Kyrgyzstan

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 16 June 2016

Summary: Non-signatory Kyrgyzstan adopted the convention in 2008, but has not taken any steps towards accession. It abstained from voting on the first UN General Assembly resolution on the convention in December 2015 that encouraged all countries to join. Kyrgyzstan has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention. Kyrgyzstan has informed the Monitor that it never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Kyrgyz Republic has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Kyrgyzstan abstained from the first UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the convention on 7 December 2015, which urged states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[1] Kyrgyzstan did not explain the reasons for its abstention on the non-binding resolution that 140 countries voted for, including many non-signatories.

Kyrgyzstan last commented on the convention in an April 2010 letter to the Monitor, in which it said the question of its accession to the convention was “under consideration.”[2]

Kyrgyzstan participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention and joined in the consensus adoption of the convention text in Dublin in May 2008, but did not attend the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.[3]

Kyrgyzstan has participated as an observer in two of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties, in 2012 and 2013. It was invited to but did not attend the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. Kyrgyzstan attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva once, in April 2013. It did not make any statements at these meetings.

Kyrgyzstan abstained from voting on UNGA Resolution 70/234, which “deplores and condemns” the continued use of cluster munitions in Syria, in December 2015.[4]

Kyrgyzstan is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty nor the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In 2010, Kyrgyzstan informed the Monitor that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[5]

 



[1]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[2] Letter No. 011-14/809 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, 30 April 2010.

[3] For details on Kyrgyzstan’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2010, see ICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), p. 225.

[4]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 70/234, 23 December 2015.

[5] Letter No. 011-14/809 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, 30 April 2010.


Mine Ban Policy

Last updated: 18 October 2017

Policy

The Kyrgyz Republic has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.

In an April 2010 letter to the Monitor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it supports the idea of a full ban on antipersonnel mines and advocates for the successful implementation of the treaty. [1] However, as in the past, Kyrgyzstan indicated it cannot yet join because it does not have necessary alternatives for border defense and because it lacks both financial and technical resources to implement the treaty.[2] It last participated in a treaty meeting as an observer at the 2005 Meeting of States Parties.

On 5 December 2016, Kyrgyzstan voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 71/34, calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Prior to December 2010, Kyrgyzstan had abstained on similar UNGA resolutions.

Kyrgyzstan is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and use

In April 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Kyrgyzstan has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines.[3] Kyrgyzstan has not enacted legislation to regulate export and manufacture of antipersonnel mines “due to the absence of technical means on the territory of our country.”[4]

Kyrgyzstan inherited a stockpile of mines from the Soviet Union.[5] In April 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially confirmed that the Ministry of Defense possesses a stock of PMN and OZM-72 antipersonnel mines—which it described as expired—and the State Border Guard Service possesses “a small amount” of antipersonnel mines, which are “kept for guarding the more vulnerable sectors of the state border with difficult access in high mountains.”[6]

Kyrgyzstan said that it does not have the financial resources to destroy its expired mines or to purchase alternatives. It estimates the cost of destroying its expired stockpiles of PMN and OZM-72 antipersonnel mines at approximately US$600,000. It linked stockpile destruction to acquisition of new types of mines (apparently command-detonated), which it said might cost $1.5 million.[7]

Kyrgyzstan has acknowledged previously that it used antipersonnel mines in 1999 and 2000 to prevent infiltration across its borders.[8] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in May 2010 that in 1999–2000 the military “used a certain amount of antipersonnel landmines,” but stated that reports and maps of the mined areas were produced and that after the end of the military operation, the mines were removed and destroyed.[9] In June 2011, a government official confirmed that “We do not have any minefields on the territory of Kyrgyzstan.”[10]



[1] Letter 011-14/809 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 April 2010. This is the first formal communication on mines from the government of Kyrgyzstan since 2006.

[2] See, for example, statement of Kyrgyzstan, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation, Geneva, 8 May 2006. Kyrgyzstan told States Parties that it supports the goal of a mine-free world and welcomes the decreasing use of antipersonnel mines around the world. It said that a step-by-step approach—beginning with mine clearance, then stockpile destruction—could prepare the basis for Kyrgyzstan to accede.

[3] Letter 011-14/809 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 April 2010.

[4] Letter from Amb. G. Isakova, Permanent Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic to the UN in Geneva, 29 June 2011.

[5] Statement by Talantbek Kushchubekov, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mine Ban Treaty First Review Conference, Nairobi, 3 December 2004.

[6] Letter 011-14/809 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 April 2010. A military source requesting anonymity told the Monitor in May 2005 that the Ministry of Defense has tens of thousands of PMN and OZM-72 antipersonnel mines and the State Border Guard Service has 1,000 to 2,000 antipersonnel mines, and that most if not all of these mines had expired.

[7] Letter 011-14/809 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 April 2010.

[8] Statement of Kyrgyzstan, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on General Status and Operation, Geneva, 8 May 2006.

[9] Letter 011-14/809 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 April 2010.

[10] Letter from Amb. G. Isakova, Permanent Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic to the UN in Geneva, 29 June 2011.


Mine Action

Last updated: 17 November 2017

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. 


[1] Fax from Abibilla Kudaiberdiev, Minister of Defence, 4 April 2011.

[2] See, Y. Yegorov, “Uzbekistan agrees to remove minefields along its border with Kyrgyzstan,” Eurasia Daily Monitor, Vol. 1, Issue 41, 29 June 2004.

[3] S. Zhimagulov and O. Borisova, “Kyrgyzstan Tries to Defend Itself from Uzbek Mines,” Navigator (Kazakhstan), 14 March 2003; and “Borders are becoming clear,” Blog, 23 January 2016.

[4] Statement of Kyrgyzstan, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 8 May 2006; and Letter 011-14/809 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 April 2010.

[5] Letter from Amb. G. Isakova, Permanent Mission of Kyrgyzstan to the UN in Geneva, 29 June 2011.

[6] ITF, “Kyrgyz Republic,” undated.

[7] Ibid. 

[8] US Air Forces Central Command, “Kyrgyz, U.S. EOD military exchange,” 27 April 2013.

[9] OSCE, “Challenges of disposing explosive hazards in Central Asia and Afghanistan discussed at OSCE-supported workshop in Bishkek,” 18 September 2015.