| <KOSOVO | NORTHERN IRAQ (IRAQI KURDISTAN)> |
Nagorno-Karabakh is an autonomous region in the South Caucasus. In 1988 it voted to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, which resulted in armed conflict from 1988-1994. The region declared independence as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) on 2 September 1991. The NKR has not been recognized by the United Nations.
While Nagorno-Karabakh political and military leaders indicate they are supportive of a global landmine ban, they indicate they would not join the Mine Ban Treaty even if eligible to do so. The NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs Naira Melkoumian said Nagorno-Karabakh “will be able to join it only after the establishment of a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.”[1] The National Assembly of NKR has never discussed the issue of banning landmines.[2]
Nagorno-Karabakh states that it has not produced, exported, or imported landmines since its declaration of independence in 1991. Landmine Monitor has been told that the mines in stock include PMN-2, POMZ-3, and OZM-72 antipersonnel mines. Landmine Monitor has not received any reports of new use of antipersonnel mines by Nagorno-Karabakh forces in the reporting period.
Mines were laid by both Azeri and pro-Karabakh forces during the 1988-1994 war.[3] HALO Trust (HALO) estimates that there are at least 10,000 mines in this territory in need of urgent attention, plus a further 15,000 on the line of contact; to clear after a peace deal.[4] Additionally, according to HALO, unexploded ordnance (UXO) is “as great a problem in Nagorno-Karabakh as mines,” affecting approximately 167 villages.[5]
Officials state that there may be over 150 million square meters of mined territory in Nagorno-Karabakh. This includes roads, land, and forests that remain to be surveyed for future mine clearance operations.[6]
Much of the mined territory is reportedly agricultural land, with 37 million square meters of arable land and 35 million square meters of pastures affected, according to NKR’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture.[7] Also, 80,000 square meters of vineyards are believed unusable as a result of landmines.[8]
Landmines have also been reported to affect other areas of development. For instance, the discovery of a minefield between the towns of Aghdam and Askeran impeded plans to build a water pipeline to the nearby village of Khrmort. HALO clear the area and work on the pipeline has subsequently started.[9] According to HALO, aid agencies in Nagorno-Karabakh have restricted their operations “due to fears of mines on or just beside roads” and because of UXO located in and around numerous rural villages.[10]
The former head of NKR’s Mine Awareness Working Group (MAWG), Mels Hakobjanian, identified the areas of Askeran, Mardakert, Martuni and Hadrout as high-risk. Little is known about other areas. “It's very difficult to figure out where the rest of the mines are,” Hakobjanian told an Armenian journalist. “Even around Shushi, which is supposed to be clear, a car was recently blown up by an antitank mine.”[11]
Mine action in Nagorno-Karabakh is carried out by a number of bodies. The HALO Trust is involved in training and humanitarian demining. The Engineering Service of the Army and the Department of Emergency Situations conduct some basic mine clearance. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) carries out mine risk education.
Coordinating this effort among governmental and NGOs is the government’s Special Commission on Mine Issues, and its Working Group on Mine Problems (WGMP). HALO, the ICRC, relevant government ministries, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Committee of the ICBL are all members of the WGMP.[12]
HALO established its own Mine Action Center (MAC) when it returned to Nagorno-Karabakh in early 2000. The MAC compiles information regarding landmines, UXO, and safe routes. It disseminates the information to all those who need it, particularly other NGOs and international organizations working in Nagorno-Karabakh.[13]
Special units of the Department of Emergency Situations and the Army’s Engineering Service carry out some limited mine clearance in Nagorno-Karabakh, but are limited by lack of resources (the Department of Emergency Situations has just two metal detectors).
HALO reportedly significantly increased its staff and operations in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2001 and 2002, as it increased its civilian personnel from 28 to 141.[14] HALO also has three Battle Area Clearance (BAC) teams, which clear hundreds of mines and UXO every month. In addition, HALO has two survey teams.[15] In early 2002, two new manual mine clearance teams were established with a US$378,000 grant from the US Agency for International Development.[16] HALO also imported several new vehicles, including trucks, ambulances, and armored demining vehicles.[17]
In 2001, HALO destroyed 441 antipersonnel mines, 145 antivehicle mines, and 13,536 UXO, according to Hakobjanian, the former head of MAWG. According to the former head of the MAWG, as of early 2002, a total of 5 million square meters out of 150 million square meters of contaminated land had been cleared.[18]
In 2001 and 2002, the ICRC continued the mine/UXO risk education program in Nagorno-Karabakh begun in1999. The program is made up of three projects: a mine awareness school program, the Community Based Mine Awareness (CBMA) program, and the Public Education Campaign (PEC). The program targets high-risk population groups such as children and residents of rural communities, particularly agricultural workers.[19]
For the school program, the ICRC developed a mine awareness curriculum that was approved by MAWG in 2000.[20] The ICRC has worked closely with the Ministry of Education to ensure that all school children in the Nagorno-Karabakh are reached.[21] Mine awareness lessons have been incorporated into the curriculum of 228 schools, reaching approximately 22,000 students. The ICRC regularly visits schools to evaluate the lessons and distribute materials to support instruction. The ICRC has been conducting a second round of distribution of mine risk education materials since the beginning of the 2001/2002 school year to the 228 schools.[22]
In 2001, the ICRC initiated two child-to-child projects to reinforce the mine risk education message taught in schools. In the summer of 2001, 120 children were trained as puppeteers and taught how to build puppets and props and perform puppet shows with mine risk education themes. Eight groups of fifteen children then organized puppet shows at different camps in August 2001, reaching nearly 1,100 children. In late 2001, the ICRC traveled to remote villages in the Shoushi and Hadrout regions to observe the school program and organize a tour of the puppet groups in particularly mine-affected villages. The shows reached about 600 children. In July 2001, another child-to-child project was initiated. The ICRC trained 20 youth instructors (grades 7-8) from various regions of Nagorno-Karabakh in mine awareness skills in order to assist teachers in working with the youngest students and to carry out mine awareness activities outside of school with both adults and children.[23]
The CBMA targets rural populations living in villages encircled by mined/UXO-contaminated areas. It aims to reinforce information available to local communities largely by distributing message boards placed in mine-affected areas to display preventative messages to warn residents of the danger. The ICRC, in cooperation with NKR Civil Defense has distributed 95 message boards since the project’s start in mid-2000. Billboards have also been placed around 46 communities, reportedly reaching over 40,000 people.[24] At the rural level, the ICRC cooperates closely with NKR emergency services.
The Public Education Campaign targets the public as a whole. From 1999 to 2001, the ICRC produced six mine awareness public service announcements in cooperation with a local TV crew. The public service announcements were broadcast regularly on television and reached an estimated audience of 50,000 to 60,000 residents.[25]
The ICRC has also conducted mine risk education activities for civil servants. In early/mid 2002, it held a two-day mine awareness seminar, organized jointly with the NKR emergency rescue service, for ten civil defense workers. In this “train-the-trainer” seminar, the civil defense workers were taught to train local volunteers in affected communities how to make rural populations more aware of the dangers posed by mines and UXO.[26]
The Nagorno-Karabakh Committee of the ICBL reported having taken part in all mine-related activities, including an August-September 2001 mine awareness poll. The poll found that, out of 300 respondents, 85% of the respondents are acquainted with the mine problem; 63% know about the minefields in the places where they live; 89% consider it necessary to cover the problem in mass media; 96% positively evaluate the school mine awareness program; and everyone surveyed believes it necessary to clear the territory of mines.
In 2001, four people were killed and 14 injured in reported landmine and UXO incidents.[27] None of the casualties were children. This represents a small increase from 2000 when four people were killed and 11 injured, including two children. New landmine and UXO casualties had been steadily decreasing since the ceasefire in 1994.[28] In 1995, there were 86 landmine casualties, 64 in 1996, 25 in 1997, 16 in 1998, and in 1999, 30 people were reported killed or injured, of which more than half were children.[29]
On 5 November 2001, three Azerbaijani servicemen were injured after one of them stepped on a mine while crossing the line of contact between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh.[30]
HALO Trust estimates that mine and UXO incidents have caused more than 900 deaths and injuries since the 1994 ceasefire.[31]
The health-care system in Nagorno-Karabakh has been seriously affected by the general economic situation, and by a lack of resources and skilled staff. The American Red Cross implements the ICRC’s primary health-care program. In 2001, the rehabilitation of 43 health facilities in Mardakert/Agdara and Martuni/Khocavend was completed and work has begun on upgrading 23 health facilities in the Hadrut district. The ICRC provided an emergency stock of drugs and surgical materials and arranged training for two surgeons in war-surgery.[32]
All landmine survivors receive free treatment in the medical institutions of Nagorno-Karabakh. Physical rehabilitation, prosthetics, and psychosocial support services are available but their resources are limited.[33]
| <KOSOVO | NORTHERN IRAQ (IRAQI KURDISTAN)> |
[1] Meeting between Nagorno-Karabakh Committee of ICBL and Minister of Foreign Affairs Naira Melkoumian, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Masis Mailian, 1 and 2 February 2002.
[2] Correspondence from NKR National Assembly Deputy V. Atanesyan to NK Committee of ICBL, 19 December 2001.
[3] HALO Trust Website, “The Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh,” http://www.halotrust.org/cauc.html#C, (viewed 19 July 2002).
[4] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from David Frederick, Caucuses Desk Officer, HALO, 1 August 2002.
[5] HALO Trust Website, “The Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh”.
[6] “Azerbaijani president requests Bush's aid in resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Associated Press, 28 March 2002; Onnik Krikorian, “Clearing the Killing Fields,” Transitions Online, 20 June 2002.
[7] Onnik Krikorian, “Clearing the Killing Fields,” Transitions Online, 20 June 2002.
[8] Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.973.
[9] Email from David Frederick, HALO, 1 August 2002.
[10] HALO Trust Website, “The Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh.”
[11] Onnik Krikorian, “Clearing the Killing Fields,” Transitions Online, 20 June 2002.
[12] Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 972-977.
[13] HALO Trust Website, “The Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh.”
[14] Email from David Frederick, HALO, 1 August 2002.
[15] HALO Trust Website, “The Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh,” viewed 19 July 2002; Onnik Krikorian, “Clearing the Killing Fields,” Transitions Online, 20 June 2002.
[16] Email from David Frederick, HALO, 1 August 2002.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Onnik Krikorian, “Clearing the Killing Fields,” Transitions Online, 20 June 2002.
[19] “Mine-Awareness Programme in Nagorny Karabakh,” ICRC Website, (viewed 9 April 2002) at: http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/592BFE?OpenDocument&style=custo_final.
[20] “The ICRC in Azerbaijan,” ICRC Website (viewed 19 July 2002).
[21] Onnik Krikorian, “Clearing the Killing Fields,” Transitions Online, 20 June 2002.
[22] Ibid.
[23] “Mine-Awareness Programme in Nagorny Karabakh,” ICRC Website, 9 April 2002.
[24] “Armenia/Azerbaijan: Spreading mine awareness in the Nagorny Karabakh territory,” ICRC Website, http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/5BJCB6?OpenDocument&style=custo_final.
[25] “Mine-Awareness Programme in Nagorny Karabakh,” ICRC Website, 9 April 2002.
[26] “Armenia/Azerbaijan: Spreading mine awareness in the Nagorny Karabakh territory,” ICRC Website.
[27] Information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of NKR, 19 March 2002.
[28] “Azerbaijani president requests Bush's aid in resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Associated Press, 28 March 2002.
[29] Information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of NKR, 19 March 2002.
[30] “Three Azerbaijani Servicemen Injured By Land Mine,” AP/Mediamax/Eurasianet, 6 November 2001 accessed at http://www.eurasianet.org/resource/azerbaijan/hypermail/200111/0015.html.
[31] Onnik Krikorian, “Clearing the Killing Fields,” Transitions Online, 20 June 2002; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 894.
[32] ICRC, “ICRC Special Report, Mine Action 2001,” Geneva, July 2002, p. 30.
[33] For details see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 976-977.
