Issue 5.1 | April 2001 | Information in this issue may be out of date. Click here to link to the most recent issue.

U.S. Efforts Strengthen Pledge to Vietnam
by Stacy L. Smith, MAIC

In November 2000, former President Bill Clinton traveled to Vietnam to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. At a ceremony honoring efforts to clear an estimated 3 million landmines and 300,000 tons of UXO scattered throughout Vietnam, Clinton vowed to remove mines in Vietnam, Africa and the Balkans. He said: “You will have America’s support until you have found every landmine and every piece of unexploded ordnance. This is a tragedy for which peace produces no answer.”

In June 2000, the U.S. government allocated $3.1 million to support humanitarian demining efforts in Vietnam. Of this total expenditure, $1.7 million will go towards the purchase of equipment such as vehicles, personal safety gear and landmine/UXO detectors; $1.4 million will be designated for a “level one” national survey to determine the scope of the landmine problem and make recommendations for resolving it; $200,000 will be allotted to develop a computer system to record the locations and types of ordnance used during the Vietnam War; and $80,000 will be used for a computer system to assist the Vietnamese in managing their demining program

Following Clinton’s promise to rid Vietnam of landmines, two non-profit organizations, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and Clear Path International, introduced projects intended to stop the deaths of innocent civilians from escalating. Currently, an average of six deaths occur daily in Vietnam as a result of landmines/UXO.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Fund Project RENEW

On Dec. 4, 2000, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) revealed a plan to form the first-ever comprehensive program targeted at saving lives and preventing injuries in Vietnam. The two-year pilot project in Trieu Phong District of Vietnam’s Quang Tri Province is designed “to restore the use of lands of the Vietnamese through education and neutralization of the effects of the Vietnam war.” The non-profit organization’s model for landmine/UXO clearance is called Project RENEW. According to Jan C. Scruggs, VVMF President, Project RENEW combines the efforts of several international NGOs, including PeaceTrees Vietnam, Catholic Relief Services and Counterpart International, with the Quang Tri Province People’s Committee in Vietnam. “We plan to show that a comprehensive approach benefits the people of Quang Tri Province and also the organizations that are assisting with this effort. We also hope to show that government agencies and non-governmental groups can work successfully together,” Scruggs said.

Assessing the Situation

According to VVMF’s December 4 press release, Vietnamese officials estimate that approximately 2,000 civilian deaths result each year from landmines/UXO. Since the end of the war in 1975, approximately 40,000 civilian deaths have been caused by landmines/UXO with nearly 1,500 of those occurring in Trieu Phong District. VVMF hopes that Project RENEW will reduce the risks that landmines/UXO pose to civilians.

In the early planning stages of the program, VVMF met with officials from international NGOs, the Vietnamese government, and the U.S. Department of State to discuss Vietnam’s landmine/UXO problem. “We were told time and time again that a single comprehensive effort was needed,” Scruggs said. With the help of international NGOs and the Quang Tri Province People’s Committee, Project RENEW will accomplish its all-inclusive goal through mine education and awareness, mine clearance, land resettlement and victim assistance. “We feel that by several different groups helping with this effort, we will be able to make significant progress in a shorter amount of time and the people of Quang Tri will benefit significantly from the collaborative system,” Scruggs said.

Projections
With matching $250,000 grants from the E*TRADE Group, Inc., a global leader in online personal financial services based in Menlo Park, Calif., and the Freeman Foundation in Stowe, Vt., an office of international cooperation will be established in Quang Tri Province as a center for information exchange between all parties. The center will also address potential problems and obstacles arising during the pilot project. If successful, VVMF hopes to implement Project RENEW in other mine-affected countries such as Laos and Cambodia. “We have a lot of work to do in Vietnam before we move on to other countries. What we hope to have after two years is a useful approach that can easily be implemented in other affected lands,” Scruggs said.

Clear Path International

Current Projects

In December 2000, Clear Path International began a two-year project in Vietnam that will clear 125 acres of land for later construction of housing in Dong Ha Town, Quang Tri Province. During the Vietnam War, the clearance site head-quartered the U.S. 3rd Marine Division and was known as Dong Ha Combat Base. According to Martha Hathaway, project director for Vietnam, this project will eliminate the fears of local children and their families. “For 30 years, the people of Vietnam have lived with the threat of landmines and bombs in their communities. Clear Path International hopes to remove these obstacles that stand in the way of the health and safety of children in Vietnam,” Hathaway said. The project hopes to rid the area of the threat of landmines/UXO on two levels: mine clearance and victim assistance.

Mine clearance will be executed with the help of UXB International, a commercial humanitarian demining company in Ashburn, Va. providing management, technical supervision, equipment and accommodations for demining teams. UXB International will train local Vietnamese deminers to carry out the clearance of landmines and UXO using safe techniques and procedures. Hathaway believes that a methodical demining process is key to a successful clearance project. “Clear Path International believes that the most paramount concerns are safety and quality, and in order to ensure safety and quality the process of clearance is time and resource intensive,” Hathaway said.

In addition to the clearance project, Clear Path International is also working to facilitate accident survivors in the area. While the organization primarily benefits children who have sustained debilitating injuries as a result of landmine or UXO explosions, the program also provides monetary compensation to the families of affected children. With the support of the Committee for the Care and Protection of Children, Clear Path International is able to give injured children emergency medical treatment, surgery, long-term health care, nutritional support and special scholarships. Funding for this project was received from a grant from the Freeman Foundation and contributions from individuals and foundations such as the Francis Finlay Foundation.

On March 7, 2000, Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH), a non-profit organization dedicated to humanitarian assistance for the disabled in Vietnam, announced a two-year grant from the Freeman Foundation of Stowe, Vt., to manufacture and distribute over 9,000 wheelchairs and artificial limbs. The grant will benefit severely disabled landmine and war victims in several provinces of Vietnam and will allow VNAH to improve Vietnamese wheel-chair manufacturers’ technical capacity. New wheelchairs will feature solid rubber tires, rigid frames and stainless steel ball bearings for better quality and durability. In a “significant milestone” to VNAH’s 10-year effort to assist Vietnam’s disabled population, the grant will also provide the disabled with training in wheelchair and prosthetics production activities.

The Mission

Founded in September 2000, Clear Path International is a non-profit organization that seeks to make “a compassionate attempt to redress the destructive legacy of armed conflicts and...pave the way for development projects that benefit families at risk” in the war-torn countries of Southeast Asia. The goals of the organization include raising awareness of the landmine/UXO problem, providing money and resources for demining and victim assistance projects, and sponsoring programs to remove landmines/UXO and assist victims of landmine/UXO explosions. Through these goals, Clear Path International hopes to accomplish its mission: to clear obstacles that stand in the way of the health, safety, and development of children and their families.

A Plan for the Future

Clear Path International hopes to empower local residents and agencies in mine-affected countries by creating “an in-country capacity that can sustain the demining and victim assistance activities well into the future, independently or with minimal support from the international community.” By involving local residents and agencies from the start, “a handover of management and implementation of the project(s) to a team of qualified domestic deminers with only periodic technical monitoring from the contractor, but with the presence of a full-time Clear Path International representative” is possible. For the time being, Clear Path International’s efforts on behalf of the health, safety, and development of mine-affected children and their families will be limited to Vietnam and Cambodia. In the future, the organization hopes to expand its projects to Laos and Thailand.

Conclusion

While Clinton’s pledge to the Vietnamese government has led to dedicated efforts to rid Vietnam of landmines/UXO, the Bush administration has yet to make a statement on the future of U.S. involvement in landmine policy. Before leaving office, Clinton commented on the progress of his administration and encouraged the Bush administration to maintain U.S. efforts. “While I am proud that we have made substantial progress towards eliminating the threat landmines pose to innocent civilians around the world,” Clinton wrote on Jan. 19, 2001, “there is work yet to be done. I urge the next administration to build on our progress and take the steps necessary to allow the United States to eventually sign the Ottawa convention, while still meeting our security needs and protecting our men and women in uniform.”

Contact Information

Alan Greilsamer
Director of Communications
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF)
1023 15th Street, Second Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: (202) 393-0090 Ext.19
Fax: (202) 393-0029
E-mail: agreilsamer@vvmf.org
Website: http://www.vvmf.org

Martha Hathaway
Project Director
Clear Path International
920 Grow Avenue
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Tel: (206) 780-9045
Fax: (206) 780-0730
E-mail: info@clearpathinternational.org
Website: http://www.clearpathinternational.org

Cathy Savino
Project Director
Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH)
1421 Dolley Madison Blvd., Suite E
McLean, VA 22101
Tel: (703) 847-9582
Fax: (703) 448-8207
E-mail: vnahl@aol.com
Website: http://www.vnah.com