The red dots indicate the location where the U.S. dropped cluster bombs in Laos during its 8-year war with Vietnam.
According to The Irrawaddy, during the U.S.-Vietnam War, the conflict spilled over into Laos, which led to U.S. warplanes dropping more than two million tons of bombs (or 270 million explosives) over Laos. This, according to UN data, is more than all the explosives dropped in Europe during World War II.
These air strikes, which saw U.S. planes launch nearly half a million bombing missions from 1964 to 1973, targeted the destruction of the North Vietnamese troops’ supply route called the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which also passed through eastern Laos. Most of these explosives were cluster munitions, better known in Laos as “bombies”. After being dropped from larger bombs that contained 300 to 600 cluster bombs, these bombies fanned out across a wide area on undulating terrain (see map above). Close to 30 percent of these bombies failed to detonate and “approximately 80 million bombies remained in Laos after the war,” according to the National Regulatory Authority for Unexploded Ordnance/ Mine Action in Laos.
Consequently, four decades later, U.S.-made cluster munitions continue to exact a heavy price on civilians in Laos. Over 50,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of unexploded ordnance (UXO) accidents between 1968 and 2008, states the UXO regulatory body.
Today I visited COPE, which stands for Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise. COPE is the only provider of prosthetic, orthotic and rehabilitation services in Laos and provides prosthetics and mobility devices for those people who require them, free of charge if they cannot afford to pay for them.
I highly recommend visiting COPE’s Visitor Center when you are in Laos to get a sense of the personal stories behind the above statistics. My favorite elements were the hanging displays of “bombies” and home-made prosthetic limbs survivors have made prior to being fitted with a COPE prosthesis. I also learned that a growing child may a new prosthesis every 4-6 months, whereas an adult may need a new one every 1-2 years. This made me feel better about Mosha’s and Motala’s prostheses. These two elephant landmine survivors at FAE’s Elephant Hospital have received multiple prostheses from the Prostheses Foundation in Thailand since 2008 and 2009, respectively.
I’m glad to hear there are multiple NGOs (Non-government Organizations) assisting survivors of landmine and cluster munitions, but I can’t shake the fact that if all countries signed the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which require them to destroy their stockpiles and remove all mines and UXO from their lands, we wouldn’t need to treat new victims every year.
To find out if your country has signed the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, click here.
Sincerely,
Windy Borman
Director/Producer, The Eyes of Thailand
