MAG personnel conduct UXO clearance in Quảng Bình Province. — VNA/VNS File Photo
The funding cut has disrupted efforts to clear unexploded ordnance (UXO) left from the war, raising safety concerns and affecting the livelihoods of hundreds of workers engaged in these projects. It has also impacted broader cooperation between provincial authorities and international partners.
The US State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, which funds organisations such as Peace Trees Vietnam (PTVN), the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), has instructed project partners to immediately suspend all activities supported by its funding.
As a result, four key projects in Quảng Bình have been put on hold since the Lunar New Year holiday, pending further notice.
These include phase VII of the bomb and mine detection and clearance project, implemented by MAG, the cluster munitions remnants survey (CMRS) project and the UXO database and coordination unit project, both led by NPA, the bomb and mine detection and clearance project, carried out by PTVN and the mine risk education project for local communities, implemented by CRS.
More than 350 personnel working on these projects in Quảng Bình have been directly affected.
Other US-funded initiatives in the province, including those supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), are also being disrupted.
Meanwhile, in Quảng Trị Province, authorities are appealing to the US Embassy in Vietnam for the resumption of financial support for UXO clearance and Agent Orange victim assistance projects.
The province, heavily contaminated with UXO, relies on US State Department funding for demining efforts carried out by NGOs, including MAG, NPA and PTVN.
Additionally, USAID’s non-refundable official development assistance (ODA) funds critical projects supporting people with disabilities and victims of Agent Orange/dioxin.
Since January 25, nearly 1,000 employees from these NGOs have been temporarily suspended following a US Government order imposing a global 90-day pause on all US-funded NGO activities.
The freeze, which affects projects worldwide, has directly impacted Quảng Trị’s post-war remediation efforts, delaying the 2016-2025 Mine Action Programme and a pilot initiative establishing ‘Safe Province’ criteria.
