Recommendations for action

• The Republic of Uzbekistan should take the necessary measures to identify the extent and impact of mine contamination and clear mined areas in a timely manner.
• Uzbekistan should be more transparent in detailing the extent of its mine contamination and clearance operations.

Contamination

Uzbek forces have laid mines along its international borders at various times, including on its borders with Afghanistan in 1998, with Kyrgyzstan in 1999, and with Tajikistan in 2000. In 2010, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized as “unacceptable” Uzbekistan’s emplacing of mines along parts of its border that have not been delineated.[1]

Soviet troops also laid mines on the Uzbek-Afghan border. Survey on the Tajik side of the border over several years had identified a total of 57 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) as of December 2008 (size unknown), which were subsequently deemed to be on Uzbekistan territory (see Tajikistan’s Mine Action country profile). Uzbekistan had reportedly cleared 95% of the minefields along the Tajik border by the end of 2007 in demining operations conducted by Uzbek army deminers in cooperation with Tajik border troops.[2]

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 Ak-Turpak, Chonkara, and Otukchu, which had been cleared by Uzbek deminers, and confirmed that they were free of contamination.[3]

Program Management

There is no functioning mine action program in Uzbekistan.

Land Release

There are 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.