Abkhazia

Ten-Year Summary

Abkhazia has not taken any unilateral steps to ban antipersonnel mines. In 2001 and 2002, Abkhazian authorities acknowledged that Abkhazian soldiers were still using antipersonnel mines. Georgian forces also used antipersonnel mines in the Upper Kodor Gorge in 2006. Until 2003, there were also allegations that private armed groups from Georgia entered Abkhazia and laid antipersonnel mines.

Demining in Abkhazia has been ongoing since December 1997. As a result of new contamination linked to the August 2008 conflict in Georgia, HALO Trust, the sole clearance operator in Abkhazia, hoped to be able to complete demining operations by the end of 2010, a delay of two years from its earlier plans.

Landmine Monitor has identified at least 136 casualties from mines, explosive remnants of war (ERW), and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), including 33 killed, 92 injured, and 11 unknown, between 1999 and 2008. HALO recorded 119 casualties (31 killed, 77 injured, and 11 unknown) for the same time period. HALO has recorded some 701 mine/ERW casualties between 1992 and 2008, including 153 people killed, 438 injured, and 110 unknown, including peacekeepers, but data may be incomplete. HALO was the main provider of mine/ERW risk education, even though it decreased its operations in conjunction with decreased contamination. No specific framework for victim assistance exists in Abkhazia and services, despite slow improvements, were still inadequate.

Mine Ban Policy

Abkhazia is a breakaway region of Georgia and is only recognized by Russia and Nicaragua.^[1] After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the 1992–1993 conflict between Abkhazia and Georgia was characterized by significant use of mines by both sides. A cease-fire agreement was reached in May 1994.

Due to its status, Abkhazia cannot accede to the Mine Ban Treaty. It has not taken any unilateral steps to ban antipersonnel mines. Officials have expressed sympathy with humanitarian concerns surrounding landmines, but made clear that they consider antipersonnel mines militarily essential. In August 2009, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Abkhazia, Maxim Gunjia, told Landmine Monitor, “Our general policy towards landmines is still viewed through [the] perspective of our relations with Georgia. We still consider [that there is a] threat from their territory.”^[2] A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official previously told Landmine Monitor that Abkhazia could prohibit antipersonnel mines only after Georgia acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty and signed a peace treaty with Abkhazia.^[3]

Use, stockpiling and retention, and production

Abkhazian forces were last confirmed to have used antipersonnel mines in 2002.^[4] According to 2008 news reports, Georgia accused Abkhazian forces, or Russian forces operating from Abkhazia, of laying mines on the border during and after the armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia.^[5] In September 2008, Georgian field engineers reportedly demined areas after Abkhazian military forces withdrew from Ganmukhur village, Zugdidi district.^[6] Landmine Monitor has not been able to independently confirm these allegations of use of antipersonnel mines by Abkhazian forces in 2008.

There were also reports of Georgian use of antipersonnel mines. During the conflict in August 2008, Abkhazian and Russian forces moved into the Upper Kodor (Kodori in Georgian) Gorge and retook it from Georgian forces. Media reports state that Abkhazian troops encountered minefields during their operations.^[7] Abkhazian and Russian forces in Abkhazia were also reported to be victims of newly laid antivehicle and Claymore mines.^[8] According to HALO Trust, demining personnel encountered minefields laid since 2006, when the area was under control of Georgian forces.^[9]

Landmine Monitor has not been able to independently confirm allegations of use of antipersonnel mines by Georgia in the Upper Kodor Gorge in 2008. In communications with Landmine Monitor, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Abkhazia, Maxim Gunjia, did not allege Georgian use of antipersonnel mines. However, he did claim that Georgian LAR-160 rocket launchers had fired cluster munitions containing more than 10,000 M095 submunitions (also known as M85-type submunitions) in the Kodor Valley, affecting an area of eight hectares (80,000m²). He also said that Georgia mined bridges with antivehicle mines.^[10]

Abkhazia is not known to have ever produced or exported antipersonnel mines, but its military forces maintain a stockpile.^[11] Abkhazia has not revealed the size and composition of its stockpile. Russian engineering units stationed in Abkhazia may also stockpile antipersonnel mines.

Scope of the Problem  

Contamination

Abkhazia was contaminated with mines and ERW during the 1992–1993 conflict between the breakaway republic and Georgia proper. Both Georgian and Abkhazian forces used landmines extensively during the conflict. Mines were also used in varying degrees between the May 1994 cease-fire and the late 1990s by individuals and small groups, primarily in relation to criminal activities.^[12] The main road leading to the upper Kodor Gorge is mined from both sides and HALO has been maintaining mine warning signs around that area. In addition, new mines appear to have been laid in the upper Kodor Gorge in 2006, when the area was under the control of Georgian forces.^[13] As of April 2009, 42 mined areas covering 0.9km² had been identified by HALO as requiring clearance.^[14]

Casualties

Landmine Monitor identified at least 20 mine/ERW casualties in six incidents (three killed and 17 injured) in Abkhazia in 2008; at least 14 were civilians.^[15] HALO recorded three casualties in 2008 in one ERW incident (one man killed and two girls injured).^[16] The additional 17 casualties were identified through Landmine Monitor media monitoring and included 11 civilians involved in incidents with unspecified types of mines (three men, five adults, one child, and two unknown) and six Russian security forces involved in an antivehicle mine incident.^[17] All casualties occurred in Gal district.

The casualty rate in 2008 suggests a significant increase from the 14 casualties (three killed and 11 injured) identified by Landmine Monitor in 2007. However, this should not necessarily be considered indicative of a trend, as data remains incomplete.

Casualties continued to occur in 2009; Landmine Monitor identified four casualties (one killed and three injured) as of 31 May 2009. On 5 March 2009, a male construction worker was killed by an ERW in Sukhum district. Three men (two military and one civilian) were injured on 29 March 2009 by an IED in Ochamchira district.^[18]

Landmine Monitor has identified at least 136 mine/ERW/IED casualties (33 killed, 92 injured, and 11 unknown) between 1999 and 2008.^[19] HALO recorded 119 casualties (31 killed, 77 injured, and 11 unknown) for the same time period.^[20] HALO has recorded 701 mine/ERW casualties between 1992 and 2008, including 153 people killed, 438 injured, and 110 unknown, including peacekeepers, but data might be incomplete.^[21]

Program Management and Coordination

There is no mine action authority in Abkhazia. Mine action data collection, planning, and operational coordination continue to be provided by the Abkhaz Mine Action Centre (AMAC), established by HALO in 1999.^[22]

There is no specific framework for victim assistance in Abkhazia and risk education was mainly conducted by HALO.^[23] Mine/ERW survivors are included in the broader services for persons with disabilities. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare continued to be responsible for the needs of persons with disabilities.^[24]

Data collection and management

HALO uses its own database to store mine action information and provide maps and other data to concerned organizations, including the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Observer Mission in Georgia.^[25]

There is no comprehensive casualty data management system in Abkhazia.^[26] HALO maintains a casualties database, which is shared with Abkhazia’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and with the disability NGO Association of Invalid Support (Association Inva-Sodeistvie, AIS).^[27] AIS is represented in all districts in Abkhazia and also continued to maintain a database of more than 4,000 persons with disabilities assisted since 1998.^[28] In 2008, HALO began expanding data collection to previously under-reported areas, with support from their branch office in Gal district.^[29]

The NGO Geneva Call, in partnership with local civil society organizations, began a survey on socio-economic needs of mine survivors in the South Caucasus, including Abkhazia, in June 2008. The survey was interrupted in August 2008, due to the Russia-Georgia conflict. However, by October 2008, all interviews, including with 69 people from Abkhazia, were complete. As of June 2009 the survey results were not available.^[30]

Plans

Strategic mine action plans

HALO produces its own workplan each year.^[31] For 2009, it planned to clear 42 mined areas covering an estimated 0.9km².^[32] Since the conflict in August 2008 HALO has also worked in the upper Kodor Gorge. The primary objective was to remove the threat posed to the remaining civilian population by ERW. The second objective was to identify the mined areas and start demining.^[33] HALO estimated it would be able to clear the newly identified minefields in the upper Kodor Gorge up to the end of 2010, pending completion of survey work in this area.^[34]

HALO expects that mines and UXO will occasionally be found in Abkhazia even after its demining operations have finished. As of 2009, in the lower part of Abkhazia, HALO was still destroying up to 30 items of UXO a month through call-outs.^[35] For this purpose, HALO plans to establish a small local explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) capacity for a number of years after it leaves Abkhazia to deal with occasional call-outs.^[36]

Demining and Battle Area Clearance

Demining in 2004–2008

* This figure differs slightly from that reported in Landmine Monitor Report 2005.

Demining in Abkhazia continues to be carried out primarily by HALO using manual deminers and mechanical assets.^[37] As of 2009, it had four manual teams, six survey teams, one “Large Loop” demining team, one mechanical team, and one EOD team.^[38] Internal quality assurance and quality control continue to be carried out in accordance with HALO’s global standing operating procedures.

In 2008, HALO cleared 1.39km² of mined areas, with the destruction of 266 antipersonnel mines and 109 antivehicle mines, and 15,299 ERW. A further 35,000km² of suspected hazardous area was released. Of this total, HALO’s EOD teams deployed in the Upper Kodor Gorge destroyed more than 14,000 items of ERW between August 2008 and April 2009.^[39]

HALO began demining in Abkhazia in December 1997. As of April 2009, 250 minefields had been cleared by manual and mechanical clearance teams with the destruction of more than 35,000 mines and items of UXO.^[40] In addition, HALO has been conducting a survey of residual contamination since 2005. Up to the end of 2008, 109 (89%) of village administrations had officially recorded that they were satisfied that no further clearance was required in their areas of responsibility.^[41]

Risk Education

In 2008, HALO’s mine/ERW risk education (RE) teams continued to conduct post-clearance follow-up and community liaison.^[42] RE was also conducted at the request of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia and the ICRC, and focused on the upper Kodor Gorge.^[43]

AMAC and HALO ran an RE program from 1999 to 2006 with the support of the ICRC, reaching 183,163 people. It was targeted at schoolchildren and people engaged in livelihood activities. In 2004, it began to include internally displaced persons and refugees from Georgia. There was a strong link with clearance activities, and casualty data was collected. RE materials were produced in Russian, Abkhazian, and Georgian, and messages were broadcast on television. A 2002 needs assessment identified adult men as most at-risk, and found that people were aware of the danger from mines and UXO but they did not know how to minimize the risk. In 2006, the HALO/AMAC formal RE program ended and the roles of HALO’s RE teams were modified to focus on post-clearance follow up and community liaison.

Victim Assistance

The number of mine/ERW survivors in Abkhazia is at least 438.^[44] The health sector in Abkhazia improved slightly in 2008 and 2009.^[45] Individuals who, in the past had to travel to Sochi in Russia for such services, now receive them closer to home.^[46]

The Republican Hospital in Sukhum is the referral hospital and has a centralized network of healthcare services under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.^[47] In 2008, patient services increased in all hospitals in Abkhazia, due to general structural renovations and new equipment. Local personnel continued to lack up-to-date skills, however, and funding was still insufficient.^[48]

There are rehabilitation centers at the Republican Hospital in Sukhum and the Agudzera Hospital in Gulripsh district.^[49] Physical rehabilitation and prosthetics are also provided by the Gagra Orthopedic Center, managed by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare with ICRC support.^[50] In 2008, 369 individuals benefited from services provided at the Gagra Center; of these, 78 received prostheses and 100 received orthoses.^[51]

In 2008 and the first half of 2009, AIS continued to assist persons with disabilities, including 30 mine/ERW survivors, through the provision of mobility devices, psychological support, and socio-economic services including free access to education for children with disabilities and legal aid.^[52] AIS distributed 30 wheelchairs with support from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and private donations in 2008.^[53] The ministry also provided AIS with US$15,000 to purchase mobility devices for persons with disabilities; 20% were for mine survivors.^[54]

While disability legislation was drafted in May 2007, as of May 2009, no information was available on its status.^[55]

Support for Mine Action

Landmine Monitor is not aware of any comprehensive long-term cost estimates or resource mobilization strategies to fulfill mine action needs (including RE and victim assistance) in Abkhazia. The resource mobilization strategy for mine action is limited to strategic planning by HALO through AMAC. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare is responsible for the healthcare and social care of persons with disabilities.

International cooperation and assistance

The United States reported contributing $700,000 (€475,350) to mine action in Abkhazia in 2008, to HALO for mine clearance.^[56] Following the conflict in 2008, a further $3.7 million was donated by the US Department of State for emergency clearance; of this $1.2 million was allocated to Abkhazia and the rest to Georgia.^[57]