I imagine a big part of the reason that we don't help them demine is that it's probably not a technically feasible task. I really don't know anything about de-mining or munitions and I don't have a good solution to offer.
In theory it sounds great to pay Laotians to de-mine fields in an organized and systematic manner, thus making quantifiable progress, progressively de-mining, and boosting employment. I don't know if it would work or if it's a realistic goal.
Edit: I found an amazing video of a man disarming a mine that I thought I'd share as well. I assume this is how they do it over there currently. "If you press that, blow up"
As for "use something like this", where "this" is any kind of technology that tries to detonate mines by force/and or grab up in bulk. You need to be very, very certain that you get all mines. Would you let your child play in the section woods with "hardly any mines" in it?
The issue with forcefully exploding mines is that a certain number might be defective, and/or unstable. Maybe the trigger doesn't work well enough - but maybe it can still go off - perhaps the main charge becomes unstable on its own etc.
There's a reason anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions are illegal (well, in/by civilized countries, anyway) - it's really, really hard to de-mine/clear up this stuff.
You mean illegal as in prohibited by the Convention on Cluster Munitions[1]? Signed by all civilized countries of the world, of course. Except for, among others, the U.S., China and Russia.
US assistance for UXO in Laos has been slowly increasing (though some point out it's only a tiny fraction of the amount spent bombing the country in the first place).
In theory it sounds great to pay Laotians to de-mine fields in an organized and systematic manner, thus making quantifiable progress, progressively de-mining, and boosting employment. I don't know if it would work or if it's a realistic goal.