She made the $990,000 pledge at an event focused on women in security as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit draws to a close in Cambodia. The funding will support grassroots and government projects in Cambodia and Laos to clear unexploded ordinances stemming from civil wars as well as US bombing during the Vietnam War. “When land is cleared, not only are people safer and children can play, but the land can be used for agriculture and development,” Trudeau said at a roundtable with local women-focused peacebuilding groups . Canada has been pushing countries in the region to stop using such munitions and fund rehabilitation for decades. The 1997 Ottawa Treaty sought to ban the production of anti-personnel mines and commit to rehabilitation, a promise that most, but not all, countries have embraced. The money will support the first dedicated national demining team in Laos and support grassroots groups such as Cambodia’s Self-Help Demining. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development Mary Ng give a closing press conference after the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Sunday, November 13, 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick /The Canadian Press) Bill Morse, a former U.S. soldier during the Vietnam War who helps with that group, said Trudeau’s announcement bucks the tendency for people to assume landmines are no longer a problem. “Canada’s commitment to continued funding when we’re almost done when everyone else here is cutting their funding is a big step in the right direction,” Morse said. He said Cambodia could be mine-free by 2025 if local organizations had enough resources.
Mines are still in use around the world, including in Russia and Ukraine
Instead, farmers are still maimed by decades-old cluster bombs buried in the ground, while mines meant to bomb vehicles and tanks lie unexploded until something heavy rolls over them. Morse said landmines kill about 50 people in Cambodia each year, up from thousands in the 1990s. “If we had 50 people blown up across Canada by landmines, we would throw all the money we could get into the Canadian Army to go out and clean these things up,” he said. Landmines continue to be used in conflicts around the world, including by Russian and Ukrainian forces, and Cambodian groups have helped train people in Ukraine to rehabilitate the land. Trudeau said it was “a true example of how countries can come together and learn from this.” Earlier in the day, Trudeau met with the head of the ASEAN bloc, who praised him for making Southeast Asia the focus of Canada’s upcoming Indo-Pacific strategy. He also met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the sidelines of the summit, with the two praising the bonds forged by the country’s large Canadian diaspora. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. (Heng Sinith/The Associated Press)
The determination of genocide must be made by international authorities, Trudeau says
Trudeau also visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which documents the tolls of the Khmer Rouge regime. “The capacity of human beings to do unspeakable evil to one another — to forget or ignore the fundamental, basic humanity of all of us — is something we must continue to be reminded of,” Trudeau said, in order to prevent future atrocities. Later in the day, he said China’s mistreatment of the Uyghur minority may amount to genocide, but ongoing investigations by international experts should make that distinction. The House of Commons voted in October to recognize that the Uyghurs “face an ongoing genocide,” in a unanimous vote that Trudeau’s cabinet abstained from. Trudeau’s visit to Cambodia, flanked by Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and International Trade Minister Mary Ng, included an announcement of $333 million in projects related to the upcoming Indo-Pacific strategy. The Liberals walk away from the summit with an ASEAN pledge to promote Canada as a strategic partner, the bloc’s highest level for countries outside of Southeast Asia. Trudeau will travel to Indonesia on Monday for the G20 leaders’ summit.
