Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The Kyrgyz Republic has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In an April 2010 letter to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it supports the idea of a full ban on antipersonnel landmines and advocates for the successful implementation of the treaty.^[1]  But, as in the past, Kyrgyzstan indicated it cannot yet join because it does not have necessary alternatives for border defense, and it lacks financial and technical resources to implement the treaty.^[2]

Kyrgyzstan attended the regional Mine Ban Treaty workshop in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in July 2009, where its delegate expressed hopes of Kyrgyzstan joining in the future.^[3]

Kyrgyzstan is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and use

In April 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Kyrgyzstan has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, but also noted that there is no official policy or special legislation banning manufacture or trade of antipersonnel mines.^[4]

Kyrgyzstan inherited a stockpile of mines from the Soviet Union.^[5] In April 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the first time officially confirmed that the Ministry of Defense possesses a stock PMN and OZM-72 antipersonnel mines—which it described as expired—and the State Border Guard Service possesses “a small amount” of antipersonnel mines, which are “kept for guarding the more vulnerable sectors of the state border with difficult access in high mountains.”^[6]

Kyrgyzstan said that it does not have the financial resources to destroy its expired mines or to purchase alternatives. It also for the first time quantified the cost of destroying its expired stockpiles of PMN and OZM-72 antipersonnel mines at approximately US$600,000. It linked stockpile destruction to acquisition of new types of mines (apparently command-detonated), which it said might cost $1.5 million.^[7]

Kyrgyzstan has acknowledged previously that it used antipersonnel mines in 1999 and 2000 to prevent infiltration across its borders.^[8]  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in May 2010 that in 1999–2000 the military “used a certain amount of antipersonnel landmines,” but stated that reports and maps of the mined areas were produced and that after the end of the military operation, the mines were removed and destroyed.^[9]

The Kyrgyz Republic has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In April 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor that adherence to the convention “is actually under consideration.”[1]

Kyrgyzstan did not participate did not participate in any of the regional or international meetings on cluster munitions in 2009 or 2010 through July. 

Kyrgyzstan participated in the work of the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention. It attended two of the international diplomatic conferences to develop the convention text, in Vienna in December 2007 and Wellington in February 2008. At the conclusion of the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, Kyrgyzstan made a statement welcoming progress made during the meeting and expressed its support for the Oslo Process and intention to continue to participate in its work. It endorsed the Wellington Declaration, which enabled states to be full participants in the negotiations on the convention text in Dublin in May 2008.[2] Kyrgyzstan attended the negotiations, but did not express its views on the text.

While Kyrgyzstan was among the 107 countries that adopted the convention text in Dublin, it did not sign the convention in Oslo in December 2008. Prior to the signing ceremony, Kyrgyz officials informed the CMC that they were still studying the convention text.[3]

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

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared in April 2010 that Kyrgyzstan has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[4]

Contamination and Impact

Mines

Kyrgyzstan is contaminated by landmines, mainly in the southern Batken province bordering Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as a result of mine use by Uzbekistan’s military between 1999 and 2000. It has been reported that rainfall and landslides caused some mines to shift.^[1] During the unrest in April 2010, two “mines” were reported to have been found on a road in the capital, Bishkek, raising fears of possible further contamination.^[2] The devices were defused by a Krygyz special forces team.^[3]

The extent of residual mine contamination in the country is uncertain. In 2003, Kyrgyz authorities estimated that Uzbek forces had mined approximately 42km of the 1,300km border and around the Uzbek enclaves of Sokh and Shakhimardan located within Kyrgyzstan. Press reports have suggested that Uzbek troops partially cleared territory around the Sokh enclave in 2004–2005^[4] and that they had completely cleared mines around Shakhimardan enclave in 2004.^[5]

Kyrgyzstan has admitted using antipersonnel mines in 1999 and 2000 to prevent infiltration across its borders,^[6] but has claimed that all the mines were removed and destroyed.^[7] 

Cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war

Kyrgyzstan is also contaminated with explosive remnants of war (ERW), primarily UXO, in the Ferghana Valley region where Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan meet.^[8]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

There is no formal mine action program in Kyrgyzstan. In June 2001, Kyrgyzstan adopted a law governing mine action, which gave general responsibility for demining to the Ministry of Defense, and for mine/ERW risk education to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.^[9]

Kyrgyzstan also planned that marking and fencing of mined areas would be executed by a local NGO equipped, trained, and supervised by a Danish Demining Group (DDG) technical advisor. But due to the security situation on the borders, it was decided to equip and train the State Border Guard Service to survey and mark the remaining minefields, by means of a project funded by the European Commission (EC).^[10] In 2006, DDG started preparing a 12-strong State Border Guard Service unit to conduct a general survey of suspect areas in Batken province.^[11]

Land Release

Mine clearance in 2009

Clearance is the responsibility of the army and the State Border Guard Service, although, as noted above, in the past DDG was involved in demining. No formal clearance operations appear to have occurred since late 2006. Clearance reportedly ended because of the lack of agreement on delimitation and demarcation of Kyrgyzstan’s borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.^[12]