DUSHANBE, April 4, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan marks an International Day for Mine Awareness and the Support of Anti-Mine Activates.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the head of the Tajik Mine Action Cell (TMAC) Jonmahmad Rajabov said that major part of mine-strewn areas in the country are a legacy of the country disastrous civil war in the 1990s.
Additional mines were laid along the Tajik-Uzbek border by Uzbek authorities in the lat 1990s. The action was reportedly taken to stave off incursions by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The Uzbek government’s unilateral decision to mine rural border areas has become a serious problem for Tajik civilians living in border areas that have suffered the most by Tashkent’s security initiatives.
On June 20, 2003, the government of Tajikistan signed the agreement “Support to the Tajikistan National Mine Action Program” with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in order to create the Tajik Mine Action Cell (TMAC). Established in 2004, the center is a governmental structure and is responsible for all mine action related issues in Tajikistan. TMAC is also the executive authority of the Commission on Implementation of International Humanitarian Law (CIIHL) in the country.
TMAC is responsible for: 1) developing standards, regulations, policies, procedures, guidelines for mine action in Tajikistan which shall be based on the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) promulgated by the United Nations Mine Action Service; 2) preparation of national plans for mine action including strategic five-year plans, annual work-plans describing all mine action activities, other strategies or similar documents related to the national management or activities of the mine action sector; 3) setting up an efficient coordination system for all mine action activities in Tajikistan; to chair coordination meetings and encourage active participation of all relevant parties; 4) setting up a planning system for mine action activities in Tajikistan; 5) management of IMSMA database that will record all available information on the threat of landmine/UXOs (suspected and confirmed contaminated areas; socio-economic consequences of landmines; mine incidents; mine accidents, demining incidents and demining accidents and all mine action activities in the country; 6) monitoring and inspection system for mine action activities in Tajikistan and ensure that national and international operators comply with the standards, regulations, policies, procedures and guidelines as well as with the strategy and plan of the government; 7) coordination of donor community assistance in mine action and mobilizing technical and financial resources for the mine action sector within Tajikistan; 8) review and adoption of mine action projects before implementation; monitoring of the use of resources provided to the operators by the government and the donor community; 9) collecting information about mine victims in Tajikistan and provision of assistance to mine victims. And 10) monitoring of the use of cleared lands and submission of the report to the CIIHL about the issue.
Since 2004, the TMAC has monitored and inspected more than 900 villages and some 215 mine hazard areas have been uncovered. The demining teams have cleared more than 2.3 million square meters of land and some 12,000 land mines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs) have been destroyed. The demining teams have to clear another more than 17 million square meters of land.
Tajikistan signed the Convention on the Prohibition on the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on their Destruction (the Ottawa Convention) in 2000. All signatory states undertook to ensure the destruction of all anti-personnel land mines they possess, as soon as possible but no later than 10 years after signing the convention. In the case of Tajikistan, this means that the country should be mine-free by 2010.
According to the TMAC director, Tajikistan seeks extension of the period for fulfillment of its obligations on the Ottawa Convention for another ten years.
He said they had sent a request to the Commission under the Government of Tajikistan for Implementation of International Law for extension of the period for another ten years and the commission had approved that. In late March, the TMAC applied to the Ottawa Convention Secretariat.
According to the preliminary data, some 800 people have become victims of mine explosions in Tajikistan since 1992; more than 300 of them have been killed.
