Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The Republic of Azerbaijan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. It has stated that it supports the goals of the treaty, including a comprehensive ban. But, it “cannot accede to the Ottawa Convention without settlement of the armed conflict, restoration of territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and having a threat of hostility resumption, even though Azerbaijan stopped planting of additional mines.… Therefore adherence to the Ottawa Convention will be possible only after the final settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”[1] In 2010, it stated that “de jure, not signing it, de facto, Azerbaijan is fulfilling all the obligations prescribed by the Ottawa Convention, and not only no worse, but perhaps even better than many countries which have signed and ratified it.” However, Azerbaijan “has no objective possibility to become a full member of the Ottawa Convention.”[2]

Still, Azerbaijan has demonstrated support for the treaty.  It has voted in favor of the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting universalization of the treaty every year since 2005, including Resolution 65/48 on antipersonnel mines on 8 December 2010. Azerbaijan submitted voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports in 2008 and 2009.  While the reports have details about mine clearance, victim assistance, and mine risk education, they do not include any information on Azerbaijan’s stockpiled antipersonnel mines. 

Azerbaijan is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and use

Azerbaijan has stated on several occasions that it does not produce or export antipersonnel mines.[3] Azerbaijan’s mine stockpile is a legacy of the Soviet era, but the number and types of mines held are not known.

In early 2011, Azerbaijani Defense Industry Minister Yaver Jamalov informed President Ilham Aliyev about the reconstruction of the “Sanayecihaz” Scientific-Production Center, which will produce new defense goods including, apparently, antipersonnel mines. President Aliyev visited the reconstructed facility and put it in operation.[4]Following this media report, the ICBL sent a letter in March to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs to request urgent clarification in this regard. Despite continuous follow-up on the letter, as of 4 September the ICBL has received no response.

Additionally, in 2010, a communiqué posted on the website of the Ministry of Defense Industry suggested that the production of antipersonnel mines had begun at a newly opened weapons production facility, but the reference to antipersonnel mines was later removed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs attributed the incident to an “accidental technical error.”[5] The director of the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) also denied that Azerbaijan had started producing antipersonnel mines.[6]

Officials have stated that Azerbaijan has not used antipersonnel mines since the end of open conflict with Armenia in 1994.  They have also said that while Azerbaijan does not intend to use antipersonnel mines in the future, it does not rule out the possibility.[7] Azerbaijan apparently has not taken any specific legal measures to prohibit production, trade, or use of antipersonnel mines.

Policy

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

Government officials have stated that Azerbaijan will not join the convention until the conflict with Armenia is settled, including the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan last commented on the matter in August 2010, when a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said there is support for the convention, but that Azerbaijan cannot join “at this stage” because of the “ongoing occupation” of Nagorno-Karabakh and “seven areas adjoining regions” of Azerbaijan by Armenia.[1]

Azerbaijan participated in some of the Oslo Process meetings that led to the creation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but did not attend the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[2] It has not attended any meetings of the ban convention, such as the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka in September 2013 or intersessional meetings held in Geneva.

Azerbaijan has voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[3]

Azerbaijan is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty or the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Azerbaijan is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but it inherited a stockpile of cluster munitions from the Soviet Union. Jane’s Information Group has reported that RBK-250, RBK-250-275, and RBK-500 cluster bombs are in service with the country’s air force.[4] RBK-250 bombs with PTAB submunitions were observed among the abandoned Soviet-era ammunition stockpiles located near the village of Saloğlu in the northwestern part of the country.[5]

Azerbaijan also possesses Grad 122mm and Smerch 300mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[6] Azerbaijan received an additional 12 Smerch 300mm unguided surface-to-surface launchers from the Ukraine in 2007–2008.[7]

Azerbaijan received a total of 50 Extra surface-to-surface missiles from Israel for its Lynx-type launchers in 2008–2009; it had ordered them in 2005.[8] According to the product information sheet available from its manufacturer, the Extra missile can have either a unitary or submunition warhead.[9] It is not know which variant was acquired.

Contamination and Impact

Mines

Mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination in Azerbaijan is the consequence of the 1988–1994 armed conflict with Armenia—which saw landmines laid by both sides—and ammunition abandoned by the Soviet army in 1991. The most heavily contaminated areas are along the borders and confrontation lines between Armenia and Azerbaijan, including area in and around Nagorno-Karabakh (see the Nagorno-Karabakh profile).

Since 2001, surveys have reduced the total extent of suspected contamination within areas under the control of Azerbaijan. In 2003, the Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) identified 970 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) covering 736km².[1] In 2006, resurvey reduced the estimated contamination to 306km².[2] By the beginning of 2014, further survey and clearance operations had reduced mined area in areas under Azeri control to an estimated 120km².[3]

The precise extent of contamination in the seven districts occupied by Armenia is unknown. The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) suggests contamination may cover between 350km² and 830km².[4]

In 2013, ANAMA recorded a total of eight casualties (all male; four killed, four injured).[5] This compares with 19 casualties in 2012.

Cluster munition remnants

In 2007, the Azerbaijan Campaign to Ban Landmines (AzCBL) conducted survey of cluster munition contamination in the non-occupied border regions of Azerbaijan. It concluded that cluster munitions (among other ordnance) had been used in the Aghdam and Fizuli regions.[6] Significant contamination from cluster munition remnants has been identified in Nagorno-Karabakh (see the Nagorno-Karabakh profile).[7]

In 2006 and 2007, cluster munition remnants were found in and around warehouses at a former Soviet ammunition storage area (ASA) located at Saloglu in Agstafa district, where clearance was completed in July 2011. None have since been encountered.

Other explosive remnants of war

There are also other areas confirmed or suspected to contain ERW, including both unexploded ordnance (UXO) and abandoned explosive ordnance. Despite ongoing clearance efforts, significant contamination remains in and around warehouses at the former Soviet ASA in Guzdek village in Garadakh district, close to the capital, Baku. In 1991, 20 warehouses were blown up in Guzdek village resulting in tens of thousands of items of ordnance being scattered over a large area.[8]

Mine Action Program

A 1998 presidential decree established ANAMA, which is tasked with planning, coordinating, managing and monitoring mine action in the country. ANAMA also conducts demining operations, along with two national operators that it contracts: Dayag-Relief Azerbaijan (Dayag-RA) and the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF). No commercial companies are active in mine action in Azerbaijan.

Strategic Planning

ANAMA’s mine action strategy for 2009–13 foresaw resurvey, area reduction, and clearance of some 170km² of accessible SHAs. For 2013, the strategic plan expected to release a total of some 35km²: 28.5km² by survey and 6.5km² by clearance. [9]

This was not achieved. The second, long-term pillar of the strategy sought to build adequate management and operational capacity capable of resolving the mine/ERW contamination in the occupied territories once they are released from occupation. [10]

Land Release

ANAMA has reported clearance for 2013 of more than 4.6km² of mined land: 1.8km² through manual clearance and 2.8km² with mine detection dog (MDD) support.

Release of mined area by clearance in 2013⁸

A further 12.4km² was canceled by non-technical survey (NTS) and 2.4km² released by technical survey (TS). The program’s flails are used mainly for TS operations.[11] In addition, there was 11km² of battle area clearance (BAC).[12]

Release of mined area by survey in 2013[13]

Note: * This includes four antivehicle mines cleared during BAC and a further four cleared during roving tasks.

As of the beginning of 2014, mine clearance capacity consisted of three manual demining teams (ANAMA, Dayag-RA, and IEPF) of 40 staff each, six flails, and 36 MDDs and their handlers, the same capacity as in 2012. No major changes in capacity were expected in 2014.[14]

From 1998 to end 2013, Azerbaijan found and destroyed a total of 322 antipersonnel mines, 692 antivehicle mines, and 687,619 items of UXO. This is an extremely small number of mines given the extent of reported clearance of 14.5km² of mined area.[15]

Five-year summary of land release

Azerbaijan submitted voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency reports in 2008 and 2009 but has not submitted an Article 7 report in the last four years.

Support for Mine Action

In 2013, the government of Azerbaijan contributed more than US$10.4 million to the mine action program from the state budget and a further €1.6 million (more than $4.1 million) to the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) Trust Fund Project on clearance of Jeyranchel from mines and UXO.[16]

UNDP Azerbaijan contributed $255,755 to support its mine action program. The NATO PfP Trust Fund Project received €556,111 from international donors (Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, and the US).[17]

Azerbaijan’s plan for clearance operations in 2009–13 (in accessible territory) estimated a total funding requirement of $53 million. Some $50 million was provided. Since 2008, the government of Azerbaijan has contributed more than 80% of the cost of its mine action program.

Casualties Overview

In 2013, the Azerbaijan Campaign to Ban Landmines (AzCBL) recorded 13 landmine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties. Eight casualties were civilians and the other five were military personnel. All the casualties were adult men. Of the total, four civilians were killed, and four civilians and five soldiers were injured. The mine/ERW casualties in 2013 occurred in the regions of Gazakh, Terter, Tovuz, and Absheron, as well as at a military training area in Baku.[1]

The 2013 total represented a decrease from the 19 casualties AzCBL identified in 2012,[2] but was similar to the 12 casualties recorded for 2011.[3]

The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) registered eight casualties for 2013; four people were killed and another four were injured, also a decrease compared to the 17 casualties ANAMA recorded in 2012 (four killed and 13 injured).[4]

Variation in past annual casualty data reported by key actors is due to differing collection methodologies. ANAMA collects casualty data through a network of district representatives and from media reports. Only incidents that occur in mine/ERW hazard areas and can be verified are recorded in the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA). AzCBL gathers information in affected districts (except the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic) from its regional coordinators, civil and military hospitals, and rehabilitation centers, as well as from the local media.[5]

The total number of casualties from mines/ERW in the Republic of Azerbaijan is unknown. From 1999 when it first started recording casualty data to the end of 2013, AzCBL identified 451 casualties (100 killed; 338 injured; 13 unknown). According to the informal information available to AzCBL, there have been some 3,000 mines/ERW casualties in Azerbaijan, including almost 500 people killed. Most of the mines/ERW casualties occurred in 1991–1994 during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.[6]

ANAMA reported a total of 2,415 mine/ERW casualties (378 killed; 2,037 injured) in Azerbaijan from the early 1990s to the end of 2013.[7]

Victim Assistance

At least 1,843 mine/ERW survivors were known to be still living in Azerbaijan as of the end of 2010, when data was last cross-checked.[8]

Victim assistance coordination

ANAMA is the government focal point for victim assistance. Implementation of the Mine Victim Assistance (MVA) Strategy of the Azerbaijan Mine Action Program was coordinated through the MVA Working Group, led by ANAMA, which included national NGOs, the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society (AzRCS), and other relevant organizations.[9] Victim assistance was carried out within the broader UNDP- and ANAMA-agreed project “Further expansion of mine action capacity in Azerbaijan” (2011–2015).[10]

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population (MLSPP) and the Ministry of Health are responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities more generally.[11]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Regional centers for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities existed in 14 municipalities of Azerbaijan.[12] The MLSPP provided rehabilitation and prostheses through these regional rehabilitation centers and through the Rehabilitation Center of Invalids of the Republic in Baku.

From August 2013, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in partnership with ANAMA and the NGO Chirag, implemented a community-based socioeconomic inclusion project that provided small business training and a revolving micro-credit fund for mine survivors in Azerbaijan, with financial support from the UNDP.[13] The project builds on the previous project Socio-economic Reintegration Programme for Mine Survivors 2008–2012 that was implemented by the IOM, ANAMA, and Chirag, with the support of the International Trust Fund Enhancing Human Security (ITF).[14]

From the last quarter of 2013, AzCBL started a new project to raise awareness among survivors and persons with disabilities about their rights and current relevant legislation. It also assisted mine/ERW survivors in the Fizuli, Beylaqan, and Imishli regions directly by providing professional legal assistance and supporting survivors’ through the legal processes necessary to access ongoing benefits and support. This legal assistance had not previously been available in those regions. Eighteen people with disabilities received legal advice organized in the frame of the project. The beneficiaries included landmine survivors, disabled people of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and veterans (former Soviet Union) with disabilities from armed conflict in Afghanistan.[15]

In 2013, the AzRCS continued to implement its program for supporting landmine victims and families that have lost household members as a result of mine incidents within the framework of its Assistance to Mine Victims strategy. The program, which operates with the support of the ICRC, also provided immediate needs assessment and responses in the case of mine incidents that occurred in 2013 and gave lump-sum payments to the families of people killed.[16]

National legislation prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities. In 2013, there was no legislation mandating access to public or other buildings, information, or communications for persons with disabilities, and most buildings were not accessible.[17] In order to bring national legislation in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a new draft Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was prepared by the MLSPP.[18] The draft law was also submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by Azerbaijan in 2014.[19] The Committee recommended that Azerbaijan review and harmonize the whole of the state’s legislative legal order, as well as ensure that the new draft law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities strictly complies with the provisions of the CRPD by adopting the human rights-based, rather than medical model to disability.[20]

Azerbaijan ratified the CRPD and its Optional Protocol on 28 January 2009.

In 2012, the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan contributed US$10.4 million to mine action through the Azerbaijan National Agency of Mine Action (ANAMA); this is approximate to the amount contributed in 2011. This amount also represents one of the largest contributions in terms of percentage that a national government contributes to its own mine action program. Since 2008, the government of Azerbaijan has contributed 82% of the total cost of the program.

International support in 2012 was slightly more than the five-year average of $1.9 million. The NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, combined with $257,816 from Norway, contributed $1,784,733 specifically towards the clearance of the former Soviet-era training base at Jeyranchel on the Georgia-Azerbaijan border.

International contributions in 2012[1]

Summary of contributions in 2008–2012[2]