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Explosive Remnants of War Advocacy
WHO WE ARE
War Legacies Project collaborates with the Legacies of War, Project Renew, the Stimson Center, Roots of Peace, and other organizations to raise awareness about the ongoing impacts of Explosive Remnants of War—including cluster munitions, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and bombs—in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
These three countries have the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed countries on earth. Millions of tons of explosive remnants of war still litter thousands of square miles, hindering economic development and injuring or killing hundreds of people every year.
Since our work on Agent Orange began in 2008, we have also been advocating for the clearance of these explosives and soliciting global assistance to help the people they’ve harmed. War Legacies Project has helped facilitate funding to develop the
Mine Action Visitors Center in Dong Nai that is operated by Project Renew. The center provides visitors with information about the impact of the bombing of Vietnam and efforts underway now to mitigate these impacts.
The U.S. Dropped 2.5 Million Tons of Bombs on Laos
Between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. dropped around 2.5 million tons of bombs on Laos. While the U.S. public was focused on the war in neighboring Vietnam and the conflict in Cambodia, the U.S. military was waging a devastating “Secret War” to cut off North Vietnamese supply lines along the Ho Chi Minh Trail through southeast Laos.
Nearly 600,000 bombing runs delivered a staggering amount of explosives—the equivalent of a planeload of bombs every eight minutes for nine years, or a ton of bombs for every person in the country. The U.S. dropped more on Laos than on Germany and Japan combined during World War II. To this day, Laos remains, per capita, the most heavily bombed country on earth.
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