Commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty

Policy

The Republic of Tajikistan acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 12 October 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 April 2000. In late 2007, the Tajikistan Mine Action Center (TMAC) submitted three draft amendments to the national parliament aimed at harmonizing national laws with the requirements of the Mine Ban Treaty.[1] Tajikistan has not reported any progress since that time.  In the past, the government said that new legislation to implement the treaty domestically was unnecessary, as it relied on its criminal code to punish violations of the treaty.[2]  

Tajikistan submitted its ninth Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report, dated 7 March 2011, covering calendar year 2010.

Tajikistan attended the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in November–December 2010, as well as the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2011 where it gave an update on its mince clearance efforts.

Tajikistan has continued to promote the Mine Ban Treaty in its region, calling for a “Central Asia region free of mines,” and a “Mine Action Regional Coordination body in Central Asia.”[3] It also hosted the Dushanbe Workshop on Progress and Challenges in Achieving a Mine-Free Central Asia on 7 and 8 July 2009, the third in a series of regional conferences.[4]

Tajikistan is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. Tajikistan is also party to CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. It has never submitted annual national reports as required by the protocols.

Production, transfer, use, stockpile destruction, and seizures

Tajikistan has reported that it never produced or exported antipersonnel mines.[5] The most recent use of mines in Tajik territory occurred in 2000 and 2001, when Russian and Uzbek forces placed mines at various border locations inside Tajikistan.[6]

Between 5 May 2002 and 31 March 2004, Tajikistan destroyed its stockpile of 3,084 antipersonnel mines it inherited from the Soviet Union.[7] It retains no mines for training or development purposes, as it consumed the last of these in 2007.[8]

In 2009, Tajik authorities seized a total of 16 PMN-2 blast mines during “anti-criminal operations” and subsequently destroyed the mines.[9] In 2008, Tajikistan reported two instances where mines were “confiscated or detected…as a result of counter-terrorism activity.”[10]

Tajikistan reported in 2008 that a total of 49,152 PFM-1S remotely-delivered blast mines[11] and 100 “blocks” of POM remotely-delivered fragmentation mines[12] were transferred by Tajik border protection forces to Russian forces in Tajikistan sometime in 2006 for destruction after being discovered following the completion of its stockpile destruction program.[13] These stocks were destroyed in October 2006 by the order of the Russian Federation Federal Border Service.[14] 

Tajikistan is the only State Party to declare antipersonnel mines stockpiled on its territory by a state not party to the treaty. It reported that approximately 18,200 antipersonnel mines of various types are stockpiled with Russian Ministry of Defense units deployed in Tajikistan.[15] These stockpiles are not under the jurisdiction or control of Tajikistan.[16] In each of its Article 7 reports since 2003, Tajikistan has reported that intergovernmental talks are “currently underway” to clarify and complete data collection regarding these Russian mines.[17]

The Republic of Tajikistan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

As of July 2011, a process of interministerial review and approval of accession to the convention is believed to be ongoing. In November 2010, Tajikistan informed the CMC that the Commission on Implementation of International Humanitarian Law is assessing the implications of joining the convention and consulting with government ministries and agencies. No timeframe is available for when this process will conclude, but the Commission will produce a report.[1]

In May 2011, representatives of the CMC visited Tajikistan and met with a range of government officials representing the Office of the President, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Interior. All expressed support for Tajikistan’s accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2] The position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not known.

Previously, in June 2010, Tajikistan said it was in the process of analyzing the convention.[3]

Tajikistan participated in the Oslo Process and endorsed both the Oslo Declaration, committing to the conclusion of an international instrument banning cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians, and the Wellington Declaration, committing to negotiate a convention banning cluster munitions based on the Wellington draft text. However, Tajikistan did not attend the formal negotiations of the convention in Dublin in May 2008, even as an observer, and did not attend the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.[4]

Since 2008, Tajikistan has engaged in the work of the convention. It attended an international conference on cluster munitions held in Santiago, Chile in June 2010. Tajikistan participated as an observer in the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010 and in intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2011, but did not make any statements.

Tajik campaigners have undertaken several activities in support of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and Tajikistan’s accession.[5]

Tajikistan is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Protocol V on explosive remnants of war (ERW), but has not participated in CCW discussions on cluster munitions in recent years.

Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling

Tajikistan has stated on several occasions that it does not use, produce, transfer, or stockpile cluster munitions.[6]

Cluster munitions were used in Tajikistan during its civil war in the 1990s. ShOAB-0.5 and AO-2.5RT submunitions have been found in the town of Gharm in the Rasht Valley.[7] It is not known what forces used the weapons.

In May 2011, the Ministry of Defense said that Tajik forces had never used cluster munitions.[8]  A representative of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Interior said that cluster munitions were used by Uzbek forces in the 1990s in Rasht Valley as well as Ramit Valley, and the cluster munition remnants in Ramit Valley were cleared in 2000. According to the official, Tajik forces had no capacity to use the cluster munitions, which were air-delivered.[9]

In May 2011, the Ministry of Defense informed the CMC that it has checked the weapons stocks of all its military units and has not found any stockpiled cluster munitions. The Ministry has submitted an official letter to the Office of the President to confirm there are no stockpiles and that there was no use by Tajik forces, and to indicate its approval of ratification.[10]

Cluster munition remnants

There is a residual threat from cluster munition remnants in Tajikistan, particularly in Central Region, although the precise location and extent of contamination is not known.[11] In 2009 and 2010, re-survey identified four hazardous areas containing cluster munition remnants covering 150,000m².[12] In 2010, two unexploded submunitions were destroyed during ERW clearance in Central Region. Further clearance of cluster munition remnants planned for the second half of 2010 could not be carried out due to insecurity.[13]

Cluster munition casualties

No casualties from cluster munition remnants were reported in Tajikistan since 2007.[14] At least 54 casualties from unexploded submunitions have been reported in total. Most incidents occurred in the Rasht Valley area. The exact timeline of incidents between 1991 and 2007 is not known and the number of casualties was thought to be significantly under-reported because many unexploded submunition incidents were not differentiated from other ERW incidents.[15] In 2010, Tajikistan estimated that there were some 200 cluster munition casualties in total.[16]

Contamination and Impact

Tajikistan is contaminated by mines and other ordnance as a result of civil war in 1992–1997 and mine-laying along its borders by Russian and Uzbek forces. It is not known to what extent conflict with a non-state armed group, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, has added new contamination. In view of the security situation, the region has not yet been accessible for survey, although one has been planned for 2011 as soon as the situation in the region is stabilized.[1] The precise extent of contamination across Tajikistan remains to be determined.

Mines

Tajikistan is contaminated with mines along its borders with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. As of June 2011, reported contamination was up in 274 mined areas estimated to cover a total of at least 9.7km². Of this total, 7.2km² is located in 191 areas along the Tajik-Afghan border, 2.5km² is located in 26 areas in the Central region, and 57 suspected mined areas are located along the Tajik-Uzbek border.[2] The extent of this contamination remains unclear.[3] The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) has planned to conduct a non-technical survey along the Uzbek border in 2011.[4] This followed agreement from the Government of Tajikistan that survey and clearance operations could begin in these border areas.[5] Survey had not commenced as of the beginning of August 2011.[6]

Cluster munition remnants

There is also a residual threat from cluster munition remnants, particularly in Central Region, although the precise location and extent of contamination is not known.[7] In 2007–2008, 336,000m² contaminated by cluster munition remnants was cleared, with the destruction of 500 unexploded submunitions. In 2009 and 2010, re-survey of the contaminated areas identified four hazardous areas covering 150,000m².[8] In 2010, two unexploded submunitions were destroyed during clearance in Central region. Further clearance of cluster munition remnants planned for the second half of 2010 could not be carried out due to insecurity.[9]

Other explosive remnants of war

The extent of other explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination is not known, and may include unexploded ordnance (UXO) from Ministry of Defense (MoD) training exercises.[10] In the area cleared from cluster munition remnants, 2,800 ERW were identified and destroyed.[11] Due to conflict in Kamarob, new areas may have been contaminated by UXO. Furthermore, some parts of the area along the border with Afghanistan are believed to be contaminated by UXO. Since some of these areas also contain mines, clearance of ERW is carried out simultaneously with mine clearance.[12]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

The Commission on the Implementation of International Humanitarian Law (CIIHL) is Tajikistan’s national mine action authority. The CIIHL is chaired by the deputy prime minister for security.[13] On 29 April 2010, the government issued Decree No. 202 to approve the National Strategy of Border Management and its Implementation Plan. The Strategy underscores the need to demine the border areas, aiming in particular at improving the quality of the border control services.[14]

The Tajikistan Mine Action Center (TMAC) was established on 20 June 2003 and functions as an executive body of the CIIHL in accordance with an agreement between Tajikistan and UNDP. TMAC is responsible for the coordination and monitoring of all mine action activities in Tajikistan. TMAC also develops the national mine action plan and standards, tasks operations, and presents certificates of cleared sites to local authorities.[15] As of August 2011, the government of Tajikistan was still considering whether to change TMAC’s status to make it a fully national body and a distinct legal entity, either under the government or directly under the president.[16]

In 2006, a national mine action strategy was formulated for 2006–2010 and approved by the government.[17] In December 2009, UNDP contracted a consultant to develop the new national mine action strategy for 2010–2015.[18] The strategy was approved in May 2011.[19]

FSD has been the only international demining operator in Tajikistan for many years, but in November 2010 Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) formally launched a demining program.[20]

A local NGO, the Union of Sappers of Tajikistan, consists of former MoD engineers and is working under a memorandum of understanding with the MoD. The NGO is funded by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and states that it does not receive support from TMAC nor does it report back to TMAC.[21]

Land Release

In 2010, more than 1.8km² of mined land was reportedly released, with the destruction of 2,081 mines, two unexploded submunitions, 705 items of UXO, and more than 16,700 pieces of small arms ammunition.[22] Of this total, 630,000m² was released by mechanical demining/technical survey, 441,000m² using mine detection dogs (MDDs), and 807,000m² by manual clearance.[23] A breakdown of this reportedclearance by operator has not been provided.

In 2010, FSD started the first regional land release project between Tajikistan and Afghanistan at Darvoz on both sides of the river Panj.[24] Demining operations were conducted in 41 mined areas of seven districts of Tajik-Afghan border. Of this, 15 were released and clearance of the remaining 26 areas was postponed due to the cold weather.[25] 

Five-year summary of land release by clearance

Survey in 2010

Both technical and non-technical survey is conducted to support land release in Tajikistan. FSD has three dedicated non-technical survey teams, and its nine multipurpose demining teams are trained and equipped to also conduct technical survey.[26]

Mine clearance in 2010

FSD demining capacity in 2010 consisted of two non-technical survey teams; five MDD sets; seven multi-purpose demining teams; two mechanical demining teams, each with a MV-4 mini-flail; and three weapons and ammunition disposal teams.[27]

In 2009, the MoD established one multipurpose humanitarian demining team, which started operations in late November. In April 2010, the United States provided the MoD with a Mini-MineWolf demining machine. During 2010, the team worked in seven areas, of which two were released and submitted for quality control by TMAC. The other five areas were subject to technical survey. In total, the team cleared 0.6km² with the help of machines.[28]

Four NPA multipurpose demining teams initiated operations in November 2010; and it was planned to establish an MDD capacity within the Ministry of Emergency Situations.[29] NPA was planning to start the training for MDD handlers on 20 August 2011, pending the arrival of dogs in the country. NPA was also planning to establish a fifth multipurpose demining team in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, with training of the new team scheduled to take place in September.[30]

In 2010, the Union of Sappers of Tajikistan reports that it cleared 387,000m² of mined area, destroying 166 mines in the process.[31]

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, and in accordance with the 10-year extension granted at the Second Review Conference in 2009, Tajikistan is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 April 2020.

In general, mine clearance has proceeded slowly, and operations were only initiated several years after Tajikistan became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Furthermore, Tajikistan has still to establish the precise extent of mine contamination, although re-survey has clarified the mine threat on the border with Afghanistan. New national and international capacity, including machines and MDDs, should speed up land release significantly, and should enable Tajikistan to fulfill its Article 5 obligations well before its 2020 deadline.

Battle area clearance in 2010

No clearance of battle areas took place in 2010.[32]

Quality management

Mine clearance in Tajikistan is conducted in accordance with the National Mine Action Standards (NMAS), which were adopted in March 2008 based on the International Mine Action Standards.[33] In February 2009, an NMAS on land release was approved by TMAC.[34] The national standard land release form has eight criteria for determining whether land can be released without the need for clearance.[35] Additional NMAS on planning, reporting, and mechanical demining were approved in February 2011.[36]

TMAC has a two-person quality management section.[37]

Safety of demining personnel

An FSD deminer was injured during clearance operations on 12 October 2010.[38]

Other Risk Reduction Measures

There is limited mine/ERW risk education (RE) capacity in Tajikistan. RE is implemented through the volunteer network of the Tajikistan Red Crescent Society, which is currently working in five districts across the Rasht valley.[39] The Red Crescent program is operational in 24 districts of Tajikistan. In 2010, 300 mine risk warning signs were set up and more than 22,000 RE pamphlets were disseminated to affected populations. In 2010, Tajikistan Government reports that more than 44,500 persons in seven districts along the border with Afghanistan received RE.[40]

Also in 2010, Handicap International (HI) carried out a KAP (Knowledge, Attitude, Practice) survey of 780 households in three districts of Sogd Region in northern Tajikistan, where the accident rate is particularly high.[41] Overall, the survey showed that the at-risk population had good knowledge of the dangers posed by mines/ERW. The report produced a number of recommendations on how to improve RE in Tajikistan. These included the need for further KAP surveys, a need for refresher RE sessions in affected regions, increased involvement of local government and community structures, and standardization of KAP approaches at national level.[42]

Casualties Overview

The Tajikistan Mine Action Center (TMAC) reported 10 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties for 2010. All casualties were male; six were civilians (five boys; one man) and one casualty was military personnel on duty. In addition, three deminers were injured in three separate accidents, two were military deminers.[1] The total number of casualties for 2010 was similar to the nine casualties reported for 2009 and represented a continued decrease from the 13 casualties in 2008.[2] No casualties from cluster munition remnants have been reported in Tajikistan since 2007.[3]

TMAC registered 828 mine/ERW casualties (362 killed; 466 injured) for the period from 1992 to the end of 2010.  Of the total known casualties, 236 (29%) were children at the time of the incident (98 children killed; 138 injured) and 88 were women (42 killed; 46 injured).[4]

At least 54 casualties from unexploded submunitions were reported in Tajikistan. Most incidents occurred in the Rasht valley area. The exact timeline of incidents between 1991 and 2007 is not known and the number of casualties was thought to be significantly under-reported because many unexploded submunition incidents were not differentiated from other ERW incidents.[5] In 2010, Tajikistan estimated that there were some 200 cluster munition casualties in total.[6]

Victim Assistance

Assessing victim assistance needs

The total number of known mine/ERW survivors in Tajikistan is 466.[7] The results of the assessment survey conducted in 2008 continued to be used for planning and prioritizing of victim assistance activities.[8]

Victim assistance coordination[9]

The TMAC-led Victim Assistance Coordination Group (Coordination Group) met three times in 2010; meetings were also used to raise awareness on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and to introduce the Cartagena Plan of Action to its members. Participants included the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Population (MLSPP); Ministry of Health, State Enterprise Orthopedic Plant (SEOP)[10]; National Research Institute for Rehabilitation of Disabled People (NRIRDP); National Union of Disabled People (NUDP); Tajikistan Red Crescent Society (TjRCS); NGO Harmony of the World; and mine/ERW survivors.[11]

In March 2010, TMAC, in cooperation with key government and civil society partners (MoLSP, the State Agency of Medical and Social Expertise, and the NUDP), conducted a two-day seminar for the Coordination Group. The seminar addressed issues of comprehensive rehabilitation and clinical and social assessment of mine/ERW survivors and persons with disabilities.[12] Responsibility for the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities was shared by the Commission on Fulfillment of International Human Rights, the NUDP, and local and regional governmental structures.[13] Several members of the Coordination Group also had responsibility for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in Tajikistan more generally.[14]

The new Mine Action Strategic Plan 2010–2015 (MASP) of Tajikistan, which included victim assistance, incorporated the main conclusions and recommendations of the Cartagena Action Plan 2010–2014. TMAC’s attempts to devise realistic time-bound annual planning of victim assistance in line with the MASP plan objectives were hampered by irregular project funding.[15]

Tajikistan provided detailed updated information on all aspects of victim assistance in Form J of its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reporting for 2010 and at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties and the 2011 intersessional Standing Committee meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty.[16]

Survivor Inclusion

As in the past years, mine/ERW and cluster munition survivors and representatives from the NUDP participated in victim assistance coordination meetings and training and the development of plans.[17] Tajikistan reported efforts to ensure the full inclusion and participation of survivors and their representative organizations in all victim assistance related activities, including coordination, management, and implementation of services.[18]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities in 2010[19]

Continued achievements in improving accessibility and effectiveness of most services were reported by Tajikistan for 2010, despite limited and irregular international funding for projects. Many services were only available in the capital; however, the majority of mine/ERW survivors continued to live in remote villages and had difficulty accessing services in Dushanbe because of poor road conditions. For several months of the year access to those villages may be cut off by snow, high water levels, and sometimes landslides.[20]

TMAC’s victim assistance program was reviewed by the Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit (ISU) in August–September 2010. The review of activities between 2006 and 2010 was highly positive about the program’s results and found that implementation of the program was guided by the survivors’ needs assessment and that partners were well included in activities.[21]

The only prosthetic center in Tajikistan, the SEOP in Dushanbe, provided adequate prosthetic services during 2010. As in the previous year, the SEOP had a waiting list for prostheses. In 2010 the SEOP paid for and imported all raw materials and components from the ICRC and also negotiated an exemption on import tax for all imported materials. The ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD) continued to provide some technical assistance.[22]

The SEOP implemented a plan for regular staff salary increases to reduce the problem of technical staff leaving the center.[23] One technician returned to the center due to the pay restructuring; however, retaining staff remained a serious challenge for the center.[24]

A lack of appropriate psychological support and peer-to-peer support remained a significant challenge in 2010. In 2010, TMAC/UNDP supported the establishment of two local survivor-run NGOs, in Dushanbe and in Khujand, Sugd region, to promote peer support, capacity-building of survivors, income-generation opportunities, and rights advocacy. TMAC developed cooperation in psychological support with counterparts in Afghanistan in December 2010.[25] In 2011 the newly formed Tajik survivor NGOs and the Afghan Landmine Survivors’ Organization were in contact regarding the possibilities for cooperation to build peer support capacity.[26]

As part of the Coordination Group training in 2010, a handbook on medical and social expertise was developed and distributed to members.[27]

In 2010, the NUDP reported that only some 5% of people with disabilities in Tajikistan were employed, mostly because employers were unwilling to hire them. Monthly financial benefits were around US$14 for people registered with the highest levels of disability. In remote areas benefits were irregular and were received only once every three or four months.[28] The victim assistance program review in 2010 found that, in the area of economic inclusion, interventions might be more effective if implemented directly by qualified partners with TMAC support.[29]

A new Law on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities was passed on 29 December 2010.[30] The NUDP noted that the new law represented significant progress in comparison with the 1991 law of the same title. The new law was said to include similar standards to those of the CRPD.[31] The social protection law foresees the establishment of a coordination council on disability issues. These were being formed in 2011.[32]

TMAC secured funding for a victim assistance consultant for four months during 2011 to work with the MoLSP to build its capacity to apply the benefits the new social protection law to victim assistance.[33] Handicap International (HI), which moved its Central Asia regional office to Dushanbe in 2011, also secured funding for a capacity building project for four local disability NGOs, including the NUDP. The project is planned for two years starting in 2011. It focuses on the rights of people with disabilities, including in mine/ERW-affected regions, and may support advocacy initiatives of the newly founded survivors’ organizations among other disabled persons’ organizations.[34] HI and TMAC staff noted that the two projects should cooperate to make the most of the opportunities.[35]

The Disabled Women’s League “Ishtirok” reported that they were not able to advocate effectively for the integration of a gender dimension into the new law as the process of development was not open. Gender disparity is persistent and women with disabilities have less access to basic health services and educational opportunities than men.[36]

Tajikistan’s 2010–2012 Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) contains provisions for improvements in areas relevant to mine survivors and other persons with disabilities, including: the quality of healthcare services, the pension system, the quality of prosthetic and orthopedic devices, access to social institutions, training of prosthetic/orthotic technicians, and access to vocational training for vulnerable groups.[37]

The 1991 Law on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities and related legislation required that government buildings, schools, hospitals, and transportation be accessible to persons with disabilities, but these provisions were not enforced.[38] Most buildings in Tajikistan are not physically accessible.[39] The NUDP observed that extensive construction developments underway in Dushanbe did not take into account the needs of persons with disabilities.[40] In 2010, the Tajik Committee on Architecture announced plans to improve construction projects to address accessibility for persons with disabilities.[41]

The December 2010 Law on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities guarantees the physical accessibility of infrastructure for social life and to public transportation. Any planning, construction or reconstruction that does not follow the law is prohibited and penalties can be applied.[42] However in early 2011 no relevant accessibility standards existed which could be used to guide or monitor the implementation of the law.[43]

Tajikistan had not signed the CRPD as of June 2011.

In 2010 Tajikistan contributed US$700,000 toward its own mine action program.[1]

In 2010, international mine action contributions to Tajikistan totaled $6,476,545.[2] The largest contribution was provided by the United States ($2,478,390), with two additional countries (Germany and Norway) providing over $1 million each.

International government contributions: 2010[3]

International contributions from 2006–2008 averaged almost $1.4 million per year, and increased to $3.5 million in 2009 and $6.5 million in 2010. National contributions have averaged $597,916 per year since 2006.

Summary of contributions: 2006–2010