Uzbek-Tajikistan border minefields

The Uzbek-Tajikistan border minefields are the result of Uzbekistan's unilateral decision to indiscriminately mine rural areas along its border region with Tajikistan. Aimed at hindering drug trafficking and cross-border infiltrations of terrorists of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in the area, it is Tajik civilians of the border areas who suffer, with most of the victims being women and children gathering firewood or tending their cattle near the border. Almost all who have survived have been maimed for life. Uzbekistan asserts that it is placing mines in its territory, but so far not all the boundaries between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have been delineated.cite web
url = http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/0/44f1c94c3d8ec1de85256a46004d5354?OpenDocument
title = Tajikistan: Victims of Uzbek land mines increasing
accessdate = 2007-06-07
last =
first =
date = May 07, 2001
publisher = Integrated Regional Information Networks] By 2004 Tajikistan and Uzbekistan had settled almost 86% of their 1,283-km border dispute following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. [cite web
url = http://www.landminesurvivors.org/news_article.php?id=347
title = Tajikistan: Focus on demining efforts
accessdate = 2007-06-07
last =
first =
date = July 13, 2004
publisher = Integrated Regional Information Networks]

Opinions on the minefields

* - The former head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tajikistan, George Gunz, said "Any government taking such steps must inform the population of mine locations and types of mines." He said that all international humanitarian norms were being violated so long as the mine locations were not marked, posing a constant threat to the lives of civilians living in border areas. Gunz said that such incidents would continue until governments agreed to sign the Ottawa Convention prohibiting the use of antipersonnel mines.

* dismiss after recent official missions to the area failed to locate any such notices).

ee also

*Uzbek-Kyrgyzstan barrier‎
*Uzbek-Afghanistan barrier‎

References