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The Thai military allegedly dropped cluster bombs, covering an area of nearly 4,000 square kilometers in Cambodia in the border conflict last year, the first vice president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, Ly Thuch, said Monday, adding that Cambodia strongly condemned its use.
“Cambodia has not even finished clearing the war legacy from the past, yet we are now forced to face a new humanitarian burden of nearly 4,000 square kilometers caused by the use of [these] weapons in 2025 by Thai military forces,” he said during the 3rd Review Conference of Convention on Cluster Munition in Vientiane.
“This new burden significantly increases the need for resources and effort to ensure safety for affected citizens and communities,” he added.
Of the 4,000 square kilometers of newly-affected areas, nearly 3,000 square kilometers were impacted specifically by cluster bombs.
Thuch said that the new threat has severely impacted local people, especially farmers, who have been killed or injured, and left more than 20,000 displaced people in Cambodia still unable to return home.
Thailand, which is not a signatory to the U.N. convention banning cluster munitions, has confirmed using them during the conflict. However, Thailand has also accused Cambodia of “laying fresh landmines” that maimed Thai soldiers last year, an allegation Cambodia has denied.
Since the five-day July clashes, renewed fighting in December spread well beyond earlier flashpoints, with over a dozen fronts active along the 817 km (508 miles) shared border. More than 100 people on both sides of the border were killed in the December attack with nearly one million displaced at its peak, according to previous tallies from Thai and Cambodian officials.
Thai Defense Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri did not respond immediately to questions.
However, Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, made similar allegations of Thailand’s use of cluster munitions, calling it a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
He said it demonstrated Thailand’s disregard of international conventions, noting that Cambodia has widely disseminated the issue to the world.
“The use of cluster bombs against Cambodia and civilians is a serious issue. This violation of our territory is evidence which is being documented by Cambodia,” he said.
