Fact Sheet: U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program in Vietnam
(Program seeks to reduce casualties, reinforce stability)

Following is the text of a State Department fact sheet on the U.S. humanitarian demining program in Vietnam:

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FACT SHEET
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs,
Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs
Washington, DC
November 1, 2001

The United States Humanitarian Demining Program in Vietnam

The U.S. Government's Humanitarian Demining Program seeks to relieve human suffering while promoting U.S. interests. The Program's objectives are to reduce civilian casualties, create conditions for the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes, reinforce an affected country's stability, and encourage international cooperation and participation. The Program seeks to accomplish these objectives by helping to establish and sustain indigenous mine action capabilities in mine-affected nations. Since Fiscal Year (FY) 1993, the United States has committed almost $500 million to global mine action initiatives, including research and development.

Vietnam was formally accepted into the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program in June 2000.

However, USAID's Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund (LWVF) has provided more than $16 million to Vietnam through numerous NGO and private voluntary organizations since FY91. The LWVF aims to improve the mobility, health, and socioeconomic integration of civilians who have sustained physical disabilities as a result of landmine-related incidents.

For example, more than 3,000 rehabilitation personnel have received training, nine rehabilitation centers have been renovated and upgraded, and more than 52,000 people have been provided with mobility assistance through the LWVF.

Since 1991, the United States has contributed approximately $20,622,397 to mine action initiatives in Vietnam.

Allocations from Department of State Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related (NADR) programs appropriation and Department of Defense Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid (OHDACA) account are used to minimize human suffering by supporting mine awareness, survey, and mine clearance projects in more than 40 countries around the world.

In 1998, the Department of State provided funding for a mine-awareness program in Dong Ha, in Quang Tri Province. The program was implemented by James Madison University's Mine Action Information Center and PeaceTrees Vietnam. The project's goal was to train local residents to develop mine-awareness campaigns in their own villages.

In October 2000, a team of Vietnamese demining experts visited the United States to learn more about the latest humanitarian demining management procedures and technologies.

In FY01, the United States allocated $3.5 million in assistance for the purchase of additional demining equipment, including personal safety equipment, metal detectors, and vehicles and victims assistance. The allocation also supported a Level One Survey to determine the scope of the landmine/UXO (unexploded ordnance) problem and to assist the Vietnamese in identifying areas where landmines/UXO pose the greatest threat to civilians, arable land, and economic infrastructure.

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)


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