From Border Blasts to Global Action: Why ASEAN Needs Its Own Ottawa and UK Moment

 

On a quiet morning in July 2025, three Thai soldiers stepped on a landmine near the Cambodian border. One lost his leg. The others were wounded. The mine — a Russian-made PMN-2 — had been planted in an area previously declared safe. Thailand blamed Cambodia. Cambodia denied it. But the real tragedy isn’t just the blast — it’s the diplomatic silence that followed.

Despite both countries being signatories to the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines, the region remains riddled with explosive remnants of war. And ASEAN, the Southeast Asian bloc that prides itself on “peace, prosperity, and people,” has yet to mount a unified response.

Thailand’s Long Road to Demining

Thailand began demining operations in 1987, recognizing that landmines were choking development in rural border zones. By 1999, it had destroyed over 10,000 mines and launched a national humanitarian mine action plan. Yet, as recent events show, the threat persists — not just from legacy mines, but from new deployments in disputed zones like Chong Bok and Ta Moan Thom.

The Thai Mine Action Centre (TMAC) has made strides, but its efforts are often undermined by border politics and lack of regional coordination. The July 2025 incident is a stark reminder: treaties mean little without enforcement, transparency, and trust.

Surely Thailand as the first Ottawa signatory in ASEAN should now push for the last 4 nations SG, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to sign up.

ASEAN’s Missing Mine Mandate

And, unlike Africa, which boasts coordinated demining units under the African Union Mine Action Programme, ASEAN has no standing body to monitor compliance or assist member states. There’s no shared database, no rapid response team, no joint clearance initiative.

This absence is glaring. Cambodia alone has an estimated 4–6 million unexploded devices. Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam face similar legacies. Yet ASEAN’s summits rarely mention landmines — even as border tensions flare and civilians suffer.

The July blast could have been a turning point. Instead, it became a diplomatic blame game. Thailand threatened to file a complaint with the UN. Cambodia accused Thailand of trespassing. And ASEAN? It stayed quiet.

Africa’s Model: From Rats to Results

Contrast this again with Africa, where countries like Angola, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe have embraced innovative clearance methods — including TNT-sniffing rats trained by APOPO. These programs are supported by international donors and coordinated through regional frameworks.

Zimbabwe’s demining teams, for instance, played a key role in clearing the Falkland Islands, a UK overseas territory mined during the 1982 war with Argentina. Working in brutal weather and remote terrain, they helped remove over 30,000 mines across 146 fields, completing the mission three years ahead of schedule.

The UK’s success in the Falklands wasn’t just technical — it was symbolic. It showed that even decades-old minefields can be cleared with political will, funding, and international cooperation.

UK’s Falklands Legacy: A Blueprint for ASEAN?

The UK ratified the Ottawa Treaty in 1998 and committed to clearing all mines from its territories. In the Falklands, it partnered with SafeLane Global and Fenix Insight, deploying Zimbabwean teams and investing £36 million in global demining efforts.

The result? Beaches reopened. Fences removed. Islanders played cricket where danger signs once stood. And the UK met its treaty obligations — setting a precedent for post-conflict restoration.

ASEAN could learn from this. Imagine a regional mine action unit, staffed by experts from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Imagine joint patrols, shared data, and coordinated clearance. Imagine turning minefields into nature reserves, as happened in the Falklands, where penguins thrived in no-go zones.

Imagine the green and tourism dividend with hiking trails opened as well as farmland- no doubt new temple finds too - plus wildlife safety and growth. Even a Tech Dividend of LIDAR ground scans, plastic mines detectors and Satellite surveys.

And a jobs spin-off for ASEAN trained teams to demine Africa - a UK failure at the moment of WW2 minefields in Libya and Egypt, ripe for German and Italian support with EU-HALO and MAG, and Belgium with its WW1 Iron Harvest skills.

Toward a Mine-Free ASEAN

The Ottawa Convention isn’t just a legal document — it’s a moral commitment. And ASEAN, with its emphasis on regional harmony, should be leading the charge.

The July 2025 blast should be a wake-up call. Not just for Thailand and Cambodia, but for the entire region. It’s time to move from treaties to action. From silence to solidarity. From minefields to safe fields.

Because the true enemy isn’t a border dispute — it’s the landmine waiting in the soil.