Kyrgyzstan is suspected to be contaminated by antipersonnel mines. Poor ammunition storage poses a risk to human security.

Recommendation for action 

• The Kyrgyz Republic should detail whether it has fully addressed mine contamination in areas under its jurisdiction or control and, if not, report on the extent and location of its remaining mined areas and clearance operations.

Contamination

Kyrgyzstan is suspected to be contaminated by mines, though the precise location and extent of any mined areas is not known. According to the Minister of Defense, contamination in the southern Batken province bordering Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the result of mine use by Uzbekistan’s military between 1999 and 2000, was cleared by Uzbek forces in 2005.[1] It was reported, however, that rainfall and landslides had caused some mines to shift.[2]

In 2003, Kyrgyz authorities claimed that Uzbek forces had also laid mines around the Uzbek enclaves of Sokh and Shakhimardan located within Kyrgyzstan. Press reports have suggested that Uzbek troops partially cleared territory around the Sokh enclave in 2004–2005 and that they completely cleared mines around the Shakhimardan enclave in 2004.[3]

Kyrgyzstan has admitted using antipersonnel mines in 1999 and 2000 to prevent infiltration across its borders, but has claimed that all the mines were subsequently removed and destroyed.[4] In June 2011, a government official confirmed, “We do not have any minefields on the territory of Kyrgyzstan.”[5]

In October 2011, ITF Enhancing Human Security (ITF), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Defense conducted a mine action assessment mission. The assessment confirmed that poor ammunition storage conditions as well as obsolete ammunition posed a serious threat to human security. Agreement on cooperation was reached on 25 July 2013, when the ITF signed a Protocol on Cooperation with the Ministry of Defense of the Kyrgyz Republic.[6] The ITF reported that in 2014 it continued to implement activities agreed on in the Protocol on Cooperation. This includes technical checks on antipersonnel mines and other ammunition in three storage warehouses, procurement of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) equipment, and support for disposal of ammunition surpluses.[7]

Program Management

Kyrgyzstan has no functioning mine action program.

In April 2013, an EOD military exchange reportedly took place at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, with the United States Armed Forces providing training in mine clearance to Kyrgyz Ministry of Defense EOD team members.[8]

In September 2015, Kyrgyzstan hosted a five-day regional workshop, supported by the OSCE, on responding to and reducing munitions in central Asia and Afghanistan. According to the OSCE, participants shared techniques and approaches in disposing of excess and obsolete ammunition and learnt about international and national mine action standards. It is reported that “OSCE-supported experts” from the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and the Tajikistan national mine action sector also shared their experiences.[9]

Land Release

There were no reports of any land release occurring in 2016.

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the mine action research in 2017, including on survey and clearance, and shared all its resulting landmine and cluster munition reports with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.