59-05-032 Proceeding

218 Proceedings of the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Congress The actual number of people affected by this minefield might even be higher than the figure shown in the table due to the fact that the minefield is located just adjacent to a road that is used as an unofficial temporary border crossing which both Cambodians and Thais frequently cross for trading. 2. Possible solutions TDAproposes that the best solution to the problem is the immediate clearance of minefield CHAno. 0387-01, heavily contaminatedwith anti-personnel landmines and other ERW, deploying the most cost-effective method called Land Release Process which includes non-technical survey, technical survey, and full clearance to remove landmines/ERW. It will remove landmines/ERW but might have residual risk which is the risk remaining following the application of all reasonable efforts to remove and/or destroy all mine or Explosive Remnant of War (ERW) hazards from a specified area to a specified depth (20 cm), and is the acceptable risk according to the National Mine Action Standards (NMAS) of the Kingdom of Thailand. Philosophy of LR is trying to target landmine/ERW and take them out as soon as possible (not to clear all land that might not be contaminated) to provide as much safety to local communities as possible. The more time to prolong the clearance, the more the landmine accident will happen. The advantage of LR is that it is the most cost-effective and efficient method, rendering most safe area to local people. It is now internationally recognized and accepted as the best practice for landmine clearance to many countries such as Cambodian, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam. The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has produced International Mine Action Standard (IMAS) concerning Land Release (LR) which is IMAS 08.20 First Edition (10 June 2009) as a guideline for all state parties and mine action organizations.The Geneva International Centre for HumanitarianDemining (GICHD) has