Summary action points based on findings

• Strengthen the role of the Disability Support Unit (DSU).
• Improve the quality of physical rehabilitation services through training, restructuring, and decentralization.
• Expand legislation and coordination for the rights of persons with disabilities.

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of Tajikistan is responsible for a significant number of survivors of landmines, cluster munitions, and explosive remnants of war (ERW) who are in need. Tajikistan has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

As of 1 September 2015, Tajikistan had not signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Casualties Overview

Tajikistan reported four mine ERW casualties in 2014; three were clearance personnel injured by antipersonnel mines and one was a civilian killed by ERW. [1] The Tajikistan Mine Action Center (TMAC. Now Tajikistan National Mine Action Centre, TNMAC ) recorded one landmine casualty for 2013. [2] This represented a significant decrease in total casualties from the 12 mine/ERW casualties that the TMAC recorded for 2012; including three casualties among deminers. [3] TMAC also reported three casualties among deminers in 2011. [4]

Tajikistan recorded 851 mine/ERW casualties (369 killed; 482 injured) for the period from 1992 to the end of 2014. Of the total known casualties, almost 30% were children (101 children were killed and another 143 injured) and 88 were women. [5] The total number of mine/ERW casualties is not known, because the needs assessment survey was not country-wide. However, the number of mine/ERW casualties recorded in TMAC data since 2003 was known to be accurate, whereas historical data for 1992–2002 required further survey for verification. [6]

Cluster munition casualties

At least 164 casualties from unexploded submunitions were reported in Tajikistan, through 2007. Most incidents occurred in the Rasht valley area. The exact timeline of incidents is not known. [7] No casualties from cluster munition remnants have been reported in Tajikistan since 2007.

Victim Assistance

The total number of known mine/ERW survivors in Tajikistan is 482.

Victim assistance since 1999 [8]

Since the beginning of Monitor reporting, victim assistance improved in Tajikistan with its inclusion in the national mine action strategy in 2004, the recruitment of the Victim Assistance Officer in 2006, and the subsequent development and implementation of a national victim assistance program through the coordination of the national mine action center. From the beginning of Monitor reporting in 1999 until 2004, there were no dedicated programs assisting mine/ERW survivors in Tajikistan.

A TMAC needs assessment in 2008 identified the needs of the large majority of survivors. The national Victim Assistance Program was adjusted based on these needs.

Improvements in medical care have been reported since 2004 when medication and supply shortages were chronic and most facilities were said to be in poor condition. Particularly in mine/ERW-affected areas, infrastructure remained poor due to under-funding and the mountainous terrain severely hampered access to existing services in the capital.

Between 2005 and 2009, the government gradually took on more responsibility for the State Enterprise Orthopedic Plant (SEOP); [9] it was handed over to full government management at the beginning of 2009. By 2012, there was a gradual deterioration of the quality of services at the SEOP caused by a low level of expertise following the departure of all the formally trained technicians and weak managerial capacity. Although the SEOP had introduced better salaries, staff mostly left for financial reasons. The quality of prosthetics services decreased due to the continuing departure of trained staff. The ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD) assisted with planned improvements to the rehabilitation structure.

Adequate psychological support was mostly unavailable for survivors through the existing system. In response, the Victim Assistance Program held regular camps to begin to address those needs. Increasingly, economic reintegration projects were carried out and accomplished based on the needs identified in the survivor assessment survey, but the activities were not able to be implemented to the extent planned for most of the period due to funding constraints. The need for sustained funding was highlighted as a key challenge to ensuring that the victim assistance capacity that had been developed continued to benefit survivors.

New disability legislation was adopted at the end of 2010.

From January 2013, the Tajik Victim Assistance Program was “rebranded” as the Disability Support Unit (DSU) to reinforce the understanding that efforts to assist landmine/ERW survivors are part of broader disability and development frameworks. Efforts were continuing to improve the quality of information on the needs of survivors and to integrate assistance into programs and strategies that also address the rights of persons with disabilities.

Assessing victim assistance needs

TNMAC continued gathering detailed information on mine/ERW casualties and service provision in cooperation with ICRC and the Red Crescent Society through a needs assessment survey initiated in 2013. By December 2015, more than 600 people had been surveyed. [10] In cooperation with TMAC, the ICRC organized refresher training for the Red Crescent Society volunteers in March 2014. In 2013, ICRC victim needs assessment forms for the Information System on Mine Action (IMSMA) were adapted by TMAC to match country-specific needs. [11]

Victim assistance coordination [12]

TMAC’s victim assistance program was extend for the period 2013–2015. It widened its focus and became more inclusive of all persons with disabilities and transformed into the DSU, which operates as a Nationally-Executed UNDP Project. [13]

DSU Technical Working Group members include: the Ministry of Health (formerly Labor) and Social Protection of the Population (MHSPP); State Enterprise Orthopedic Plant; National Research Institute for Rehabilitation of Disabled People; National Union and Society of Disabled People ( NUDP); ICRC; Tajikistan Red Crescent Society; Handicap International (HI); Tajikistan Centre to Ban Landmines & Cluster Munitions (TCBL&CM); and mine/ERW survivors’ networks. One of the main obstacles to the implementation of the annual plan was limited funding and resources. [14]

The Technical Working Group raised awareness on disability-inclusive development among members to promote sustainability of victim assistance. [15] In 2014, in order to coordinate activities to assist the victims in a wider context of disability and development, planning, and reporting, the Tajik National Center for Mine Action (NTSTMV) with the support of UNDP, organized three coordination meetings of the technical working group (TWG) on assistance to persons with disabilities, including those affected by mines/ERW. [16] In 2013, the DSU also organized three Technical Working Group meetings related to victim assistance within the broader context of disability. [17]

The first joint partnership program to promote the rights of both adults and children with disabilities in Tajikistan supported by the UN Partnership to Promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) Trust Fund. The two-year program titled Building and Strengthening Alliances for Inclusive Policies and Communities for Persons with Disabilities in Tajikistan 2015–2016 promotes: 1) mainstreaming of disability issues into policies, legislation, and programs; 2) increased awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities; and 3) community-based rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities. A steering committee, including representatives from the government, ombudsperson, UN organizations, and civil society, was established to oversee the program. [18]

Due to the restructuring of ministerial responsibilities at the end of 2013, a new ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population was formed and was given the mandate of responsibility for the rights of persons with disabilities. [19] One report identified this change as “The current discussion around the structure and services of the newly created Ministry is a window of opportunity for input from the international and local stakeholders."

In March 2014, a meeting titled the “National Stakeholders Dialogue on Victim Assistance and Disability Rights: Promoting the rights of Persons with Disabilities through inclusive policies, systems and services,” was held in Dushanbe. It included government ministries responsible for disability issues, and non-governmental, international, and disabled peoples’ organizations (DPOs), the ICBL, the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Women. [20] The meeting was organized by the Disability Support Unit of the Tajikistan National Mine Action Centre, with the support of the European Union and the Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit. [21]

The meeting recognized that the draft State Program on Persons with Disabilities should be amended to reflect changes in government structure and be adopted by the government and parliament. The following recommendations were made:

• The Programme should be long-term (at least 3–5 years);
• The title should be changed to the “State Programme for the Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” to align it with the rights-based approach articulated in the CRPD. Rights-based terminology such as “inclusion of Persons with Disabilities” rather than “protection of Persons with Disabilities;”
• A budget estimating the full costs of implementation should be included;
• Expand the monitoring and evaluation section;
• Improve linkages between programme goals and the existing situation on the ground;
• Conduct a comprehensive situation analysis of the current situation with persons with disabilities;
• Engagement with potential donors for assistance to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population in order to revise the draft state programme and make it relevant to the new ministerial structure in Tajikistan. [22]

However, the draft state program was not adopted.

The “Tajikistan National Mine Action Strategic Plan ( NMASP ) 2010–2015: Protecting Life and Promoting Development” includes an objective for implementing victim assistance, ensuring the rights of survivors, and advocating for Tajikistan to join the CRPD. [23] A mid-term review of the NMASP 2010 – 2015 was conducted in June 2013 with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including DPOs and other victim assistance partners. The NMASP’s goals were made inclusive of all persons with disabilities, including landmine survivors. A strategic objective is now framed as: “All persons with disabilities, including mine victims, regardless of their sex and age, have equal and proper access to adequate medical and physical rehabilitation and psychological and psychosocial support as well as to socio-economic and legal assistance and inclusive education.” [24]

Tajikistan provided detailed, updated information on all aspects of victim assistance in reporting at the Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference in 2014, its report to the Session on Victim Assistance of Protocol V of the Convention on Conventional Weapons in April 2015, and in Form J of its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report for 2014. [25]

Survivor inclusion and participation

Survivors’ organizations and networks and DPOs were included in national and local government coordinating groups. The society of persons with disabilities “Imkoniyat” and several key DPOs were involved in CRPD working group planning meetings. Landmine survivor NGO “Society of landmine survivors” in Sugd oblast was included in the local planning. [26]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities [27]

Emergency medical care

The three deminer survivors in 2014 were reported to have received immediate medical attention in Tajik state hospitals. [28] The boy injured in 2013 received treatment in the surgery department of the Dushanbe city hospital. [29]

Physical rehabilitation, including prosthetics

There was only one rehabilitation center capable of providing prosthetics services in the entire country (SEOP in Dushanbe). The satellite center of Khujand only made repairs on existing devices. Remoteness and poor road conditions mean that some regions, including Sugd and Gorno-Badakhshan, are isolated for several months during the winter. A lack of financial resources to reach the capital for services remained an obstacle to accessing rehabilitation. About 7% of prosthesis were for mine/ERW survivors. [30]

In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) Tajikistan in partnership with Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population continued the development of a national rehabilitation policy, system, and services with a focus on community-based rehabilitation (CBR) and human resource development for physical rehabilitation. [31] In 2015, CBR programs were initiated in 10 districts and conducted in collaboration with local NGOs and the Tajikistan CBR network. [32]

Economic and social reintegration

The ICRC provided micro-grants for economic inclusion activities through its micro-economic initiatives (MEI) program, to families identified through the mine/ERW survivor survey. Survivors and families also received follow-up assistance with individual rehabilitation plans.

Most mine/ERW survivors had no business experience and lacked skills in animal breeding. A charity approach to assistance also remained prevalent and was a barrier to sustainability. In response, TMAC revised its approach to providing training in business and agriculture access to market for persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors. [33]

Psychological assistance

In 2014, training of medical personnel to provide psychological first aid to mine survivors and other persons with disabilities continued in mine/ERW-contaminated areas. Four-day training sessions were organized in five regional centers and also in Dushanbe from August through September 2014. [34] Peer support capacity was developed for persons with disabilities throughout 2013 in five three-day training workshops conducted in four regional centers (Khorog, Khujand, Garm, and Kurgan-Tube) and in Dushanbe. About half of some 80 participants were female. All participants were trained and provided with mobile phones. About 160 persons with disabilities with recent injury or trauma were referred to, or received psychological support. Regional cooperation and exchanges between Afghanistan and Tajikistan built capacity in psychological and peer support . [35]

Laws and policies

The December 2010 Law on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities, which includes standards similar to those of the CRPD, [36] guarantees the physical accessibility of infrastructure for social life and to public transportation. Any planning, construction, or reconstruction that does not follow the law is prohibited and penalties can be applied. [37]

In 2015, it was recommended that the 2010 Law on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities be amended and expanded, and secondary legislation adopted. [38]

FSD supported the improvement of physical accessibility at two pilot sites, the Dushanbe Child out-patient Clinic No12 and the Haji Yaqob Mosque. Awareness training for users was conducted by a national DPO. [39]

Tajikistan had not signed the CRPD as of 1 September 2015.