Summary: Non-signatory Uzbekistan has never commented on cluster munitions or its position on acceding to the convention. Uzbekistan has never participated in a meeting of the convention. It abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution supporting the convention in December 2017. Uzbekistan is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but it has inherited a stockpile from the Soviet Union.

Policy

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

Uzbekistan has never attended a meeting on or made a public statement on cluster munitions.

Uzbekistan did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the convention.

In December 2017, Uzbekistan abstained from the vote on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution thatcalls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitionsto “join as soon as possible.”[1]

Uzbekistan is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Uzbekistan is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but it has a stockpile inherited from the Soviet Union.

According to Jane’s Information Group, KMG-U dispensers are in service with Uzbekistan’s air force.[2] It also possesses Grad122mm and Uragan220mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[3]

Policy

The Republic of Uzbekistan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Uzbekistan has stated that mines are necessary for national security to prevent the flow of narcotics, arms, and insurgent groups across its borders. Uzbekistan has not attend any international meetings on the Mine Ban Treaty. It has abstained on all past pro-ban UN General Assembly resolutions, including Resolution 71/34 on 5 December 2016.

Uzbekistan is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its original Protocol II on landmines, but has not joined CCW Amended Protocol II or CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Uzbekistan has stated that it does not produce antipersonnel mines.[1] It is not known to have exported the weapon. It inherited a stockpile of antipersonnel mines from the Soviet Union. The size, composition, and condition of the stockpile are not known. One Ministry of Defense official indicated the stock consisted of OZM-72, PОМZ, and PMN antipersonnel mines, while another said it contains all types of mines that were made in the Soviet Union. The mines are held by both the Ministry of Defense and the Committee on State Border Protection.[2]

Uzbekistan has used antipersonnel mines in the past, including on its borders with Afghanistan in 1998, Kyrgyzstan in 1999, and Tajikistan in 2000.

Note: SHAs = suspected hazardous areas.

Contamination

The Republic of Uzbekistan’s 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, Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) 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 SHAs as of December 2008 (size unknown), which were subsequently deemed to be on Uzbekistan territory. 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]

The first ever state visit by the President of Uzbekistan to Tajikistan took place in March 2018, and several agreements were signed between the two countries, including one on demarcation of the separate regions of the Tajik-Uzbek border. Tajikistan expected decisions to be taken in 2018 regarding clarification and identification of SHAs on the Uzbek border, and any demining operations will require agreement and cooperation between both nations (see Tajikistan’s Mine Action profile for further information).[3]

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.[4]

Program Management

There is no functioning mine action program in Uzbekistan.

Land Release

There are no reports of any land release occurring in 2017 or in recent years.

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the primary mine action research in 2018 and shared all its country-level landmine reports (from “Clearing the Mines 2018”) and country-level cluster munition reports (from “Clearing Cluster Munition Remnants 2018”) with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.