Key development since May 2005: In October 2005 Uzbekistan reported it had cleared one fifth of its border with Tajikistan and several areas around Uzbek enclaves in Kyrgyzstan.
Uzbekistan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Uzbekistan has stated in the past that mines are necessary for national security to prevent the flow of narcotics, arms and insurgent groups across its borders.[1]
Uzbekistan has never attended an annual meeting of Mine Ban Treaty States Parties, or any meetings of the intersessional Standing Committees. It abstained from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 60/80 in December 2005, as it did on similar resolutions in previous years which called for the universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Unlike other states, it has never offered an explanation for its vote.
Uzbekistan is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its original Protocol II on landmines, but has not joined Amended Protocol II. It did not attend the annual meeting of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in November 2005 in Geneva.
In July 2001, an Uzbek ambassador told Landmine Monitor that there is no antipersonnel mine production in Uzbekistan, and other officials have since repeated this information.[2] Uzbekistan is not a known exporter of antipersonnel mines. It inherited a stockpile of antipersonnel mines from the former Soviet Union. The size, composition and condition of the mine stockpile are not known. One Ministry of Defense official indicated the stock consisted of OZM-72, PОМZ and PMN antipersonnel mines, while another said it contains all types of mines which were made in the Soviet Union. The mines are held by both the Ministry of Defense and the Committee on State Border Protection.[3]
Uzbek forces began laying mines on the Afghan border in 1998; portions of that border were also mined during the Soviet period. Uzbekistan started placing mines on the Kyrgyz border in November 1999 and on the Tajik border around August 2000. Some sources estimate that 50,000 to 200,000 antipersonnel mines were placed along the three borders.[4] Another source stated the number could be 350,000.[5]
Uzbekistan’s mine problem is the result of emplacement of mines by its armed forces. Little is known of the nature, extent and location of the mine contamination, due to the lack of open discussion or reporting of the issue within Uzbekistan. Some sources state that all minefields are marked, others state that minefields are marked only sporadically.[6]
Colonel Rashid Khabiev, Deputy Commander of Uzbekistan’s frontier troops, has stated that landmines were placed on Uzbekistan’s eastern borders with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to deter cross-border movements by drug traffickers and members of “international terrorist armed gangs.”[7 ] The Kyrgyz-Uzbek border runs for about 1,300 kilometers, of which the Kyrgyz authorities estimated that about 42 kilometers were mined.[8] Landmines are also reported to be present along Uzbekistan’s 150-kilometer border with Afghanistan.[9]
It is not known if Uzbekistan is also is contaminated with explosive remnants of war.
Uzbekistan has no formal mine action program. Demining is carried out by troops of the Ministry of Defense, and data on clearance is recorded by the National Security Department.[10]
The Minister of Defense announced in June 2004 that it would clear mines from its borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In October 2005 Colonel Khabiev was reported as claiming that Uzbek units had cleared 20 percent of the border with Tajikistan.[11] Tajik authorities, however, said Uzbekistan did not notify them that demining operations had started and they could not confirm that clearance had begun.[12] In 2005, media reports cited Kyrgyz officials in Batken province as saying Kyrgyz border guards had checked previously mined areas of the border around the settlements of Chonkara, Ak-Turpak and Otukchu, which had been cleared by Uzbek deminers, and had confirmed that they were now mine-free.[13] Uzbekistan reportedly completed demining around the Uzbek enclave of Shakhimardan, inside Kyrgyzstan, in 2004.[14]
It was reported in 2004 that Uzbekistan has no plans to clear the 150-kilometer border with Afghanistan.[15] Ministry of Defense officials said in 2005 that clearance of this border was unlikely for the foreseeable future given the situation in Afghanistan and the danger from the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.[16]
In February 2005, Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Dmitrij Rupel, also then Acting Chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in Tashkent that the OSCE and particularly Slovenia “will readily provide assistance to Uzbekistan in mine clearance and frontier protection.”[17] An analyst in Tashkent said, however, that Uzbekistan had been constrained to rely on its own means for mine clearance because of European Union opposition to Slovenia providing assistance.[18]
There are no official records of landmine casualties in Uzbekistan. The government does not confirm any reports of mine-related casualties. The Ministry of Health, which possesses statistical data on accidents, diseases and mortality, stated, “such information cannot be shared.”[19] An official from Ferghana stated that no information was available concerning human and animal mine casualties in 2005 and up to 23 March 2006.[20] It is known that in 2004 four people were killed by landmines in Uzbekistan.[21]
The total number of mine casualties in Uzbekistan is not known. However, between 2000 and the end of 2004, at least 69 casualties were reported; at least 47 people were killed.[22]
Casualty data recorded in neighboring Tajikistan indicates that in 2005, as in previous years, Uzbek landmines killed and injured Tajiks in areas bordering Uzbekistan. Civilian landmine casualties in Sugd region on the Tajik-Uzbek border accounted for 53 percent of total casualties, with four killed and six injured. (See Tajikistan report). Reportedly, there were 124 casualties on the Uzbek-Tajik border since 2000, including 69 killed.[23]
Little is known about healthcare facilities in Uzbekistan, but they are not believed to offer special assistance to mine survivors or their families. The Ministry of Health does not make public any information relating to assistance provided to mine casualties.[24] The Tashkent Central Military Hospital reportedly treated three military personnel injured by landmines between June 2004 and April 2005.[25]
Healthcare institutions providing services for people with disabilities, including orthopedic workshops, are reportedly exempt from adding tax to the cost of aids and services.[26]
Uzbekistan has a law to protect people with disabilities against discrimination in the workplace and in education. There is a special department and a commission under the Ministry of Health responsible for facilitating access for persons with disabilities to healthcare, and also a special department under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection responsible for facilitating employment. The law does not mandate access to public places for persons with disabilities; however, there is some wheelchair access throughout the country.[27]
[1] Officials interviewed by Landmine Monitor requested anonymity due to personal security concerns. The government classifies as “confidential” all matters related to landmines in Uzbekistan. Landmine Monitor is also, upon request, withholding specific interview dates.
[2] Letter to Landmine Monitor from Amb. Shavkat Khamrakulov, Embassy of Uzbekistan to the United States, 31 July 2001.
[3] Interview with a Ministry of Defense engineering officer, May 2004; interview with a Ministry of Defense official, February 2003.
[4] Interviews with former employees of the Ministry of Defense, a field engineering sub-unit, and the Committee on State Border Protection, March 2005.
[5] Interview with a former officer of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense, 2005.
[6] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1157.
[7 ] Committee for the State Frontier Protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan (CSFP), Letter #40/1/3-493, 28 January 2006.
[8] OSCE, “Uzbek government announces its readiness for demining of state borders,” Spot Report, 11 June 2004; “Demining alone: Uzbekistan clears mines from Kyrgyz-Uzbek border without agreement with neighbor,” www.dw-world.de, 24 August 2004.
[9] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 915.
[10] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 916.
[11] “Uzbek official says mines cleared from Tajik border,” AP/Itar-Tass, accessed at RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty website, www.rferl.org, accessed 20 October 2005.
[12] “Tajikistan has no evidence Uzbekistan is clearing border of mines,” Itar-Tass, www.topix.net, accessed 21 April 2006.
[13] “Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan: Landmine threat along Uzbek border removed,” IRIN, www.irinnews.org, accessed 31 October 2005.
[14] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 916.
[15] “Uzbekistan to clear mines on Tajik, Kyrgyz borders,” Agence France-Presse (Tashkent), 23 June 2004.
[16] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 917.
[17] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 916.
[18] Interview on condition of anonymity with analyst at the Institute of Strategic and Regional Studies under the President, Tashkent, 23 March 2006.
[19] Ministry of Health response to Landmine Monitor inquiry, 21 April 2005 and 2 February 2006.
[20] Letter to Landmine Monitor from Ferghana, № 608, 23 March 2006.
[21] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 917.
[22] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 917; Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1158.
[23] “Uzbekistan had no right to mine Tajik border – official,” BBC (Dushanbe), 23 April 2006.
[24] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 917; Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1159.
[25] Information provided in confidence to Landmine Monitor.
[26] Instruction No. 1238, Ministry of Justice of Republic of Uzbekistan, registered 29 April 2003.
[27] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Uzbekistan,” Washington DC, 8 March 2006.