MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Billson
Australia will provide more than $2 million to counter the effects of landmines and unexploded ordnance in the Mekong region, the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Bruce Billson announced today.
Australia will contribute $1 million to the Cambodian Mine Action Centre, Cambodia's national de-mining agency.
'This funding will help the Cambodian people to return mined land to safe and productive use. This means villagers will be able to rebuild their lives without the risk of injury or death and re-establish farmlands destroyed in the years of conflict,' Mr Billson said.
The Cambodia Landmine Victims Assistance Fund will also receive $500,000 to help victims of landmines with physical, psychological and economic rehabilitation and assist with reintegration into communities.
In Laos, Australia will provide $480,000 to fund a new community-based program to train and employ local people to clear unexploded ordnance in areas identified by the World Food Programme as having high levels of food insecurity.
'Because Laos has a very serious unexploded ordnance problem, in many areas farming is not safe. This has serious implications for a country where about 80 per cent of the population relies on subsistence farming.
'Australia's assistance will help recruit and train local staff in districts that are heavily contaminated with unexploded ordnance and where people have chronic food shortages. This will increase the capacity of communities to deal with unexploded ordnance themselves.
'In Vietnam, Australia will provide a grant of approximately $80,000 to support the work of the Landmine Survivors Network in Quang Binh Province. The organisation helps survivors and other amputees to gain access to healthcare, create economic opportunities for themselves and participate as full citizens,' Mr Billson said.
Funding of $240,000 will also be given to the Australian Network of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines to encourage those governments of South East Asia who have not signed the Ottawa Convention on Landmines, to accede to it.
Australia has contributed $100 million to landmine activities over the past decade and is currently identifying policy options for future Australian support.
Media inquiries:
Shane Fairlie (Mr Billson's office) 0408 680 442
AusAID (Public Affairs) 0417 680 590