The Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Programmes and Operations, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Karen Chandler, discussed the Annual “To Walk the Earth in Safety” (TWEIS) Report. Chandler, who is also the Director of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement which produces this report, spoke at a briefing attended by United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU. Excerpts:
Top priority for Ukraine
First off, that we will follow the Ukrainian Government’s assignment of priorities because they are in the lead in this effort. But yes, I have seen these World Bank figures and they are absolutely astounding. Russia’s brutality has really just destroyed a huge amount of land in Ukraine.
The United States provided $91.5 million last year to Ukraine for assistance in this area. One of the things that we’re doing with that assistance is training and equipping new demining teams. So what we’re hoping to do and what we’ve been in the process of doing over the winter was to train and equip some of these new teams. We hope that over the coming year we’ll be able to send out 100 additional teams that have been trained and equipped with this money. And we have additional supplemental funding that the United States Congress has approved as well.
The State Emergency Services in Ukraine has really asked our demining partners at this time to prioritize farmland. They are working – the SESU, the State Emergency Services, has been working on a lot of the critical infrastructure sites and some of the sites that are very recently liberated from the fighting. So what they’ve asked our demining partners to do through the NGO community is to focus on some of this agricultural land, because at least 10 percent of the agricultural land has been contaminated as well. And so in order to improve economic prosperity and food security for the country, we would want that land cleared.
And another super-important aspect of it is the Explosive Ordnance Risk Education that we provide. So our implementing partners worked very hard last year even during the most intense, early days of the fighting to start providing in-person Explosive Ordnance Risk Education to people. And they did – they provided this training to several hundred thousand of people in person in Ukraine and 18 million different people on social media. So when you’re talking about contamination that is just that extensive that is going to take so many years to clear, we’re going to be at this for decades unfortunately.
So one of the most important things that you can do is equip the local population, particularly children who might see something and want to go pick it up. Don’t touch that thing that looks like a plastic toy. That is not a treasure for you to take home. That could really harm you. We have to teach the children in schools and through these risk education programs and then you have to educate people who are working in the farmland as well what this – what they need to do if they come across an unexploded bomb, things like that. Because that way, they can then call the authorities and have those things removed.
Mines in Cambodia
Our cooperation with Cambodia on landmine UXO removal goes back decades. We’ve provided approximately $180 million [$191.5 million] for clearance operations in Cambodia and about $9 million of that was just this year. So it is clearly a priority for us. We enjoy a really wonderful cooperation with the Cambodian Government on that – on this project. For example, the Cambodia Mine Action Center actually sent some of its people to train some of the Ukrainian mine action workers as well because in Cambodia, you’re using a very specific type of landmine detector that Japan has provided. And Cambodians are absolute experts at this, and so they were able to provide this training to the Ukrainians to enable them to use this new, more modern type of detector as well.
So not only is your government working with our government to begin the clearance operations, continue those clearance operations in Cambodia, but you’re also starting to spread the knowledge elsewhere and becoming known as an authority.
Accountability and Russia’s atrocities
So to address accountability for Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine, I think this time that people in the UN, et cetera, are looking at that question. Certainly, the United States Government believes that Russia’s war has been incredibly brutal and uncalled for, and we call on Russia to remove itself from Ukraine because the atrocities that they’re committing are harming civilians and preventing peace in the region, and they are in a position to be able to stop this war at any time they want to.
Regarding funding for the South Caucasus region, since November 2021, we’ve provided about $2.5 million for the areas that were affected by the Fall 2020 intensive fighting. Congress has actually provided an earmark in the FY22 appropriation for the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and so we will be in the process of obligating that funding in the coming months. Currently, the money is being notified to the Congress. So we’ve provided $2.5 million already for the entire region to be equitably distributed by our implementing partners that are working there, and then in the coming months, then we will have another $2 million that was part of the FY 2022 budget.
International coalition to demine Ukraine
So I’m really interested in your opinion. Do you think – do you believe that we need some formal structure like it was a coalition against ISIS or any other coalition United States leads? Or it’s more the coalition which is doing it by common principles but not the formal organization, formal structure, something which could meet – schedule some meetings or have a head or a lead? So what’s your vision? Thank you.
So I don’t have a personal view on whether or not a formal coalition is needed. I think that if the Ukrainian Government calls for that, then we certainly support it. And in terms of the international donor community right now, what we’ve seen is about 23 different countries have come forward and said that they want to provide demining contributions to Ukraine. And those come in different amounts, depending on the size and the budget of that country, but the international response has been quite remarkable.
And what we do is we coordinate with those different donors through the Mine Action Support Group, which is an international meeting that exists to discuss mine action more broadly around the world. We also have regular donor calls with different donors that are facilitated by the Ukrainian Government and also by UNDP. So there is a lot of discussion that’s happening right now more informally by the donor community, but certainly if the Ukrainian Government wants to push for a more formal coalition, then I don’t see how that could be harmful.
Cambodia being removed from the embargo status
I can’t predict the future, so I can’t say exactly when Cambodia might be removed from the embargo list. What I can say is that the United States is committed to the prosperity of Cambodia but also the freedom of Cambodia and the democratic freedom. When President Biden was in Cambodia last November, he encouraged Prime Minister Hun Sen to open up the political and civic engagement and allow people to have free exchange of views before the 2023 elections.
Part of that being open to democracy also means re-examining the relationship that Cambodian Ministry of Defense officials have taken with the People’s Republic of China. So one of the main concerns that the United States has is this relationship and particularly the presence and potentially sharing of sensitive technology at the Ream Naval Base because of the presence of the PLA that’s in Cambodia. And the United States believes that you should re-examine your – that the Cambodian people should re-examine those ties because it will not help the sovereignty of the Cambodian people.