At that time, like other enthusiastic signatories to the Mine Ban Treaty, it promised to get rid of all land-mines within 10 years. So far, only a minuscule 0.3 per cent of land-mines in the Kingdom have been cleared. If this snail's pace is kept up, it will take approximately 2,000 years to complete what the country has committed to do.

In the mid-1990s, Thailand was among a few liberal democracies in the world that joined an international effort to promote the concept of human security. It was an alien concept at that time to discuss freedom from want and freedom from fear. A decade later, human security is a widely accepted concept and countries work hard to implement what they understand of it. Universally now, human security refers to seven types of security - economic, food, health, environmental, personal, communal and political security.

With human security very much in vogue currently, the Thai government has been trying to promote the concept as well. On the first two days of June Bangkok will host the 8th ministerial meeting of the Human Security Network. In 1999, Thailand was a founding member of the network, along with Norway, Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, Jordan, Mali, Chile Greece, Slovenia, Costa Rica, Iceland and Austria (plus South Africa as an observer).

Very few Thais know that their country was the first in the world to establish a Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, to highlight the importance of human security in the country's development. But the record of Thaksin governments over the past five years shows that they did not have a clue about this concept. Human security has been promoted as rural development programmes.

That should not be surprising. The Thaksin government has focused on rural development in other ways - through its village funds and cheap public healthcare, which have been vote-winning strategies. Overall, however, the human rights and human security situation has greatly deteriorated. Indeed, these two foundations of human well-being have been totally ignored by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose preoccupation has been on cash give-aways and populist programmes. What is the benefit of having the Bt30 healthcare scheme for villagers in Sa Kaew, on the country's eastern flank, when it is also one of the most mine-laden provinces? They could killed just walking or working in their fields.

There are land-mines in 27 of the country's 76 provinces, but the Cambodian conflict starting in mid-1975 saw the Thai-Cambodian border become the most protected, or most mined, area.

More than half a million Thais in 530 villages and 84 districts are still affected by land-mines. Half of them live along the Thai-Cambodian border while the rest are spread along the Thai-Burma and Thai-Lao borders. Although the Thai-Malaysian frontier is considered free of land-mines, there are still four villages in Yala affected by hundreds of mines planted there during the communist insurgency.

A comprehensive study into the status of the Kingdom's land-mine problem - the Thailand Land-mine Impact Survey, begun in May 1999 and concluded in 2001 - recorded 346 "recent" casualties and an overall total of 3,468 casualties, of which 1,497 people were killed and 1,971 injured. The majority of these incidents occurred in the Thai-Cambodia border region, and 80 per cent of the "recent" casualties were adult males - the bread-winners in rural families.

So far, Thailand has paid lip service to its  international pledge to rid the country of land-mines. Indeed, its actions are contrary to the regular public relations messages we hear that human security is one of the most important pillars of the country's development policy.

The Defence Ministry last year allocated just Bt18 million - down from the average Bt38 million annually, for de-mining operations. The amount is a pittance considering the way the government has plundered the budget for other purposes. For instance, Bt250 million wasted on the sloppy Thai pavilion at the 2005 Expo in Japan. Worse, the Tourism Authority of Thailand said it would not mind signing Tiger Woods for Bt250 million, to promote the country. And, Bt120 million was spent promoting Bangkok Fashion Week this year.

Just imagine what even the leftovers from these budgets would do for de-mining operations. Those who work in the field have said that Thailand could do a better job covering bigger areas if the authorities paid some attention to this issue. Some even said that if operations received sufficient funds, Thailand could be free of land-mines within a few years.

It is about time the government allocated more funds and priority to areas most affected by mines and sets a clear, achievable timeframe for clearing them. For instance, the area along the Thai-Cambodian border should be the most urgent. Some 15 years after peace returned to this region, villagers in Trat, Surin and Chanthaburi still can't farm certain parts of their land.

Land-mines in provinces like Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Ratchaburi - adjacent to Burma - were laid to deter guerrillas, and even drugs and arms smugglers from entering Thailand. But often the villagers living in these areas have become mine victims because of their lack of knowledge about the problem.

Better coordination between government agencies such as the Public Relations Department, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and the Ministry of Education is essential to educate rural people about preventive measures.

Otherwise, the people living along our borders will never fully realise the dividends of peace.

 Kavi Chongkittavorn