LM Report 2004

Kazakhstan

Key developments since May 2003: An ICBL delegation visited Kazakhstan in April 2004. Kazakhstan participated in the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in Thailand in September 2003, and in regional seminars on landmines in Kyrgyzstan in November 2003 and Tajikistan in April 2004. The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs estimated that it could cost $3 million to destroy its antipersonnel mine stockpile. In September 2003, Kazakhstan deployed 25 troops to Iraq to assist in demining.

Mine Ban Policy

Kazakhstan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In April 2004, government officials told a visiting ICBL delegation that Kazakhstan, “fully supports the humanitarian focus of the Convention,” but it is unable to join at this time.^[1] The First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kairat Kuatuly Abuseitov, told ICBL that Kazakhstan views antipersonnel mines as an indispensable tool to guard its borders and no affordable alternatives are available. He also stated that there was a “strong no from the military sector” when Kazakhstan’s stance on joining the Mine Ban Treaty was last reviewed.^[2] The government also states that it lacks the financial resources necessary to destroy its stockpiled landmines.^[3] While Kazakhstan voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 51/45S in 1996 calling for negotiations on an international agreement banning antipersonnel mines, it has abstained on each annual UNGA resolution since then calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty.

Kazakhstan participated in some of the Ottawa Process meetings as an observer. It attended annual Meetings of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty held in September 2002 and September 2003 as an observer, and has been present for several of the treaty’s intersessional Standing Committee meetings (December 2000, January 2002, February and May 2003). It attended a regional landmine conference held in Moscow, Russia in November 2002. On 5 November 2003, Kazakhstan attended a regional seminar on landmines held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and it also participated in a regional seminar on the Mine Ban Treaty held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in April 2004.

While Kazakhstan is not a member of the Convention on Conventional Weapons or its Amended Protocol II, it attended the Fifth Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in November 2003.

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, and Use

Kazakhstan has stated that it does not produce antipersonnel mines and has had an export moratorium, including a prohibition on transit, in effect since 1994.^[4]

The size of Kazakhstan’s antipersonnel mine stockpile is not known, but a 1998 media report estimated that the government has between 800,000 and one million antipersonnel mines.^[5] Kazakhstan does not plan to destroy its landmine stockpile in the near future, stating: “From the national security standpoint it is incorrect today to talk about destroying the stockpiles.”^[6] In November 2002, a military official noted that Kazakhstan has experienced some difficulties in securing its landmine stockpiles and claimed that the military is destroying mines whose shelf-life has expired.^[7] The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs estimated that it could cost the government $3 million to destroy its antipersonnel mine stockpile.^[8]

Landmine Use and Mine Action

Government officials have at times denied the existence of minefields in Kazakhstan and at other times acknowledged the use of landmines in border areas.^[9] According to the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, there are no mines on Kazakhstan’s borders.^[10] Another representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed, “Kazakhstan does not have mined fields, does not produce mines, and follows the stockpiling requirements.”^[11] However, another representative stated that landmines in Kazakhstan “are supposed to be used in border passages.”^[12] He also maintained that “there is not humanitarian damage,” because the border passages “are not residential and are not pastures. The military ensures that the population is not affected.”^[13]

On 5 September 2003, Kazakhstan deployed 25 troops to Iraq to assist in demining.^[14] This was the first known instance of international mine assistance action by Kazakhstan. By July 2004, the troops had destroyed 5,000-6,000 landmines and 2.7 million shells and explosives.^[15] In April 2004, a government official stated that Kazakhstan “intended to continue participating in peacemaking operations of finding and destroying explosives” in Iraq.^[16]

On 7 January 2003, a Kazakh civilian was killed by what was reported to be a landmine near the former Chernik military testing site on the Uzbek side of the border.^[17] No landmine casualties have been reported for 2004.

[1] Interview with Arman Baissuanov, Chief of International Security Section, Department of International Organizations and International Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Astana, 12 April 2004.
[2] Interview with Kairat Kuatuly Abuseitov, First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Astana, 12 April 2004.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Interview with Arman Baissuanov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 12 April 2004.
[5] Adil Urmanov, “Blind Weapon,” Delovaiya Nedeliya (Kazakh newspaper), 12 June 1998, p. 8.
[6] Interview with Arman Baissuanov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 12 April 2004.
[7] Statement by Col. Rishat Supiev, Deputy Head of Main Department of Engineer Troops, Ministry of Defense, to the regional conference, “Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War,” hosted by the ICRC, Moscow, 4 November 2002.
[8] Interview with Kairat Kuatuly Abuseitov, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, 12 April 2004.
[9] See for example, Letter from E. Kazykhanov, Director of the Department of Multilateral Cooperation, Embassy of Kazakhstan in Moscow, Russian Federation, in response to IPPNW-Russia inquiry. Letter No.20/178, 19 April 2000.
[10] Interview with Kairat Kuatuly Abuseitov, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, 12 April 2004.
[11] Interview with Amb. Auyeskhan Kyrbasov, Special Representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dushanbe, 15 April 2004.
[12] Interview with Arman Baissuanov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 12 April 2004.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Statement by Amb. Auyeskhan Kyrbasov, Special Representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dushanbe, 15 April 2004; “Kazakh stabilization force to head to Iraq in August,” AFP (Astana), 30 June 2003.
[15] Interview with Kairat Kuatuly Abuseitov, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, 12 April 2004; “Kazakhstani Defense Ministry officers visited Iraq,” Organisation of AP News Agencies, 20 July 2004.
[16] Statement by Amb. Auyeskhan Kyrbasov, 15 April 2004.
[17] Chimkent (South Kazakhstan), 13 January 2003. See Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 618.