UN General Assembly
2013

Global and regional peace and security are currently threatened by conflicts, armed confrontation and transnational organized crime, which take a heavy toll on many development efforts. Against that backdrop, Cambodia welcomes the signing of the Arms Trade Treaty, the first ever international treaty to regulate the trade of conventional weapons. Another security issue is the presence of landmines and other explosive remnants of war, which continue to pose constant threats to human security and safety and hinder national development. To counter those threats, last year in Phnom Penh the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) decided to establish the ASEAN Regional Mine Action Center and to base it in Cambodia. For its part, Cambodia has spared no effort to address the issue of landmines. To that end, it has established demining and clearance of other unexploded ordnance as an additional MDG of its own. Substantial progress has been made in realizing that goal, as is demonstrated by the sharp decline in the number of mine explosion accidents in Cambodia, from over 300 cases in 2008