Cambodia leads global fight against landmines

Ravaged by 30 years of civil war, Cambodia is littered with anti-personnel mines. Every year, they kill and injure civilians, despite the government destroying 4 million landmines since the 1990s. Today, more than 5,000 people around the country are working to neutralise the millions of mines left buried in the ground, while one NGO has pioneered the use of rats to sniff them out. In November 2024, Cambodia hosted the Fifth Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention, a treaty ratified by 164 countries that aims to ban the use of these deadly weapons worldwide. FRANCE 24’s William de Tamaris, Aruna Popuri and Justin McCurry report.