Canada commits $1M to clear landmines, cluster bombs in Cambodia, Laos

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is announcing nearly $1 million to help remove unexploded landmines and cluster bombs from Southeast Asia.

He made the $990,000 pledge at an event focused on women in security, as the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations draws to a close in Cambodia.

The funding is to support grassroots and government projects in Cambodia and Laos to clear unexploded ordinances, which stem from civil wars as well as American bombing during the Vietnam War.

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Canada has been pushing countries in the region to stop using these types of munitions, and fund remediation since the 1990s.

Earlier in the day, Trudeau met with the head of the ASEAN bloc, who praised him for making Southeast Asia a focus of Canada’s upcoming Indo-Pacific strategy.

Later, Trudeau is to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which documents the toll of the Khmer Rouge regime.