Tajikistan

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 26 June 2018

Summary: Non-signatory Tajikistan supports the convention but has taken no steps to join it. It abstained from voting on another key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2017 and has not participated as an observer in a meeting of the convention since 2014.

Tajikistan claims to be in de facto compliance with the convention as it states it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. It is contaminated by the remnants of cluster munitions used during its civil war in the 1990s.

Policy

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

Tajikistan has been considering its accession to the convention since 2008 but has taken no steps to accede besides stakeholder consultations.[1] Previously, until 2014,Tajikistan informed States Parties that it was considering joining the convention.[2]

Tajikistan participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and endorsed both the Oslo Declaration (committing to the conclusion of an international instrument banning cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians) and the Wellington Declaration (committing to negotiate a convention banning cluster munitions based on the Wellington draft text). However, Tajikistan did not participate in the formal negotiations of the convention in Dublin in May 2008, even as an observer, and did not attend the convention’s Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.[3]

Tajikistan has participated as an observer in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties, but not since 2014.

Tajikistan is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling

Tajikistan has stated repeatedly that it does not use, produce, transfer, or stockpile cluster munitions.[4] In 2011, the Ministry of Defense said that Tajik forces had never used cluster munitions and revealed that a recent inventory of weapons depots and other storage facilities confirmed it had no stockpiled cluster munitions.[5]

Cluster munitions were used in Tajikistan in the 1990s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but the forces responsible for that use have never been conclusively identified.[6] A representative of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Interior said that Uzbek forces used cluster munitions in Rasht Valley and Ramit Valley in the 1990s and said Tajik forces had no capacity to use cluster munitions.[7]



[1] Statement of Tajikistan, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 8 June 2010; statement of Tajikistan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011; and statement of Tajikistan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 11 September 2012. In May 2011, a Cluster Munition Delegation (CMC) delegation visited Tajikistan and met with a range of government officialsfromthe Office of the President, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Interior. ICBL-CMC, Report on Advocacy Mission to Tajikistan: 23–27 May 2011.

[2] Statement of Tajikistan,by Muhabbat Ibrohimzoda, Tajikistan National Mine Action Center, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014. The representative said that Tajikistan was considering submitting a voluntary transparency report for the convention, but none had been received by the UN as of June 2017.

[3] For details on Tajikistan’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 244–245.

[4] Statement of Tajikistan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014; statement of Tajikistan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 11 September 2012; statement of Tajikistan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 18 April 2012; statement of Tajikistan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011; statement of Tajikistan, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 8 June 2010. Notes by Action on Armed Violence/Human Rights Watch; and Letter No. 10-3 (5027) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand, 22 April 2008.

[5] CMC meeting with Maj. Gen. Abdukakhor Sattorov, Ministry of Defense, Dushanbe, 25 May 2011.

[6] Unexploded ShOAB-0.5 and AO-2.5RT submunitions have been found in the town of Gharm in the Rasht valley.Tajikistan Mine Action Center, “Cluster munitions in Gharm,” undated, but reporting on an April 2007 assessment.

[7] CMC meeting with Col. Mahmad Shoev Khurshed Izatullovich, Commander of Special Militia AMON (SWAT) Antiterrorist Unit, Ministry of Interior, Dushanbe, 26 May 2011.