Funding drought forces Cambodia's landmine clearance groups toward closure

International funding for landmine clearance operations in Cambodia and across Southeast Asia is evaporating as donor nations redirect humanitarian aid toward active war zones in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan.

The aid withdrawal threatens to halt decades of work removing explosives left behind from Cold War-era conflicts, even as thousands of devices remain buried in fields and villages. Cambodian Self Help Demining, a non-profit that clears landmines and unexploded ordnance across the country, exemplifies the organisations now facing closure.

Old wars, ongoing casualties

One deminer with the Cambodian group lost an arm and an eye after a blast from a rusty wartime relic he picked up, an incident that later led him to join the clearance effort. His case illustrates how decades-old munitions continue to injure and kill long after ceasefires are signed.

Donor priorities shift to newer battlefields

Foreign governments and aid agencies are pulling back support for humanitarian demining in Southeast Asia as they channel resources toward regions experiencing active combat. Rising global defence budgets, driven by today's conflicts, have also reduced the pool of money available for development and humanitarian programmes.

Cambodia's struggle highlights a broader pattern: dangers persist even when the fighting stops, yet international attention, and funding, moves on.

Development stalled by hidden explosives

Without sustained international backing, demining organisations warn that unfinished clearance work will continue to threaten communities for years. The presence of landmines and unexploded bombs not only causes casualties but also slows economic development by rendering farmland and infrastructure sites unusable.

Source: South China Morning Post