Summary: Non-signatory Tajikistan has expressed interest in acceding to the convention and says it is in de facto compliance with the convention as it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. Yet Tajikistan abstained from voting on the first UN General Assembly resolution on the convention in December 2015. It has participated as an observer in most of the convention's meetings. Tajikistan is contaminated by cluster munitions used during its civil war in the 1990s.
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 it has not taken any steps towards accession except for consultations.[1]
On 7 December 2015, Tajikistan abstained from the vote on the first UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to "join as soon as possible."[2] Tajikistan did not explain the reasons for its abstention on the non-binding resolution that was adopted by 140 votes, including many non-signatories.[3]
Previously, in September 2014, Tajikistan said the government was still considering joining and affirmed that Tajikistan "is fulfilling all obligations under the convention today."[4]
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.[5]
Tajikistan has participated as an observer in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention. It was invited to, but did not attend the convention's First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. Tajikistan attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in 2011 and 2012.
Tajikistan abstained from UNGA Resolution 70/234 on 23 December 2015, which "deplores and condemns" the continued use of cluster munitions in Syria.[6]
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 several times that it does not use, produce, transfer, or stockpile cluster munitions.[7]
Cluster munitions were used in Tajikistan during its civil war in the 1990s. Unexploded ShOAB-0.5 and AO-2.5RT submunitions have been found in the town of Gharm in the Rasht Valley.[8]
The forces responsible for this cluster munition use have never been confirmed. In May 2011, the Ministry of Defense said that Tajik forces had never used cluster munitions.[9] 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.[10]
In 2011, the Ministry of Defense informed the CMC that a review of weapons had not identified any cluster munitions stocks and said it had sent an official letter confirming that Tajikistan has no stockpile of cluster munitions to the Office of the President.[11]
[1] Statement of Tajikistan, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 8 June 2010; and 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 CMC delegation visited Tajikistan and met with a range of government officials from the 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] "Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions," UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
[4] Statement of Tajikistan by Muhabbat Ibrohimov, Director, Tajikistan National Mine Action Centre, 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 provided as of June 2016.
[5] 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.
[6] "Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic," UNGA Resolution 70/234, 23 December 2015.
[7] 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.
[8] Tajikistan Mine Action Center, "Cluster munitions in Gharm," undated, but reporting on an April 2007 assessment.
[9] CMC meeting with Maj. Gen. Abdukakhor Sattorov, Ministry of Defense, Dushanbe, 25 May 2011.
[10] CMC meeting with Col. Mahmad Shoev Khurshed Izatullovich, Commander of Special Militia AMON (SWAT) Antiterrorist Unit, Ministry of Interior, Dushanbe, 26 May 2011.
[11] CMC meeting with Maj. Gen. Sattorov, Ministry of Defense, Dushanbe, 25 May 2011.
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