PHNOM PENH, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia officially launched the National Mine Action Policy 2026-2035 on Wednesday, establishing a comprehensive 10-year roadmap aimed at eliminating all identified landmines, cluster bombs, and other explosive remnants of war (ERWs) across the country.

A cloud of dust and smoke rises into the sky as deminers detonate landmines with a remote control at a minefield in Siem Reap province, Cambodia, Jan. 16, 2024. (File photo: Xinhua)

Under the policy document, the Southeast Asian nation aims to clear all identified landmines by 2030, and all identified cluster munitions and priority areas containing ERWs by 2035.

According to the policy document, Cambodia cleared 3,541 square kilometers of contaminated land between the start of humanitarian mine action in 1992 and 2025. Over those 33 years, deminers located and destroyed more than 1.2 million anti-personnel mines, 26,700 anti-tank mines, and 3.24 million ERWs.

Despite these significant achievements, critical challenges remain, the policy document said.

A total of 1,749 square kilometers of land is still contaminated, it said, adding that this includes approximately 557 square kilometers contaminated by landmines, 663 square kilometers affected by cluster munitions, and 529 square kilometers by other ERWs.

Ly Thuch, a senior minister and first vice president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), emphasized that the policy provides a definitive roadmap to eradicate all explosive ordnance by 2035.

Cambodia remains one of the world's most severely affected nations regarding landmines and ERWs. According to the CMAA, landmine and ERW explosions claimed 19,852 lives and injured or amputated 45,301 others between 1979 and June 2026.