Jump to a specific section of the chapter:

Treaty Status | Management & Coordination | Impact (contamination & casualties) | Addressing the Impact (land release, risk education, victim assistance)

Country summary

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is massively contaminated by explosive remnants of war (ERW), including cluster munition remnants, although no accurate estimate of contamination exists. The United States (US) dropped 413,130 tons of cluster munitions over Vietnam between 1965 and 1973, amid the Vietnam War.[1] The central provinces, on either side of the former demilitarized zone (DMZ), are among the most heavily contaminated with ERW and cluster munition remnants. Landmine contamination in Vietnam is also a problem, with most mines laid during conflicts in the 1970s with neighboring Cambodia and China, affecting areas bordering those two countries.[2] Vietnam is not a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty or the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The Ministry of National Defence has been responsible for mine action at the national level since 2006, but in 2014 the Vietnam National Mine Action Center (VNMAC) was established to provide a focal point for mine action operations.[3] In 2019, a decree on mine action, and an accompanying guiding circular, officially made VNMAC responsible for managing all mine action activities.[4]

Provincial authorities have a high level of autonomy in managing mine action activities at the local level. In Quang Tri province, the Quang Tri Department of Foreign Affairs had been the focal point for mine action coordination in the province since 1996. The province now has the first mine action center established at provincial level in Vietnam, the Quang Tri Mine Action Center (QTMAC).[5] In 2020, the authorities in Quang Binh also began to develop a provincial coordination structure.

There is no nationwide mechanism to collect mine/ERW casualty data in Vietnam. Risk education activities in Vietnam are informed by locally-available information, population and census data, and data collected by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).[6] Some studies have also been conducted on risk exposure and education needs, that inform the targeting of risk education. The main target groups are children, farmers, and scrap metal collectors and dealers.

VNMAC is responsible for data collection and support for mine/ERW victims. The 2019 Decree on the Management and Implementation of the Removal of Post-War Mines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO), also known as the Mine Action Decree, includes victim assistance measures aligned with the work of the Department of Social Protection under MoLISA.[7]

Treaty status

Treaty status overview

Management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination overview

Note: UXO=unexploded ordnance.

Coordination

In 2006, the prime minister of Vietnam assigned responsibility for mine action at the national level to the Ministry of National Defence, with clearance undertaken by the Engineering Corps of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN).[8] The Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal Technology, under the Ministry of National Defence, acted as a central coordinating body for clearance and survey.[9]

In 2013, Vietnam established VNMAC to strengthen mine action and serve as a focal point for all mine action activities.[10] VNMAC began work in 2014, but was only assigned overall responsibility for mine action in a February 2019 Mine Action Decree and a guiding circular, issued in February 2020.[11] The Mine Action Decree formalized the regulations and structures for the management of mine action, and provides a framework under which mine action operators conduct their work and cooperate with authorities at provincial and national level.[12] Under the circular, VNMAC has taken the central lead for management of all national mine action activities, while the role of provincial authorities to coordinate operators in their respective administrative areas has been reinforced.[13]

Provincial authorities work with a high level of autonomy in managing local mine action activities. In Quang Tri province, the Quang Tri Department of Foreign Affairs had been the focal point for coordination of international mine action operators in the province since 1996. In 2013, the Quang Tri Department of Foreign Affairs and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) implemented a joint project to establish a provincial database unit, and in February 2015 the Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee approved the establishment of the Quang Tri Legacy of War Coordination Center, which later became QTMAC. QTMAC coordinates all operators, whether civilian or military, national or international. It collects mine action data, which it analyzes to prioritize and assign tasks to operators.[14]

QTMAC is the first mine action center established at provincial level in Vietnam, although at the end of 2019, authorities in Quang Binh also began to work towards a new coordination structure.[15] In 2020–2021, supported by a consortium of operators led by Mines Advisory Group (MAG), and in conjunction with NPA and Peace Trees Vietnam, the authorities in Quang Binh province will be trained and supported to set up a provincial database and coordination unit, building on the experience gained in Quang Tri.[16]

A Landmine Working Group was set up by international operators to promote cooperation, collaboration and communication among the organizations working on mine action programs.[17] A Mine Action Partnership Group (MAPG), approved by Vietnam’s Prime Minister in 2016, was set up to strengthen coordination between national and international stakeholders in mine action.

Strategies and policy

Decision 504, approved by the Prime Minister in April 2010, set out a National Mine Action Plan for 2010–2025. The plan included a target to clear 8,000km² of ERW contaminated land between 2016 and 2025.[18] A VNMAC action plan for the year 2018 included three main targets: finalize legislation, decrees and guidelines for the mine action sector countrywide; clarify estimates of contamination and develop risk education; and clear 300km² of ERW contaminated land.[19]

Vietnam does not have a strategy which specifically addresses landmine contamination.

Information management

VNMAC is responsible for the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) at the national level, although the data is not shared publicly. National legislation is being developed to provide guidance for the sharing of information.

Quang Tri has a provincial IMSMA database, which is publicly available to operators. The other Vietnamese provinces with active mine action programs do not have provincial databases.[20]

Risk education management and coordination

Risk education management and coordination overview[21]

Coordination

VNMAC is responsible for the coordination and management of risk education, as part of the 2019 Mine Action Decree. VNMAC has a risk education officer but coordination activities have not yet been initiated. Vietnam does not have a national mine/ERW risk education strategy, standards, or quality assurance and control.[22]

Victim assistance management and coordination

Victim assistance management and coordination overview

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war; NGO=non-governmental organization; and N/R=not reported.

Coordination

VNMAC has responsibility for data collection and support for mine/ERW victims. The 2019 Mine Action Decree includes victim assistance measures which align with the work of the Department of Social Protection, under MoLISA. This aligns with past planning activities, as victim assistance is coordinated under the National Mine Action Program 2010–2025.[23]

In December 2020, Project RENEW, working in collaboration with local partners, held a workshop to evaluate the implementation of victim assistance and disability support during 2019–2020, and discuss its 2021 action plan. Project RENEW consulted donors to adjust its victim assistance and disability support program, because it was facing unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread flooding that occurred in Quang Tri province in October 2020.[24]

In late 2019, the Quang Binh Department of Foreign Affairs (QBDFA) held a meeting with the Eden Social Welfare Foundation (ESWF) of Taiwan, to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of projects implemented by its local partner, the Association for the Development of People with Disabilities (AEPD), which is funded by ESWF in Quang Binh province.[25]

Laws and policies

The 2019 Mine Action Decree outlines the rights of mine/ERW victims in Vietnam, who are entitled to initial state-provided medical assistance, healthcare, physical rehabilitation, education, vocational training, job-seeking assistance, and social protection. The children of victims from poor households are supported with scholarships and funding for school supplies.[26] Victims are entitled to the rights of people with disabilities in Vietnam as prescribed by law.[27]

Vietnam has a strong legal framework guaranteeing the right of persons with disabilities to participate in society. However, the implementation of these policies remains inconsistent, and as a result, persons with disabilities face barriers to accessing services at the local level.[28]

Impact

Contamination

Contamination (as of December 2019)

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war.

Landmine contamination

Vietnam’s antipersonnel mine contamination is mainly along its northern border with China, and also on its southwestern border with Cambodia.

Vietnam cleared an area up to 1km along its northern border in the 1990s under an agreement with China, but areas further inland from the border are believed to be still contaminated with landmines emplaced by the armed forces of both countries. Since 2004, military engineers have reportedly cleared around 95km² of contaminated land in the northern provinces of Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Lang Son, and Quang Ninh, through a project known as “Program 120,” destroying mainly Type 72, K58, and PPM-2 antipersonnel mines.[29] Vietnam has made no disclosure on the extent of remaining contamination along the Chinese border in recent years.

Cambodian border areas were affected by irregularly emplaced mines, reflecting the more sporadic nature of past fighting there,[30] but the Engineering Command of the armed forces reported in 2013 that the problem had been eliminated.[31] Ports and river deltas were mined extensively during the armed conflict with the US in the 1960s and 1970s, and were not completely cleared when it ended. A number of sea mines have been found off Vietnam’s coast.[32]

Cluster munition remnants contamination

Vietnam is massively contaminated by cluster munition remnants, but no accurate estimate of the full extent of contamination exists. The US dropped 413,130 tons of cluster munitions over Vietnam between 1965 and 1973, reportedly striking 55 provinces and cities, including Haiphong, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, and Vinh.[33] An ERW impact survey, which began in 2004 and finished in 2014, was published in 2018. It found that 61,308km², or 19% of Vietnam’s land surface area, was affected by ERW but did not specify the area affected by cluster munition remnants. It found, however, that cluster munition remnants affected 32 of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and cities.[34]

In Quang Tri, thought to be the most heavily contaminated province in Vietnam, estimates of the total cluster munition contaminated area are increasing with the progress of survey. In December 2020, QTMAC recorded total contamination in the province of 437.22km².[35] This represents 10% of Quang Tri’s total land area of 4,470km².

The PAVN Engineering Command has recorded finding 15 types of US-made submunitions. Most submunition types used by the US were air-dropped, but artillery-delivered submunitions were also used in the central province of Quang Binh and provinces further south.[36] Cluster munitions comprise over 70% of all ERW found, and the most common types are BLU 26 and BLU 63.[37]

The PAVN Engineering Command has in the past found substantial quantities of cluster munitions abandoned by the US military, notably at or around old US air bases, including eight underground bunkers found in 2009, one of them reportedly covering an area of 4,000m² and containing some 25 tons of munitions.[38]

ERW contamination

The ERW impact survey identified 61,308km² of ERW contamination, including cluster munition remnants. The most heavily contaminated regions in Vietnam are the central coastal provinces, the Central Highlands, the Mekong River delta, and the Red River delta.[39]

Casualties

Casualties overview

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war.

Casualties in 2019: details

In 2019, only one casualty was recorded in Vietnam; an adult male killed by ERW. In Quang Tri province, no casualties were recorded in either 2018 or 2019.[40]

At least 105,086 mine/ERW casualties have been recorded in Vietnam. It was reported that from 1975 to the end of 2007, MoLISA recorded 104,701 mine/ERW casualties (38,849 killed and 65,852 injured).[41] In Quang Tri, the only province where there was a mine action casualties database, 8,526 casualties (3,425 killed and 5,101 injured) were recorded to May 2016. These casualties may be included in the cumulative total.[42]

Cluster munition casualties

No cluster munition remnants casualties were reported in 2018 or 2019. One unexploded submunition casualty was recorded in 2017 and nine were reported in 2016. At least 2,135 casualties from incidents involving cluster munition remnants were reported as of the end of 2017. However, one estimate put the likely total of such casualties as high as 34,000.[43] In many cases, the type of explosive remnants causing casualties could not be determined and all these were recorded as ERW casualties, although there were likely many among them caused by unexploded submunitions.[44] In addition, numerous casualties during cluster munition strikes have been reported.[45] A 2012 study of data for the period 1975–2009 found that 1% of the population of Quang Tri province had been involved in mine/ERW incidents and that unexploded submunitions were the main cause.[46]

Addressing the impact

Mine action

Operators and service providers

Clearance operators

Most clearance in Vietnam is conducted by the Engineering Corps of PAVN, and military-owned commercial companies, but the deployment of these clearance teams is not reported.

International demining operators are concentrated in central provinces on either side of the former DMZ, which are among the most heavily contaminated with ERW and cluster munition remnants. Danish Demining Group (DDG) was working in Quang Nam in 2019, but its operations completed in 2020.[47] MAG works in both Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces, while NPA works in Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue. Peace Trees Vietnam (PTVN) works in Quang Tri province.

VNMAC, with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), run a US$20 million joint project which began in March 2018 for ERW survey and clearance, risk education and victim assistance activities in Binh Dinh and Quang Binh provinces. The project is funded by the Government of Korea, and implemented by VNMAC and UNDP.[48]

Golden West Humanitarian Foundation (GWHF) provides International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) training courses to Provincial Military Commands, working in partnership with PTVN.[49]

Clearance

Land release overview[50]

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war; and N/R=not reported.

Clearance and survey

In 2015, international operators had projected completing clearance in Quang Tri by 2020, though estimates of the extent of ERW contamination in the province have since increased due to survey. In 2019, 79.28km² was surveyed collectively by all operators in Quang Tri; a slight decrease from 80.52km² surveyed in 2018. However, in 2020 the survey figure dropped markedly to 40.85km².[51] The amount of land cleared also fell in Quang Tri, from 28.43km² in 2019 to 20.44km² in 2020.[52]

The Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project, implemented by VNMAC and UNDP, has surveyed and cleared 90km² (9,000 hectares) in Binh Dinh province between 2018 and 2020.[53]

Risk education

Operators and service providers

Risk education operators[54]

Note: NGO=non-governmental organization.

Beneficiary numbers

Beneficiary numbers 2019

Implementation

Risk education in Vietnam is mainly conducted in rural areas and with a focus on cluster munition remnants and ERW, although landmines are also covered in most presentations.

Risk education has been taught in primary schools for many years, but lessons are not standardized and often are only included as part of existing lessons or extracurricular activities.[55] Risk education is delivered in primary and secondary schools in four provinces (covering 1,160 schools in total) by Catholic Relief Services (CRS).[56]

MAG conducts risk education in Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces in combination with non-technical survey at village level and household level, through its community liaison teams. It also conducts risk education sessions for farmers in target communities via village meetings and union meetings, and delivers risk education in both primary and secondary schools.[57]

In partnership with the Youth Union and the Red Cross, Project RENEW manages a Community Reporting Network to ensure that any items of explosive ordnance found are reported. The members of the network include over 200 people, who are Youth Union officers, school teachers, and Red Cross workers.[58]

PTVN runs the Danaan Parry Landmine Education Center in Quang Tri province, which provides risk education for children and serves as a training center for Vietnamese volunteers, who then return to their own communities to deliver risk education messages.[59]

GWHF distributes a risk education book, titled “Vinh and Trinh’s Adventure,” an illustrated story highlighting the dangers of scrap metal collection.[60]

In 2019, a study by the ASEAN Regional Mine Action Center (ARMAC) found that there needed to be more consistency in the risk education materials, messages, and methodologies in Vietnam.[61]

Target groups

There is no nationwide casualty data collection mechanism in Vietnam, although data is available in three of the most heavily contaminated provinces.[62] Risk education activities are informed by locally-available information, population and census data, and data collected by MoLISA.[63] Some studies have also been conducted on risk exposure and education needs, which inform the targeting of risk education.

A study conducted in 2019 on risk education in ASEAN countries found that in Vietnam, the main high-risk groups were scrap metal collectors and dealers, farmers working in the central provinces and border areas, and primary and secondary school students.[64]

Children are considered to be one of the most at-risk groups in many provinces.[65] Many children have little knowledge on mine/ERW risks, but are curious and likely to engage in risky behavior.

Farmers regularly encounter explosive ordnance when cutting vegetation, ploughing, planting, and digging. While aware of the risk, they continue to undertake these livelihood activities.

Scrap metal collectors and dealers are also considered to be an at-risk group, as they often continue with the high-risk activity due to economic pressures.[66]

New developments in 2019 and 2020

In 2019, CRS conducted a Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices survey in Binh Dinh and Quang Binh provinces. The survey revealed a good level of knowledge about explosive ordnance threats and high-risk behaviors by all genders and age groups. However, the weakest area of knowledge related to recognition of warning signs of contamination, and misunderstandings that UXO could be safe in certain situations, for example, in water or when rusty. MAG reported that these findings were being used to develop additional safety messaging to address knowledge gaps.[67]

CRS, with funding from the US State Department’s Bureau for Political-Military Affairs, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM-WRA), has developed a digital game-based learning application for children aged 8 to 12 years. The app, which can be used online and offline, has key risk education lessons with each stage, ending in a challenge to test players’ knowledge. The app was piloted in 26 primary schools in Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Da Nang in 2019.[68]

In 2019, UNDP, KOICA, and VNMAC, as part of the Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project, created two short risk education videos as part of their “Safe Ground” campaign, which intends to raise awareness through the promotion of sport and turn contaminated land into playing fields. The first video was aimed at boys, and the second for an adult audience, particularly those involved in scrap metal collection.[69]

Project RENEW planned to organize mobile risk education video screenings in mountainous areas bordering Lao PDR in 2020, with videos translated into relevant ethnic minority languages. Project RENEW have also used mural artworks to convey risk education messages.[70]

Victim assistance

Providers and activities

Victim assistance operators[71]

Medical care and rehabilitation

Many persons with disabilities living in Vietnam, especially in low-income families, face extreme difficulty in carrying out daily activities due to the lack of appropriate care and support.

VNMAC describes victim assistance as occurring in conditions where all communes and wards in Vietnam have completed the classification of persons with disabilities and have issued them with registration cards. Mine/ERW victims in Vietnam are entitled to assistance from the state, with assistance provided by the state including orthopedic surgery and physical rehabilitation.[72] Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH) partners with regional rehabilitation centers run by MoLISA to provide rehabilitation services and prosthetic devices.[73]

In 2018–2019, Project RENEW’s victim assistance and disability support program, with Irish Aid funding, restarted the Orthopedic Workshop in Quang Tri General Hospital to bring rehabilitation services closer to survivors. The workshop provided prostheses and assistive devices for physical rehabilitation and social reintegration for persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW victims, including 76 people from Quang Binh province.[74] In 2020, Project RENEW provided 166 persons with disabilities with prostheses and other assistive devices.[75]

Socio-economic and psychosocial inclusion

VNMAC reports that victim assistance activities include economic inclusion and support, access to education, psychological support, and social welfare. A network of 73 sites for persons with disabilities, including victims of mines/ERW, and another 45 special social work centers, provides rehabilitation and occupational services and carries out social work for people with disabilities. A network of “community collaborators” in Vietnam assists people with disabilities and mine/ERW victims in their own communities, operating in a number of provinces and cities.[76]

Project RENEW continued to support families of war victims, and disabled persons, by providing cows to aid their economic inclusion, in a project that it has run since 2016. Project RENEW also provided vocational training through Provincial Blind Societies in Dakrong, Vinh Linh, and Quang Tri.[77]

Additionally, Project RENEW built several new workshops and provided financial and technical assistance to the Blind Associations in Vinh Linh, Huong Hoa, Dakrong, Trieu Phong, Hai Lang, Quang Tri, and Dong Ha.[78] It also worked to implement victim assistance and disability support programs based on economic inclusion, capacity-building, and awareness-raising, notably with the Quang Tri Provincial Association for Disabled Persons, Agent Orange Victims, Disability Support and Protection of the Children’s Rights, the Provincial Blind Association and their chapters in nine districts, and the Provincial Legal Aid Center.[79]

In 2020, the Association for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (AEPD) and the Provincial Association for the Development of People with Disabilities in Quang Binh, prepared to conduct an assessment on the status of access to education for children with disabilities in disadvantaged, ethnic minority areas of Quang Binh province.[80]