind of development, such as road building, tourism development and school construction, taking place in UXO-affected areas.   

France signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo on 3 December 2008, and was the twentieth country to ratify the Convention on 25 September 2009. After the ratification, France has been setting out to implement the Oslo Convention by adopting corresponding national legislation and making efforts to achieve wide international support for the Convention.  

Now, through the recently established UXO trust fund, set up by the Government of Lao PDR and UNDP, France will support the Government of Lao PDR with EUR 50,000 in hosting the First Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.  

The 2008 UXO sector evaluation shows that Lao PDR can clear the contamination from the priority agricultural land in 16 years at present capacity.  However, by scaling up resources this can be achieved even quicker, perhaps in 10 years.  UXO clearance in the Lao PDR is a precondition for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and graduation of the country from the Least Developed Country status by 2020.  

In her remarks, Ms Sonam Yangchen Rana, UNDP Resident Representative encouraged other countries to follow France in contributing to the UXO trust fund: “This gives the Government of Lao PDR the much needed support, and helps to implement the Vientiane Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. As we know, it is crucial to accelerate and coordinate assistance from the international community to collectively make the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention a success, and beyond that, assist the Government of Lao PDR with the implementation of the Convention through UXO clearance and victim assistance.”