Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and its Consequences in Lao PDR: Recent Episodes
Saskia Waldvogel
Lao PDR: the most bombed country in the world per capita. Series of interviews on why it happened, what the demining process is and what impact it has on its people and the socio-economic development of the country.
Larry is a political science professor and writer. He has granular knowledge about the Vietnam War and will give us the historical context of it, and more precisely how Laos got entangled in it.
Thoummy is an UXO survivor that lost his left hand at the age of 8. He has now founded his own association to help others in the same situation as him.
Alan is the Regional Manager for Southeast Asia of the demining company Milsearch. He will give us a general understanding of the technical aspects of demining.
Metha is the Program Manager of the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Entreprise (COPE) in Vientiane, Laos. She is the voice and advocate of disability inclusion.
Mike is an agricultural economist, who arrived in Laos in 1994. He will talk to us about the agricultural and socio-economic consequences of the presence of UXO in the country.
Phongsavath had an accident with an UXO on his sixteenth birthday, from which he lost both his hands and his eyesight. He felt uncomfortable to be recorded but has given me written answers nevertheless. An anonymous person will be reading them out, so that we can still have the chance to hear Phongsavath's story.
Rupert is the UXO Chief Technical Advisor at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). He will explain to us the legal aspect of UXO, meaning which convention the country is part of, as well as, the various policies and strategies that have been put in place, accordingly.