The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, has asked NATO and U.S. allies to take part in preventing the use of cluster munitions in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War.
“On behalf of the Head of the Royal Government of Cambodia, I would like to continue to call on NATO member states and some U.S. allies, such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, and Canada, all of which are signatories to the Convention of the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions, to take responsibility and participate in preventing the U.S. President Joe Biden and the President of Ukraine from using this deadly weapon,” Samdech Techo Hun Sen wrote on Twitter last night.
Recently, Samdech Techo Hun Sen appealed to the U.S. and Ukraine not to use cluster munitions in the war with Russia as the real victims are civilians. If used, the cluster bombs will bring about horrible danger for civilians, particularly children, for decades or hundreds of years, he said.
Cambodia has gone through the painful experience of the American bombardment in the early 1970s, and the country has spent more than 30 years clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance.
According to the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA)’s report, since 2009, Cambodia has destroyed 45,174 cluster bombs across 17 capital and provinces, saving lives and securing safe land for over one million people.
As of June 2023, the source added, there remain about 730 square kilometres of land contaminated by cluster bombs in 18 capital and provinces. This is the Royal Government’s second priority plan after realising its mine-free goal by 2025.
