Vientiane, 25 June 2021 – The Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Sector Working Group met on Friday, 25^th June 2021, in Vientiane Capital. This is the first meeting of the year, chaired by H.E. Mr. Padeumphone Sonthany, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Welfare and Standing Vice Chairman of the National Regulatory Authority for the UXO/Mine Action Sector in Lao PDR (NRA). The meeting is co-chaired by Ms. Catherine Phuong, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Deputy Resident Representative, together with Mr. Brian Jungwiwattanaporn, Acting Chief of the Political-Economic Section at the Embassy of the United States of America. Also attending are approximately 100 people from international embassy representatives, line Ministry officials, UXO operators and other UXO stakeholders.

The meeting’s primary focus was the new ten-year UXO national strategic plan – Safe Path Forward III (SPF III), which is currently in development. The plan comes at a crucial turning point for the UXO programme, as it shifts to greater national ownership, as well as alignment with the country’s national social and economic development goals. In line with this, a national UXO training centre is being operated to build longer-term clearance capacity within the Humanitarian teams of the Lao People’s Army and other operators, and UXO has been integrated in the 9^th Five-Year National Socio-Economic Development Plan (2021-25).

“The new ten-year strategy for the UXO Sector (Safe Path Forward III) is a crucial step towards ensuring the long-term sustainability of UXO work in Lao PDR,” said Ms. Phuong. “The new strategy will also help the country implement the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 18 on mine action, and increase the contribution of the UXO sector to the overall socio-economic development of the country.”

Likewise, H.E. Mr. Padeumphone remarked that “ Although UXO works have effected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the UXO sector has taken out this oportunity to working remotely to ensure continuity of works by focusing on assessment and formulating (drafting) the UXO National Strategic Plan “Safe Path Forward III” for the period 2021-2030 and drafting the Decree on UXO management in Lao PDR to in line with the obligation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM). In order to continue to focus on the work planned for the last 6 months of 2021, he highlighted that the UXO sector must to continue to coordinate with the relevant ministries, department partners and related agencies to finalize the UXO National Strategic Plan “Safe Path Forward III” for the period 2021-2030 in line with the 9 NSEDP and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the approval of the Decree on UXO management in Lao PDR urge the consultative involvement of all relevant agencies in order to get approval by this year as planned. In addition, setting priorities for UXO survey and clearance is very crucial as a basis for determining UXO work into the districts and provinces plan in accordance with the needs of the socio-economic development of the province and district levels.”

With COVID-19 having delayed or suspended many operations earlier this year, the meeting will also seek to improve coordination between the various operators and development partners in the second half of 2021. In particular, the participants are looking to the NRA to understand how strategies and targets will be revised in light of the delays caused by COVID-19. In the longer term, the UXO sector is also shifting toward building a residual capacity, as the number of accidents has decreased significantly over the last 10 years. While progress on SDG 18 (Lives Safe from UXO), Lao PDR’s own national SDG, continues to gain pace, the accidents that took place this year nonetheless illustrate the continuing danger that UXO poses, particularly within the context of COVID-19. A greater, more focused emphasis on UXO/Mine Risk Education (MRE) and Victim Assistance will be vital for the UXO sector in the coming years.

The meeting also reflected on the achievements of the UXO sector over the past ten-year period, particularly the alignment with strategic objectives of the national UXO strategy such as the Safe Path Forward II (2011-2020) as a part of development process of SPF III. Of particular importance for the UXO sector is the greater responsibility undertaken by the humanitarian teams of the Lao People’s Army, and the long-term development of the National Training Centre, both of which will ensure the sustainability of the UXO programme in the longer term. These steps will ensure that the UXO sector will continue to contribute to the country’s economic progress and achievement of the SDG 18 by 2030, even as it enters its next decade.

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For more information, please contact: Ms. Aksonethip Somvorachit, UNDP Communications Analyst, 020 5502 1550, aksonethip.somvorachit@undp.org

Reducing the impact of UXO is Lao PDR's own national Sustainable Development Goal. By commiting to Goal 18 as a part of the global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Laos holds itself accountable to advancing the reduction of UXO impact and contributing to many other goals at the same time, e.g. Goal 1, Ending Poverty. An integrated approach is crucial for progress across the multiple goals. Learn more about Goal 18 and its targets.