| <ISRAEL | DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA> |
Kazakhstan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In November 2001, Kazakhstan was one of only 19 States to abstain from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty. In October 2001, in the First Committee of the General Assembly, a representative of Kazakhstan declared, “We fully support the humanitarian orientation” of the Mine Ban Treaty.[1]
Kazakhstan did not attend the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2001 in Managua, Nicaragua. In January 2002, it participated for the first time in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings, represented by Ms. Dariya Kairgeldina, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in Geneva. It did not attend the intersessional meetings in May 2002.
Kazakhstan is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), and Landmine Monitor is unaware of any steps toward joining the CCW. However, the government has previously stated that Kazakhstan bases its policies on landmine issues on the provisions of the CCW and its Amended Protocol II.[2]
Kazakhstan has stated that it does not produce antipersonnel mines.[3] In October 2001, it told the UN General Assembly that it was “strictly abiding by the unilateral moratorium on the export, including re-export and transit, declared by the Government of Kazakhstan in 1994.”[4] Previously, it has been reported that Kazakhstan banned exports in August 1997.[5] One newspaper report estimated that Kazakhstan stockpiles 800,000 to one million antipersonnel mines. [6] There are no documented cases of recent antipersonnel mine use by Kazakh armed forces.
Kazakhstan declares that it is not mine-affected, although it acknowledges that its long borders are mined.[7] There have been no recent reports of mine casualties. Kazakhstan is not known to have made any contributions to international mine action programs.
| <ISRAEL | DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA> |
[1] Statement of Madina B. Jarbussynova, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations, New York, 11 October 2001.
[2] Letter from E. Kazykhanov, Letter No.20/178, Embassy of Kazakhstan in Moscow, 19 April 2000; Response to Questionnaire on Antipersonnel Landmines, Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the OSCE, FSC.DEL/32/00, Vienna, 3 February 2000.
[3] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 885.
[4] Statement of Madina B. Jarbussynova, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations, New York, 11 October 2001.
[5] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 885.
[6] Adil Urmanov, “Blind Weapon,” Delovaiya Nedeliya [Business Week] (Kazakh newspaper in Russian), 12 June 1998, p. 8, available at http://dn.kz/arch/1998/23_98/mine.htm.
[7] Letter from E. Kazykhanov, Embassy of Kazakhstan in Moscow, 19 April 2000.
