Exposing the Thai-Cambodian conflict area finds landmines abandoned from old wars over 17 km² of land with no end in sight, especially during this serious conflict when Thailand only has 1 year left under the Ottawa Treaty to clear all mines. If there are still landmines, the border cannot be demarcated and this will become an endless loop. Experts have tried proposing the following solutions. 1: The two governments must engage the General Border Committee (GBC) and push for a joint survey and disposal of landmines as soon as possible to lead to a future survey and demarcation of the border. 2: Civilians should be encouraged with a legal mandate to clear landmines. 3: Create a broad collective awareness in society.

The issue of landmines came up again after a soldier on border patrol accidentally stepped on a landmine near Hill 418, Chong Bok, Nam Yuen District, Ubon Ratchathani Province on 16 July 2025. Before this incident, there was a skirmish between Thai and Cambodian soldiers on 28 May, each side claiming that the incident was caused by the other violating sovereignty. Then on 23 July 2025, once again a soldier on border patrol stepped on a landmine and lost his leg. The Thai authorities are confident that the mine was newly planted by Cambodia, since all landmines in the area had been cleared and the area had already been transferred for civilian purposes, making it impossible for the patrols to accidentally step on another landmine. Meanwhile, Cambodia stated that the landmines were abandoned from the past and not newly laid by Cambodia.

[Red Circle, Right] Site of the PMN-2 landmine detonation on 16 July 25. The army stated that the area had already been surveyed and transferred as a safe area. [Red Circle, Left] Site of detonation of an unidentified landmine on 23 July 25. The coordinates indicate that the area has yet to be surveyed, according to the year-end 2024 report (CHA 457-01). These detonations later became a major trigger for Thai-Cambodian skirmishes [Green-Yellow-Red Circles].

The issue of abandoned landmines, on which there had been silence, is being used as an international political tool. Both sides refuse to back down, overshadowing over another real problem, that there is still a large number of anti-personnel landmines within the many tens of millions of square metres along the Thai-Cambodian border that have yet to be cleared. More importantly, the incident in the vicinity of Chong An Ma is in an area that has yet to be demined and all explosives must be disposed of to make demarcation of the land border possible. The army has not made any sort of comment.

The patrol unit incident is only one of the many examples of loss caused by mines under the ground. In reality, hundreds of villagers near the border still live in fear, not knowing where explosives are buried under the land they use for a living. Such issues do not appear in the media, but each year, an average of 55 people living along the border step on landmines and are injured or die. These incidents do not make the news.

According to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, nations that have signed the Ottawa Treaty must submit yearly reports. In 2012-2024, Thailand had a cumulative total of 667 injuries and deaths. Sa Kaeo Province had the highest number of casualties from stepping on anti-personnel landmines with 165 people. This number means 1 person steps on a landmine once every 7 days. The number of casualties started to be recorded properly in the reports from 2012 onwards. Prior to that, there had only been general surveys, which simply stated that around 1,160 people were affected by landmines. If we look at the figures for each year, we will see that the cumulative total fluctuates noticeably. Common sense tells us that when casualties increase, the cumulative total should also increase, but numbers in the reports appear to decrease a little, as if these people have disappeared into thin air.

Although the database lacks clarity in primary data collection where there are only cumulative totals with no explanation of details, statistics for the more recent years on injuries and deaths from both Thailand and Cambodia can be summarised as follows:

Number of Thais killed or injured by landmines

Source: Thailand Article 7 of the Convention report 1999 - 2025

Number of Cambodians killed or injured by landmines

Source: Cambodian Article 7 of the Convention report 2000 - 2025

Villagers in the area who were affected by stepping on landmines during agricultural work (Source: Maj Gen Dr Suchart Chantrawong)

Where are these explosives from? Why are they still there?

In the past, Thailand served as a battlefield for many wars but the key event which left Thailand with tens of thousands of landmines was the war between the 3 Cambodian parties and North Vietnam, which had invaded the national territory. No one knows the exact number of abandoned explosives, nor their location. Where the mines were laid will only be known after clearance starts and the minefields are traced using special methods. In the first survey in 1999, Thailand had a total of 2,556.7 km² of land with abandoned landmines located along the Thai borders  with Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR. Figures from late 2024 specify that are there still abandoned landmines on 17 million m² or 17 km² of land, covering a total of 7 provinces and 15 districts. All areas are contested with Cambodia. 

Coordinates of areas that are not yet demined, according to Thailand Report: 17 million m², data as of 31 December 2024 (see map).

***All data on abandoned landmines can be viewed on the interactive website at https://landmine.odd.works/home

Two decades of mine clearance with no success in sight

On 3 December 1997, Thailand ratified and signed the Ottawa Treaty, which ‘prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel mines.’ The consequence was that we had to deal with all the buried landmines within 10 years, which would be by 2009, as well as destroy all explosives in our arsenals.

After ratification, the Thai authorities established a dedicated agency for landmine clearance in 1999, the Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC) under the Thai Army. TMAC conducts field operations, including surveying, clearing, and destroying landmines, provides community education in high-risk areas, and also provides care for those affected by landmines. In the first 10 years of its establishment, Thailand received a great deal of help from around 30 non-government organisations, both domestic and international, including financial support and survey and disposal technology.

Abandoned landmines appearing above ground due to rain washing away soil

Some old landmines have in many areas been buried for so long they are covered in weeds, making them difficult to locate

POMZ mines produced by Russia are found in great numbers near the Cambodian border, such as in Ubon Ratchathani Province

An area where landmines have been cleared – markers were planted to indicate where landmines were buried (Source: Maj Gen Dr Suchart Chantrawong)

In 2000, Thailand started formal landmine surveys and clearance. Areas suspected of containing abandoned landmines totalled 2,556.7 km², covering 24 provinces, most on the borders with Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar. When the treaty deadline was reached in 2009, Thailand only had 528 km² in 18 provinces still uncleared.

Although 2,028.7 km² of land was safely cleared, or around 80% of the total area, Thailand was unable to complete the task in the timeframe set by the treaty. Meanwhile, foreign organisations which had provided support gradually stopped playing a role until only 13 organisations were left. Some said that now Thailand had only a small area suspected of containing mines, their support was no longer needed, compared to Cambodia and Laos, which had many times the area with mines. At present, only one organisation is still actively providing support, the non-government organization Norwegian People’s Aid Thailand.

Thailand has requested 3 extensions of the landmine clearance deadline. The first was due to fieldwork where the Thai military still lacked experience. However, the second and third time were due to border issues, since the Thai military was unable to access conflict areas to clear mines. The next clearance deadline is December 2026, which means that from now we only have 1 year left. So what is the key condition that caused this delay? And how likely is it that Thailand will become landmine-free?

When territory is more important than human life, death is still a daily occurrence

“Even if someone dies every day just from going out to pick wild plants to eat or to farm, tomorrow, again someone will die since the ones dying become the corpses of local people whose voices asking for life don’t travel far enough for the government to hear them.”

Maj Gen Dr Suchart Chantrawong, former Head of the Coordination and Evaluation Division/Head of Policy and Planning Division for TMAC (2012-2016), emphasised that the true problem is not from the operations of soldiers in the field, but the two governments’ sincerity, in which they do not view complete mine clearance as an important issue between the countries because the tragedy that occurs affects insignificant villagers. There is no way in which national level figures or the mass media give them any importance or escalate the problem into becoming a matter requiring urgent attention. The lives of people of the border thus are only recorded as death statistics. The ex-soldier analysed that, for him, the main issue which prevented timely success in landmine clearance can be divided into 2 parts:

Maj Gen Dr Suchart Chantrawong, former Head of Coordination and Evaluation Division/Head of Policy and Planning Division for TMAC (2012-2016)

The first part is geography. The remaining area waiting for clearance has high mountains and thick forests. Some parts take time to reach and require overnight stays in the forest, and if it is the rainy season or the streams are overflowing, operations are almost impossible due to the risk of stepping on a mine. This does not include the fact that most of the remaining area has yet to be demarcated between Thailand or Cambodia, and so accessing the area is difficult.

The second part is central management. Even though TMAC was established specifically for this task, its operations still answer to the Thai army, and its budget management is under the Ministry of Defence. It is generally known that some information, whether about the clearance area, budget, work plans, is usually labelled as a “military secret” as a condition for accessing information and revealing the budget for mine clearance. This does not include the bureaucratic structures involved in TMAC operations, which are linked to more than ten ministries. Meanwhile on the Cambodia side, their mine clearance organisation, CMAC, is a non-government organization, so their work is very flexible and transparent, because the status of their organisation requires that they report their use of the budget and work plan in detail.

Explosives still remain, border demarcation impossible

“Thailand and Cambodia will never be able to demarcate their border if there is no joint survey of the area. And a joint survey of the area will never happen if there is no joint mine clearance.”

Supalak Ganjanakhundee, an independent academic and journalist, with expertise in Thai-Cambodia relations, observed that the areas where clearance is not possible are conflict areas indicated in the Memorandum of Understanding between Thailand and Cambodia (MOU43), which governs the procedure for surveying and demarcating the land border. Since this area cannot be demarcated, neither Thailand or Cambodia can access or carry out any activities there. Therefore the survey and clearance of mines cannot be carried out, even though Article 3.3 states:

“In carrying out the survey and placing markers in any area, the joint survey team shall first receive assurances of safety from landmines”

This means that the area must have clear confirmation that there are still abandoned anti-personnel landmines, and clearance must be completed before the joint survey is carried out. However, in Article 5, the MOU states;

“To facilitate the effectiveness of the joint survey along the entire length of the common land boundary, the authorities of either Government or their agents must refrain from any operations that effect changes of environment of the border area, except those which are carried out by the Joint Technical Sub-Commission for the purpose of the survey and demarcation.”

Supalak believes that, therefore, the most feasible solution is for Thailand and Cambodia to jointly survey and clear landmines. In 2022, Thailand proposed to Cambodia 10 areas of conflict for consultation with a view to a joint mine clearance survey, but the Cambodian army which was responsible for clearance along more than 40% of the border did not accept the proposal. There have been more than 10 instances of interference with the demining unit’s operations over the past year, due to fear that Thailand might invade/cross into their territory This is tantamount to shutting the door on chances to end the conflict.

Ryoji Takayama, representative of Cambodia, from International Mine Clearance and Community Development (IMCCD), a non-profit organisation certified by Japan, has cleared landmines in Cambodia for more than 20 years.

Ryoji Takayama, representative of Cambodia from a Japanese non-profit organisation, International Mine Clearance and Community Development (IMCCD), which clears landmines in Cambodia, has similar views.

“This matter should be solved through talks between CMAC and TMAC. The first thing we have to do is that the Thai and Cambodian governments must clearly show that they are determined to ensure the safety of local people who live near the conflict zones.”

Thailand-Cambodia joint survey and landmine clearance is the way to end the border war

What are the chances for Thailand to become a country free of landmines – able to clear them all within the timeframe? The answer given by Mine Action Review is that it is impossible to fulfil the goals in time according to the deadline, which is 2026.

Cambodia is an official state party to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC). Cambodia signed the Ottawa Treaty together with Thailand on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 28 July 1999. The Treaty came into effect fully on 1 January 2000. In the Reporting Formats for Article 7 (2026), Cambodia reported that areas suspected of having landmines cover 424,238,236 m² (424.24 km²). In 2010-2024, Cambodia has surveyed and cleared a total of 1,586,684,400 m²(1,586.68 km²).

In summary, counting each day of the dwindling time remaining, Thailand may have no chance of becoming a landmine-free country anytime soon. Maj Gen Suchart, Supalak and Ryoji Takayama all make the proposal which can be summarised as follows.

1. The two governments must employ international mechanisms, such as the General Border Committee (GBC), as a forum to push forward the issue of joint surveys and landmine clearance as an urgent matter, to eventually lead to the survey and demarcation of the border in the future. Results from the meeting held on 4 August 2025 in Malaysia show that collaboration between the two countries in landmine clearance is still something that has not been pushed forward as a key agenda item.
2. Encourage the clearance of landmines to be the responsibility of civilians supported by the law, in order to build confidence with other countries. It will also serve as an advantage when seeking for help in clearance technology and budget support.
3. Create a collective awareness in wider society on the existence of landmines and the importance of the lives of civilians living along the border who have to risk with the danger of explosives, reduce social prejudice between Thailand and Cambodia and create a collective awareness that human lives are more important than borders.

Notes
This news report is part of the Training & Workshop: Data Journalism for Investigative Reporting Project by the Thai Journalists Association and Thailand Data Journalism Network (TDJ), financial supported by the US Embassy.

References

• https://www.apminebanconvention.org/fileadmin/_APMBC-DOCUMENTS/Art7Reports/2025-Cambodia-Art7Report-for2024.pdf
• 1999-2024 Article 7 of the Convention, https://disarmament.unoda.org/anti-personnel-landmines-convention/article-7-reports/article-7-database/
• เอกสารคำขอขยายระยะเวลาการเก็บกู้ทุ่นระเบิดสังหารบุคคล พ.ศ.2565
• Https://resolution.soc.go.th/PDF_UPLOAD/2565/P_406076_6.pdf
• Clearing the Mines 2024 report for Cambodia
• Clearing the Mines 2024 report for Thailand