Crossing the Divide

The report examines 'village demining' in Cambodia, where locals use basic tools to clear land for survival. It contrasts this with professional humanitarian mine action, which prioritizes absolute safety and standardized procedures. The author argues that professional agencies often ignore the relative risks—such as starvation and landlessness—that compel villagers to clear mines. The document recommends a paradigm shift toward community-oriented strategies, including the use of mobile quick-response teams and the integration of mine action with broader development and land-titling initiatives to reduce the vulnerabilities that make village demining necessary.

• Village demining is a calculated survival strategy driven by the need for food security and land access, rather than a spontaneous or reckless activity.
• A significant portion of village deminers are former soldiers who utilize skills and localized knowledge of mine deployment acquired during the civil war.
• Villagers employ rudimentary tools for clearance, typically using hoes or bamboo sticks to prod the ground and knives to excavate mines.
• Professional mine action focuses on 'absolute risk' (eliminating all hazards), whereas villagers manage 'relative risk,' balancing the danger of mines against the risk of starvation or landlessness.
• The professional mine action sector's reliance on standardized, top-down narratives often portrays affected populations as passive victims, ignoring their active agency and existing capabilities.
• The report suggests that replacing large, rigid demining platoons with smaller, mobile 'quick-response' teams could better address isolated community needs and 'nuisance' mines.
• Integrating mine action with development projects and land-use planning (such as LUPUs) is essential to ensure that cleared land actually benefits the intended vulnerable populations.

APA

Bottomley, R. (2003). Crossing the Divide. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/023865f8-9ffb-46e0-bb02-912ed942330f/Bottomley 2003 Crossing the Divide PRIO Report 1-03.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Bottomley, Ruth. Crossing the Divide. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2003. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/023865f8-9ffb-46e0-bb02-912ed942330f/Bottomley 2003 Crossing the Divide PRIO Report 1-03.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bottomley |first1=Ruth |title=Crossing the Divide |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2003 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/023865f8-9ffb-46e0-bb02-912ed942330f/Bottomley 2003 Crossing the Divide PRIO Report 1-03.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bottomley2003crossing, author = {Bottomley, Ruth}, title = {{Crossing the Divide}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2003}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/023865f8-9ffb-46e0-bb02-912ed942330f/Bottomley 2003 Crossing the Divide PRIO Report 1-03.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }