Summary
Chechnya is heavily contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), the result of two conflicts. No official estimate of the number of mines and UXO is available, but casualties continue to be reported in different districts. As of July 2006, some 3,057 mine and UXO casualties (more than 700 involving children) had been registered by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Some 11 incidents involving 20 civilian victims have been registered in 2006 through the 15 community-based data gathering monitors supported by UNICEF.
In response to this situation, the humanitarian community has focused on the following areas: mine risk education, advocacy and survivor assistance. Participants in these efforts include UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), both international (Danish Demining Group-DDG, Handicap International-HI) and local (Voice of the Mountains, Let’s Save the Generation).
A short humanitarian demining mission (the first in Chechnya since the outbreak of the second conflict in autumn 1999) was organized by Russia’s Ministry for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters in March and April of 2005.
All activities aimed at diminishing the indiscriminate impact of mines and UXO on the civilian population are implemented in close consultation with national authorities and institutions, such as local administrations, and the ministries of education, health, labour and social development. UNICEF acts as the focal point for coordination in the mine action sector and ensures compliance with existing international guidelines, tools and documents.
In 2007, an inter-agency mine action group will continue to work following the common mine action strategy developed in 2005 to ensure that agencies operate in a more complementary and coordinated manner. UNICEF and all key mine action players will continue to build the national capacity to ensure that a comprehensive programme in mine risk education and survivor assistance is delivered to reduce impacts from mines and UXO.
Each year, UN entities, nongovernmental organizations, national and local authorities and donors collaborate to assemble a national portfolio of mine action project proposals that together reflect the strategic response developed in the field to all aspects of the problem of landmines and explosive remnants of war. A Country Portfolio Coordinator, usually a representative of a UN agency or a national authority, coordinates meetings where all mine action actors agree on a set of projects and priorities and determine funding needs. The proposals in each country's portfolio are assembled with those of other participating countries and published jointly by the UN Mine Action Service, the UN Development Programme and UNICEF in an annual "Portfolio of Mine Action Projects." This publication serves as a tool for collaborative resource mobilization, coordination and planning of mine action activities. The Russian Federation (Chechnya) Country Portfolio Team's funding appeal for mine action projects in 2007 totals US $0.
Scope of the Problem
Ongoing analysis of the mine and UXO problem in Chechnya demonstrates that the impact on the population goes beyond numerous deaths and injuries, and includes serious economic and psychosocial effects on residents and internally displaced persons. A more comprehensive survey or catalogue by the Government thoroughly analysing the impacts of mines and UXO would be a necessary precondition for an effective programme to significantly reducing harm to civilians. According to the Engineering Department of the North Caucasus Military District, 123 formal minefields of all types have been laid in Chechnya since the start of the conflict (reported in Izvestia, 19 May 2003). In addition, all parties to the conflict have used mines around checkpoints, temporary positions and military bases. The same source estimates that some 15 per cent (about 40 tons) of all the munitions used in the fighting for Grozny alone did not explode.
A short humanitarian de-mining mission was organized by the Ministry for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters in March and April of 2005. Information about the exact locations cleared and the scope of the operation has not been released by either republican or national authorities. In a 2006 action plan, the equivalent ministry in Chechnya has included training for local deminers by the Rostov branch of the Russian ministry. An exact time and conditions for the training are still being discussed. Military demining is being regularly conducted in Chechnya by the deminers from the federal forces and is designed to allow troop movements.
Over the last five years, UNICEF, the ICRC, DDG and WHO have significantly contributed to strengthening the capacity of medical structures to provide for the comprehensive physical and psychosocial rehabilitation of mine survivors. Various programmes have contributed to their social reintegration and helped change unsafe behaviours.
Coordination and Consultation
In the absence of a national mine action authority, UNICEF acts as the coordination focal point for mine action in the North Caucasus. UNICEF is responsible for ensuring the complementarity of all activities implemented by UN agencies, the ICRC, and all international and local NGOs in Chechnya and neighboring republics. Accurate information on mine- and UXO-related casualties is being collected by UNICEF through a network of 15 data-gathering monitors in Chechnya. The information is consolidated, analysed and disseminated by UNICEF to all mine action stakeholders in the region, allowing them to plan programmes for mine risk education, survivor assistance and advocacy. UNICEF chairs monthly coordination meetings with the participation of the ICRC, DDG, WHO, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), local NGOs, representatives from the health structures, and respective ministries.
Strategy
The guiding vision of the Mine Action Portfolio Country Team is of a Chechnya free of all threats from mines and UXO, and where mine survivors are fully integrated into society. To limit the impacts of mines on civilians, UNICEF, the ICRC, DDG, HI, the Grozny Prosthetic Workshop, the Republican Clinical Hospital, the Chechen Society for the Disabled and local NGOs will continue to strengthen their programmes.
The overall strategy for mine action will be to strengthen and diversify responses to existing needs, with the progressively greater involvement of Chechen decision makers, from communities to the national government level. The strategy comprises three main elements.
- Mine risk education is essential to prevent mine and UXO incidents. This component includes the development of cultural evaluation in order to enhance the visibility of activities and their quality, coverage and impact. It also involves further use of mine victim data to prioritize prevention activities.
- The prevention component covers activities that strengthen the effectiveness of mine risk education. It includes a national advocacy campaign.
- Finally, in a cross-cutting approach, mine action projects will be used to gradually sensitize and involve local government structures in both prevention and assistance, with the aim of creating the core of a future governmental mine action coordination body.
Operational objectives will include further strengthening the collection and analysis of accurate data on victims in order to effectively plan and target all project activities; contributing to the reduction of mine and UXO deaths and injuries through mine risk education and other risk-reduction activities; and facilitating the physical and psychological rehabilitation of all mine and UXO survivors, with the main focus being on children, as well as their social and economic reintegration.
Regular inter-agency coordination meetings with the participation of government representatives will be used for discussion of relevant monitoring issues, along with other general programme aspects.
Date Anti-Personnel Mine-Ban Treaty signed: N/A
Date of Anti-Personnel Mine-Ban Treaty ratification or accession: N/A
Consents to be bound by Protocol II of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons: Jun 10, 1982
Consents to be bound by Amended Protocol II of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons: Mar 02, 2005
Date signed Protocol V of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons: N/A