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

In September 2012, Tajikistan informed States Parties that the government was still considering its position on joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] Tajikistan has stated on several occasions that it is in the process of studying the convention.[2] In September 2011, a government representative said that full consideration of the convention had been delayed by a number of internal and organizational issues involving different ministries, but emphasized there are no apparent obstacles to accession.[3]

Tajikistan participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions 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, not 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 continued to engage in the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Tajikistan has participated as an observer in every meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012, where it made a statement. Tajikistan attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in 2011 and 2012, but did not participate in the meetings held in April 2013.

To commemorate the anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 1 August 2012, the Tajikistan Mine Action Center hosted a workshop attended by government officials.[5]

Tajikistan is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Tajikistan is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling

Tajikistan has stated on several occasions, including in 2011 and 2012, 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 that 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 has been no use by Tajik forces, and to indicate its approval of ratification.[10]

 

Contamination and Impact

The Republic of Tajikistan is contaminated by mines and other ordnance as a result of a civil war in 1992–1997 and mine-laying along its borders by Russian and Uzbek forces.

Mines

Tajikistan is contaminated with mines along its borders with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and in the central region of the country (Districts of Rasht, Tojikobod, Nurobod, Tavildara, and Darband).[1] A 2003–2005 survey identified 50km² of contaminated area.[2] As of January 2013, the Tajikistan Mine Action Center (TMAC) had reduced the contaminated area to 7.2km² through non-technical survey (NTS), technical survey, and clearance; this included 4.89km² of suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) along Tajikistan’s Afghan border and a further 2.28km² in the Central Region.[3] At the intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in May 2013, Tajikistan stated that the majority of the remaining area would be manually cleared with very little released through NTS.[4] However, in September 2013 at a European Union/Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (EU/GICHD) workshop in Dushanbe, TMAC unexpectedly revised its estimates of the remaining contamination and reported that 11.68km² of contaminated area remained, along with the possibility that further mined areas could be confirmed on the Tajik-Afghan border by 2015.[5]

No. of Confirmed Hazardous Areas in Tajikistan as of September 2013[6]

BAC = battle area clearance; CHA = confirmed hazardous area

Survey on Uzbek-Tajik border

In 2011, the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) confirmed 63 mine accidents involving 140 casualties along the Tajik-Uzbek border in four districts (Panjakent, Ayni, Isfara, and Asht) in Sougd region.[7] All casualties were Tajik citizens. A UNDP-commissioned evaluation in 2011 found shepherds and others crossing the border illegally accepted the risk to avoid charges at legal crossing points.[8]

Results of NTS on Tajik-Uzbek border

The survey only collected information on the location of accidents. Although none of the accidents occurred on Tajik territory, it is still possible, due to the terrain and the lack of a clear delineation of the border, that some mines may lie within Tajik territory. No descriptions or measurements of SHAs were made. In September 2013, TMAC reported the survey was 97% complete and was uncertain when the remaining area would be surveyed.[9]

Cluster munition remnants

There is also a residual threat from cluster munition remnants, particularly in the central region, although the precise location and extent of contamination is not known. The last cluster munition remnant found was in 2011.[10]

Other explosive remnants of war

The extent of contamination from other explosive remnants of war is not known, and may include unexploded ordnance (UXO) from Ministry of Defense training exercises.[11]

Impact

Landmine contamination in Tajikistan affects primarily agriculture and small farmers. A UNDP evaluation in 2012 concluded its impact was local rather than national in nature.[12] The vast majority of mined areas are located in unpopulated areas along the Afghan-Tajik border. As a result, some cleared areas may never be used.[13] However, at the EU/GICHD workshop in Dushanbe in September 2013, TMAC reported there were people living near the mined areas who should be surveyed to determine what impact the mined areas may have on them.[14]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

The CIIHL is Tajikistan’s national mine action authority. The CIIHL is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister for Security.[15] 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.[16]

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. The President of Tajikistan appoints the director of TMAC.[17] TMAC is not a nationally-owned mine action program, although its structure mirrors other mine action programs based on international standards and TMAC is considered a national organization.[18] TMAC, however, has no legal status and does not report to any ministry. UNDP manages the mine action program in Tajikistan as a project that is neither categorized as a direct execution nor as a national execution project, UNDP’s two main project structures. The lack of legal recognition, and UNDP’s decision to manage, but not own, the project has presented several problems for TMAC. First and foremost, TMAC does not have legitimate authority, even though it operates as a quasi-governmental organization, and coordinates and monitors like other national mine action centers. Furthermore, without legal status, TMAC cannot open a bank account to receive and disburse funds.[19] The Ministry of Justice is leading the government effort in nationalizing TMAC, and a commission has been established to study the issue and make recommendations on the structure of the Center. A decision is expected sometime in 2014.[20] Mine action is not included in the 2010 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for Tajikistan; this may be complicating the government’s commitment to allocating resources to mine action and addressing TMAC’s status.[21]

Still, 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.[22]

TMAC has staff assigned to land release, victim assistance, risk education, quality management, and data management. FSD, through a grant from the United States (US) Department of State, provides technical assistance to TMAC.[23]

The FSD and NPA are the two international mine clearance operators.[24] The Union of Sappers of Tajikistan (UST), consisting of former Ministry of Defense engineers, was created in 2010 with funding from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to support humanitarian demining and operates within the FSD structure.[25] It plans to become an independent NGO by 2015 and increase the number of demining teams.[26]

The OSCE in Tajikistan has been supporting mine action since 2003. Its two main objectives are to support the government of Tajikistan in collaborating with neighbouring states in mine action (two of three mined regions are in border areas) and to support a sustainable national mine action capacity. In this regard, the OSCE has facilitated the development and implementation of bilateral and multilateral cooperation arrangements between Tajikistan and OSCE member states in Central Asia and Afghanistan, in addition to funding two UST demining teams on the Tajik-Afghan border and one Mini MineWolf machine. The OSCE also provides technical advice to the CIIHL, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Defence. The OSCE in Tajikistan plans to continue to support mine action in Tajikistan, with a focus on building national capacity.[27]

Mine Action Strategy 2010–2015

In May 2011, the government of Tajikistan approved a mine action strategy for 2010–2015.[28] From 3–5 June 2013, the CIIHL, UNDP, GICHD, and relevant government agencies collaborated with the ICRC, Tajikistan Red Crescent Society, and clearance, victim assistance, and risk education operators, to conduct a mid-term review of the strategy in Dushanbe. While obligations of the Mine Ban Treaty were discussed in depth, a major focus of the meeting was on how to transition the mine action program from a UNDP project to national ownership. As a result of the meeting, UNDP and TMAC planned to submit a completion plan to the CIIHL by the end of 2013.[29] At the EU/GICHD workshop “Humanitarian Demining in Tajikistan: Towards Completion,” TMAC reported they expected the revised plan to be approved by the CIIHL in early 2014.[30]

Evaluation

In December 2011, UNDP commissioned an evaluation of the mine action program in Tajikistan.

The evaluation focused on the future of TMAC and on reviewing progress against the UNDP Country Program Action Plan, the UNDP Development Assistance Framework, and the mine action strategy 2010–2015. It concluded that although TMAC had improved its coordination and clearance capacity had increased, the ambiguous status of TMAC, as described above, has limited TMAC’s visibility as well as its ability to tap into UNDP funds. The evaluation highly recommended UNDP and the government of Tajikistan address the status of TMAC.[31]

The evaluation also made two other key recommendations. It recommended UNDP recruit an international program manager and that an exit strategy for UNDP be developed.[32] The evaluation concluded that current TMAC capacity was not needed to address the residual ERW contamination after all the mined areas were cleared. Since the evaluation, UNDP has recruited a part-time international mine action advisor and held a workshop in June 2013 to assess the 2010–2015 strategy, which will include an exit strategy. It is planned to submit a revised mine action strategy to the CIIHL before the end of 2015.[33]

Land Release

Survey

As of September 2013, the ongoing survey on the Uzbekistan border, mentioned above, had found no mined areas within Tajikistan’s territory. With demarcation of the border incomplete, the government of Tajikistan may delay declaring any of the Uzbek border area mine-free.[34]

In 2012, Tajikistan released 296,287m² of contaminated area through NTS.[35]

Clearance in 2012

In 2012, three operators provided two survey teams, 14 manual demining teams, eight Mine Detection Dog (MDD) teams, and three mechanical demining machines.[36] In 2012, FSD, NPA, and the UST completed clearance in 18 mined areas finding 1,306 antipersonnel mines and 61 items of UXO. TMAC expects to have similar capacity in 2013, and planned to release at least 1.5km² of contaminated land.[37]

Demining capacity: 2013

Clearance was ongoing in the other 23 areas at the end of the year.[38] All clearance operations in 2012 were conducted on the Tajik-Afghan border.[39]

Between January and April 2013, the three operators had cleared an additional 293,384m², destroying 2,575 antipersonnel mines and 157 UXO.[40]

In 2011, NPA brought 10 mine detection dogs from its training center in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). In March 2012, the TMAC quality management team accredited the NPA MDD teams which, according to TMAC, made a significant contribution to the demining program throughout the year. At the end of 2012, however, it was determined the dogs were no longer needed and NPA returned the dogs to Bosnia and Herzegovina.[41]

Completed mined areas in 2012

Five-year summary of land release by clearance[42]

Post clearance land use

Released land is used mainly for grazing animals, gathering firewood and stones, haymaking, agriculture, accessing drinking water, installing and repairing power lines, and other development projects based on national and local government planning. However, more often than not, cleared land is unused due to a lack of funding for development projects.[43]

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.

Tajikistan only started demining several years after becoming a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty and has made slow progress. However, operations gained more resources and momentum following NPA’s arrival in 2010.

In May 2013, Tajikistan projected that it will have cleared 60% of the remaining contaminated area by 2015, raising expectations that it could meet its 2020 deadline if current funding and demining resources were maintained. However, four months later, in September at an EU/GICHD-sponsored workshop in Dushanbe, doubts surfaced on whether the remaining 40% could indeed be cleared before the 2020 deadline, with TMAC citing projected reduced funding, more mined areas, and the requirement for only manual clearance of the remaining contaminated area after 2015 as reasons for a possible delay. TMAC also planned to revise its national standard for land release to include more criteria that could result in land release without the need for clearance.[44]

Quality management

Mine clearance in Tajikistan is conducted in accordance with the National Mine Action Standards (NMAS), adopted in March 2008, which are based on the International Mine Action Standards.[45] In February 2009, an NMAS on land release was approved by TMAC.[46] Additional NMAS on planning, reporting, and mechanical demining were approved in February 2011.[47]

In 2012, TMAC conducted 89 monitoring operations on technical surveys and clearance, including: 18 visits involving mine detection dogs, four on technical survey, 11 on mechanical demining, 56 on manual clearance monitoring, 17 on training, 23 quality control visits, and one investigation of an accident.[48]

Safety of demining personnel

In a demining accident that occurred on 26 September 2012, a deminer injured his eye and suffered other minor injuries, while a team leader suffered injuries to his hand.[49]

 

Summary Findings

·         A national victim survey by the ICRC, used as a basis for micro-grant initiatives, improved the economic inclusion of survivors

·         The program for victim assistance run by the Tajikistan Mine Action Center (TMAC) became a Disability Support Unit, recognizing a broadening of its mandate and reinforcing the understanding that victim assistance is inclusive of other persons with disabilities

·         Due to a staffing shortage, the quality of physical rehabilitation services required improvements through training and restructuring

·         Harnessing sustainable financial resources for victim assistance was the major constraint to full implementation of annual planning

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of Tajikistan is responsible for a significant number of survivors of landmines, cluster munitions, and explosive remnants of war (ERW) who are in need. Tajikistan has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

Casualties Overview

TMAC recorded 12 mine/ERW casualties for 2012. Seven casualties were civilian; most civilian casualties (five) were children (four boys and one girl); there was also one woman and one man injured. There were three casualties among deminers (all were injured), and two military border guards were killed.[1]

TMAC reported six casualties for 2011; including three casualties among deminers.[2]

TMAC registered 846 mine/ERW casualties (368 killed; 478 injured) for the period from 1992 to the end of 2012. Of the total known casualties, almost 30% were children (101 children were killed and another 142 injured) and 88 were women.[3]

Cluster munition casualties

At least 164 casualties from unexploded submunitions were reported in Tajikistan through 2007. Most incidents occurred in the Rasht valley area. The exact timeline of incidents is not known.[4] No casualties from cluster munition remnants have been reported in Tajikistan since 2007.

Victim Assistance

Tajikistan is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other ERW. Tajikistan has made a commitment to ensure victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty. The total number of known mine/ERW survivors in Tajikistan is 478.[5]

Victim assistance since 1999[6]

Since the beginning of Monitor reporting, victim assistance improved in Tajikistan with its inclusion in the national mine action strategy in 2004, the recruitment of the Victim Assistance Officer in 2006, and the subsequent development and implementation of a national victim assistance program through the coordination of the national mine action center. From the beginning of Monitor reporting in 1999 until 2004, there were no dedicated programs assisting mine/ERW survivors in Tajikistan.

A TMAC needs assessment in 2008 identified the needs of the large majority of survivors. The national Victim Assistance Program was adjusted based on these needs.

Improvements in medical care have been reported since 2004 when medication and supply shortages were chronic and most facilities were said to be in poor condition. Particularly in mine/ERW-affected areas, infrastructure remained poor due to under-funding and the mountainous terrain severely hampered access to existing services in the capital.

Between 2005 and 2009, the government gradually took on more responsibility for the State Enterprise Orthopedic Plant (SEOP);[7] it was handed over to full government management by the beginning of 2009. Adequate psychological support was mostly unavailable for survivors through the existing system. In response, the Victim Assistance Program held regular camps to begin to address those needs. Increasingly, economic reintegration projects were carried out and accomplished based on the needs identified in the survivor assessment survey, but the activities were not able to be implemented to the extent planned for most of the period due to funding constraints. The need for sustained funding was highlighted as a key challenge to ensuring that the victim assistance capacity which had been developed continued to benefit survivors.

New disability legislation that was developed to be in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted at the end of 2010.

Victim assistance in 2012

From January 2013 the Tajik Victim Assistance Program was “rebranded” as the Disability Support Unit (DSU) to reinforce the understanding that efforts to assist landmine/ERW survivors are part of broader disability and development frameworks.

The quality of prosthetics services decreased due to the continuing departure of trained staff; and the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD) assisted with planned improvements to the rehabilitation structure.

Assessing victim assistance needs

TMAC maintained a database on mine/ERW casualties in Tajikistan. In 2012, TMAC, in cooperation with the ICRC, started a needs assessment survey which included the collection of new data and clarifying previously stored data. ICRC continued data collection in 2013, having surveyed 140 survivors and family members by May.[8]

Victim assistance coordination[9]

At a workshop in September 2012, members of TMAC’s Inter-ministerial Technical Working Group recommended that TMAC’s program for victim assistance broaden its focus in the period 2013–2015 to be more inclusive of all persons with disabilities. To reflect this change and to reinforce the understanding that efforts to assist mine/ERW survivors should be part of broader disability and development frameworks, from January 2013 the Victim Assistance Program was transformed into the DSU. The DSU operates as a Nationally-Executed UNDP Project.[10]

TMAC, through its Victim Assistance Program, worked in close collaboration with partners to implement the victim assistance plan and to mobilize donor support. TMAC was involved in the monitoring of the annual victim assistance work plan together with Technical Working Group members; the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population (MLSPP); Ministry of Health; State Enterprise Orthopedic Plant; National Research Institute for Rehabilitation of Disabled People; National Union and Society of Disabled People (NUDP); ICRC; Tajikistan Red Crescent Society (TjRCS); Handicap International (HI); Tajikistan Centre to Ban Landmines & Cluster Munitions (TCBL&CM); and mine/ERW survivors’ networks. One of the main obstacles to the implementation of the annual plan was limited funding and resources.[11]

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.[12]

Tajikistan’s Victim Assistance Program, guided by the Cartagena Action Plan, aimed to ensure that all mine survivors have equal access to adequate gender- and age-appropriate victim assistance services as well as legal assistance. In this regard, the Tajikistan National Mine Action Strategic Plan 2010–2015 includes an objective for implementing victim assistance, ensuring the rights of survivors, and advocating for Tajikistan to join the CRPD.[13]

On 31 December 2011, the Coordination Council for Social of Persons with Disabilities (DCC) was formally established with the purpose of coordination of the work of the ministries, government establishments, and civil society organizations for implementation of government policy on the social protection of people with disabilities. The TMAC director is a member of DCC and represented the interests of victim assistance. The DCC is mandated to meet on a quarterly basis. Three meetings were held in 2012 starting in July, and meetings continued into 2013.[14]

Tajikistan provided detailed, updated information on all aspects of victim assistance in reporting at the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties and the 2013 intersessional Standing Committee meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty.[15] Tajikistan also reported on victim assistance in its Article 7 reporting for calendar year 2012.[16]

Survivor inclusion and participation

Survivors were involved in the provision of victim assistance services by the government in 2012, including through the SEOP, where the majority of employees are persons with disabilities. Survivors and their representative organizations contributed to the preparation of government transparency reports and/or statements to be presented at international meetings and shared input for data collection and presentations. A landmine survivor, the assistant to the Victim Assistance Officer of TMAC, participated in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in 2012 and in the international technical working group on psychosocial rehabilitation for persons with disabilities, including landmine survivors in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2012.[17]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[18]

Physical rehabilitation, including prosthetics

The number of prosthesis produced at the SEOP increased in 2012.[19] However, the quality of services at the center was affected by staffing issues. There had been a gradual deterioration of the quality of services at the SEOP caused by a low level of expertise following the departure of all the formally trained technicians and weak managerial capacity. Of the eight trained technicians initially employed at the SEOP, six had left the center by 2008 and the other two by the beginning of 2012. Although the SEOP had introduced better salaries, staff mostly left for financial reasons. In order to address the loss of expertise, the SFD sponsored two prosthetic and orthotic technicians to attend an upgrade course, provided further on-the-job training, and offered recommendations on physiotherapy and logistics management. Three technicians sponsored for International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) category II training in Vietnam were on the second year syllabus in 2012.[20]

A project review in April 2012 resulted in an SFD decision to post a full-time expatriate to help SEOP reorganize and decentralize its work and to increase the quality of its services. Following the project review, and discussions with SEOP staff and MLSP leadership, the SFD developed a three-year action plan and strategy to address weaknesses in rehabilitation services. The strategy is designed to restore quality standards of SEOP services. It also includes a plan for decentralizing services and equipping the satellite rehabilitation center in Khujand, the second largest city in Tajikistan.[21]

The MLSPP, with support from the European Commission Budgetary Support Programme, covered costs of the SEOP and paid the expenses for transport and accommodation of patients attending the center from remote areas. However, for many people, especially for patients from remote regions in need of regular follow-up visits and renewal of devices, access to treatment remained difficult owing to the centralized provision of services. As in previous years, the SEOP had a long waiting list for prostheses.[22]

Economic and social reintegration

A lack of appropriate economic inclusion opportunities, psychological support, including peer-to-peer support was identified as a significant challenge for 2012.[23] During 2012, approximately three-quarters of mine/ERW survivors and their family members received various socioeconomic support, via mainstreaming of victim assistance programming into the socioeconomic activities of other organizations, agencies, and governmental programs. More than 644 mine survivors and family members received social and economic assistance or had improved access to microfinance.[24]

The ICRC provided micro-grants for economic inclusion activities through its MEI program, to families identified through the mine/ERW survivor survey.[25]

With the support of the ICBL-CMC Survivor Network Project, TCBL&CM provided employment training activities for survivors and family members. Most graduated students found gainful employment following the course.[26]

Psychological assistance

In 2013, TCBL&CM organized peer-to-peer support training for survivors in Rasht, Kurgan-Tube, and Khujand to become peer supporters, funded by UNDP. In 2013, TMAC, in cooperation with TCBL&CM, continued peer support project activities. Several international NGOs were implementing pilot small-scale community-based rehabilitation (CBR) projects. Landmine survivors and other persons with disabilities also participated in the annual Rehabilitation Camp, which included participants from Afghanistan in 2012. TMAC, in cooperation with the Afghan Landmine Survivors Organization (ALSO), conducted a pilot peer-to-peer support project during the camp.[27]

The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (Fondation Suisse de Déminage, FSD), in partnership with TMAC, implemented a victim assistance project with psychosocial training for medical staff. The NGO Psychosocial Support Center was recruited to develop the modules and conduct trainings for doctors and nurses from surgery, trauma, and anesthesia departments of mine affected districts.[28]

Regional cooperation and exchanges between Afghanistan and Tajikistan to build capacity in psychological and peer support continued in 2012.[29]

Laws and policies

Tajikistan’s 2010–2012 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 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.[30]

In 2012, changes to the legal framework relevant to protecting and promoting the rights of survivors were included in newly approved policies on pensions and social welfare.[31] The December 2010 Law on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities, which includes standards similar to those of the CRPD,[32] 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.[33]

In September 2012, TMAC, through the FSD, began implementing a year-long pilot project to introduce physical accessibility solutions and tools in two sites in Dushanbe: a children’s health center and the Dushanbe central mosque. Also in 2012, the building of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population was made accessible to persons with disabilities, as were the national library and some new buildings. Over the past three years, there have been small-scale projects to improve accessibility in some rural areas, mostly led by international organizations.[34]

Advocacy activities for the CRPD intensified in 2012, including training on advocacy strategies, rights of persons with disabilities in the framework of national disability legislation, and international conventions and several advocacy round-table meetings.[35]

Tajikistan had not signed the CRPD as of 1 June 2013.

In April 2013, a recommendation for Tajikistan to ratify CRPD was included in the government’s National Plan of the Republic of Tajikistan to implement the recommendations of the UN member states to the universal periodic review of the Republic of Tajikistan on Human Rights for 2013–2015.[36]

 

In 2012, international mine action contributions from five governments, UNDP, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to the Republic of Tajikistan totaled US$6.6 million. Germany, Norway, and the United States (US) provided two-thirds of the funding. Norwegian People’s Aid and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action were the main recipients of the support.[1]

In 2012, Tajikistan reported it contributed $700,000 toward its own mine action program.[2]

International government contributions: 2012[3]

 

Summary of contributions: 2008–2012[4]