Prime Minister Trudeau pledges $1 million to clear landmines, cluster bombs in Cambodia and Laos

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau capped his first visit to Southeast Asia by announcing nearly $1 million in aid to clear the region of unexploded landmines and cluster bombs.

He pledged $990,000 at an event focused on women’s safety as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit draws to a close in Cambodia.

The funds will support grassroots and government projects in Cambodia and Laos to clear unexploded ordnance orders resulting from the civil war and US bombing raids during the Vietnam War.

At a roundtable discussion with a local group focused on peacebuilding women, Prime Minister Trudeau said, “If the land is cleared, it will not only be safer for people and for children to play, but it will also be used for agriculture. and can be used for development,” he said.

For decades, Canada has called on countries in the region to end the use of these types of munitions and fund their restoration. The 1997 Ottawa Treaty called for a ban on the production of anti-personnel landmines and a commitment to remediation.

The funds will support Laos’ first dedicated national demining team, and support grassroots groups such as Cambodian Self-Help Demining.

Bill Morse, a former American soldier during the Vietnam War and who supports the group, said Trudeau’s announcement bucks the trend of those who think land mines are no longer a problem.

“Canada’s commitment to continued funding is a huge step in the right direction when we’re almost done when everyone else here is cutting funding,” Morse said. I got

He said Cambodia could be mine-free by 2025 if local organizations have enough resources.

Instead, farms are still maimed by cluster bombs that sunk into the ground decades ago, and mines intended to bomb vehicles and tanks remain unexploded until something heavy rolls over. is.

About 50 people are killed by landmines in Cambodia each year, down from thousands in the 1990s, Morse said.

“If 50 people were blown up by landmines across Canada, they would be dumping all the money they could get to come out to the Canadian military and clean this up,” he said.

Landmines continue to be used in conflicts around the world, including by Russian and Ukrainian forces, and Cambodian groups have helped train Ukrainian people in land remediation.

Prime Minister Trudeau called it “a true example of how nations can come together and learn from it.”

Earlier in the day, Trudeau met with the head of the ASEAN bloc, who commended him for making Southeast Asia the focus of Canada’s future Indo-Pacific strategy.

He also met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. between summits, praising the relationship forged by the country’s extensive diaspora in Canada.

Prime Minister Trudeau also visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which documents the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.

“The capacity of humans to commit unspeakable evils to each other, to forget or ignore the fundamental and fundamental humanity of all of us, is something we must continue to remember,” Trudeau said. It’s cruelty.

Later in the day, he said China’s abuses of the Uyghur minority could amount to genocide, but an ongoing investigation by international experts should make that distinction.

In October, the House of Representatives voted unanimously in a vote in which the Trudeau cabinet abstained, acknowledging that Uyghurs “face an ongoing genocide.”

Prime Minister Trudeau’s visit to Cambodia, accompanied by Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie and International Trade Minister Mary Ng, included the announcement of a $333 million project related to the looming Indo-Pacific strategy.

The liberals leave the summit with a commitment from ASEAN to elevate Canada as a top bloc strategic partner for countries outside Southeast Asia.

Prime Minister Trudeau will head to Indonesia on Monday for the G20 summit.