About Us
Our Research Products
Tajikistan
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
The Republic of Tajikistan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
As of July 2011, a process of interministerial review and approval of accession to the convention is believed to be ongoing. In November 2010, Tajikistan informed the CMC that the Commission on Implementation of International Humanitarian Law is assessing the implications of joining the convention and consulting with government ministries and agencies. No timeframe is available for when this process will conclude, but the Commission will produce a report.[1]
In May 2011, representatives of the CMC visited Tajikistan and met with a range of government officials representing the Office of the President, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Interior. All expressed support for Tajikistan’s accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2] The position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not known.
Previously, in June 2010, Tajikistan said it was in the process of analyzing the convention.[3]
Tajikistan participated in the Oslo Process 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 attend the formal negotiations of the convention in Dublin in May 2008, even as an observer, and did not attend the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.[4]
Since 2008, Tajikistan has engaged in the work of the convention. It attended an international conference on cluster munitions held in Santiago, Chile in June 2010. Tajikistan participated as an observer in the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010 and in intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2011, but did not make any statements.
Tajik campaigners have undertaken several activities in support of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and Tajikistan’s accession.[5]
Tajikistan is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Protocol V on explosive remnants of war (ERW), but has not participated in CCW discussions on cluster munitions in recent years.
Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling
Tajikistan has stated on several occasions that it does not use, produce, transfer, or stockpile cluster munitions.[6]
Cluster munitions were used in Tajikistan during its civil war in the 1990s. ShOAB-0.5 and AO-2.5RT submunitions have been found in the town of Gharm in the Rasht Valley.[7] It is not known what forces used the weapons.
In May 2011, the Ministry of Defense said that Tajik forces had never used cluster munitions.[8] A representative of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Interior said that cluster munitions were used by Uzbek forces in the 1990s in Rasht Valley as well as Ramit Valley, and the cluster munition remnants in Ramit Valley were cleared in 2000. According to the official, Tajik forces had no capacity to use the cluster munitions, which were air-delivered.[9]
In May 2011, the Ministry of Defense informed the CMC that it has checked the weapons stocks of all its military units and has not found any stockpiled cluster munitions. The Ministry has submitted an official letter to the Office of the President to confirm there are no stockpiles and that there was no use by Tajik forces, and to indicate its approval of ratification.[10]
Cluster munition remnants
There is a residual threat from cluster munition remnants in Tajikistan, particularly in Central Region, although the precise location and extent of contamination is not known.[11] In 2009 and 2010, re-survey identified four hazardous areas containing cluster munition remnants covering 150,000m2.[12] In 2010, two unexploded submunitions were destroyed during ERW clearance in Central Region. Further clearance of cluster munition remnants planned for the second half of 2010 could not be carried out due to insecurity.[13]
Cluster munition casualties
No casualties from cluster munition remnants were reported in Tajikistan since 2007.[14] At least 54 casualties from unexploded submunitions have been reported in total. Most incidents occurred in the Rasht Valley area. The exact timeline of incidents between 1991 and 2007 is not known and the number of casualties was thought to be significantly under-reported because many unexploded submunition incidents were not differentiated from other ERW incidents.[15] In 2010, Tajikistan estimated that there were some 200 cluster munition casualties in total.[16]
[1] CMC meeting with Tajikistan delegation to the First Meeting of States Parties, Convention on Cluster Munitions, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[2] ICBL-CMC, Report on Advocacy Mission to Tajikistan: 23–27 May 2011.
[3] Statement of Tajikistan, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 8 June 2010. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV)/Human Rights Watch. Later in June 2010, an official said interdepartmental evaluations and consultations were ongoing. CMC/ICBL meeting with Tajik delegation, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Standing Committee Meeting, Geneva, 21 June 2010. Notes by the ICBL.
[4] 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.
[5] For example, to celebrate the convention’s 1 August 2010 entry into force campaigners held a film screening, a drumming event, and a roundtable discussion in Dushanbe with government officials and survivors of mines and cluster munitions. CMC, “Entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions Report: 1 August 2010,” November 2010, p. 27.
[6] Statement of Tajikistan, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 8 June 2010, notes by AOAV/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.
[7] Tajikistan Mine Action Center (TMAC), “Cluster munitions in Gharm,” undated, but reporting on an April 2007 assessment.
[8] CMC meeting with Gen. Maj. Abdukakhor Sattorov, Ministry of Defense, Dushanbe, 25 May 2011.
[9] CMC meeting with Col. Mahmad Shoev Khurshed Izatullovich, Commander of Special Militia AMON (SWAT) anti-terrorist unit, Ministry of Interior, Dushanbe, 26 May 2011.
[10] CMC meeting with Gen. Maj. Abdukakhor Sattorov, Ministry of Defense, Dushanbe, 25 May 2011.
[11] Telephone interview with Parviz Mavlonkulov, Operations Manager, TMAC, 18 August 2009, and emails, 28 April 2010 and 18 January 2011.
[12] Email from Parviz Mavlonkulov, TMAC, 18 January 2011.
[13] Ibid.; Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, 25 March 2011, p. 129.
[14] Email from Reykhan Muminova, TMAC, 17 June 2011.
[15] Handicap International (HI), Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities (Brussels: HI, May 2007), p. 90; and interview with Reykhan Muminova, TMAC, Dushanbe, 23 May 2011.
[16] Statement of Tajikistan, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 8 June 2010.
Send us your feedback on this profile
Send the Monitor your feedback by filling out this form. Responses will be channeled to editors, but will not be available online. Click if you would like to send an attachment. If you are using webmail, send attachments to .