Summary

Non-signatory Azerbaijan says it cannot accede to the convention until its dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories is resolved. Azerbaijan has participated as an observer in meetings of the convention since September 2019. It voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting the convention in December 2020.

Azerbaijan is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions but inherited a stockpile of cluster munitions from the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan used cluster munitions during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in September–October 2020.

Policy

The Republic of Azerbaijan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Azerbaijan says it cannot join the convention until its conflict with Armenia is resolved, including the status of the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.[1] Nagorno-Karabakh is claimed by Azerbaijan but under the control of a breakaway governing authority. In November 2020, Azerbaijan told States Parties that it cannot consider accession as “the obvious reasons arising from our assessment that the military posture of Armenia does not allow us” to.[2]

Azerbaijan participated in some Oslo Process meetings that led to the creation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions but did not attend the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[3]

Azerbaijan first participated in a meeting of the convention in September 2019. At the first part of the convention’s Second Review Conference, held virtually in November 2020, Azerbaijan denied using cluster munitions in Nagorno-Karabakh and condemned “in the strongest terms any use of cluster munitions by any actor under any circumstances.”[4]

In December 2020, Azerbaijan voted in favor of a UNGA resolution that urges states to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions “as soon as possible.”[5] Azerbaijan has voted for the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Azerbaijan is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty or the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Azerbaijan is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but it inherited a stockpile from the Soviet Union.

According to Jane’s Information Group, Azerbaijan’s air force possesses RBK-250, RBK-250-275, and RBK-500 cluster bombs.[6] RBK-250 bombs with PTAB submunitions were observed among the abandoned Soviet-era ammunition stockpiles located near Saloğlu village in northwest Azerbaijan in 2005.[7]

Azerbaijan received at least 50 Extra surface-to-surface missiles from Israel for its LAR-160 multi-barrel rocket launchers in 2008–2009.[8] The missiles can have either a unitary or submunition warhead. Based on the use of the weapons, it appears that Azerbaijan acquired both types.[9]

Azerbaijan also possesses Grad 122mm and Smerch 300mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include cluster munition rockets.[10] Azerbaijan acquired 12 Smerch 300mm surface-to-surface rocket launchers from Ukraine in 2007–2008.[11]

Use

Use in 2020

Azerbaijan’s use of cluster munitions during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in September–October 2020 has been widely reported.

There’s no complete accounting of the use of cluster munitions in the conflict as it has not been possible to investigate every reported or alleged attack. However, there is compelling evidence that Azerbaijan used Israeli-produced LAR-160 cluster munitions rockets, each containing 104 M095 DPICM submunitions, in attacks on the following locations:[12]

• Stepanakert on 27 September, 3 October, and 4 October;
• Hadrut on 3 and 4 October;[13]
• Martakert on 4 October.

Additionally, the Washington Post reported in December 2020 that more than 30 unexploded M095 submunitions were cleared and destroyed from a home in Kaghartsi village, 25km east of Stepanakert.[14]

Azerbaijan has vigorously denied using cluster munitions in the conflict.[15] In November 2020, Azerbaijani President Ilham Ailyev called the evidence “fake news.”[16] (See profile for Nagorno-Karabakh for more details)

Armenian forces, or forces it supports in Nagorno-Karabakh, or one of the seven occupied districts of Azerbaijan under Armenian control fired cluster munitions into Azerbaijan during the conflict. Russian-made Smerch cluster munition rockets containing 9N235 submunitions were used in an attack on Barda city in western Azerbaijan on 28 October, killing at least 21 civilians and wounding at least 70 more.[17] There was evidence of use of cluster munitions by Armenian or Nagorno-Karabakh forces supported by Armenia in at least four other locations of Azerbaijan: Gizilhajili on 3 October, Tapgaragoyunlu on 23 October, Kebirli on 24 October, and Garayusifli on 27 October.[18]

Previous Use

There is evidence that Azerbaijan used cluster munitions in Nagorno-Karabakh in the first week of April 2016, during fighting across the line of contact separating local Armenian-backed separatists and Azerbaijani forces.[19] Within 10 days of the ceasefire agreement, remnants of LAR-160 rockets and approximately 200 unexploded M095 DPICM submunitions were cleared and destroyed from near the villages of Nerkin Horatagh and Mokhratagh, close to the town of Martakert in northeast Nagorno-Karabakh.[20]

Armenia’s Ministry of Defense issued photographs on 6 April 2016 showing the remnants of 300mm Smerch cluster munition rockets that it alleged Azerbaijan fired into Nagorno-Karabakh.[21]

Azerbaijan and Armenia both denied using cluster munitions in the 2016 conflict and accused the other side of using the weapon against civilians.[22]

Previously, RBK-series cluster bombs were used in Nagorno-Karabakh during the 1988–1994 conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and HALO deminers have cleared unexploded PTAB-1M submunitions near Mugalny village.[23]

Jump to a specific section of the profile:

Treaty Status | Management & Coordination | Impact (contamination & casualties) | Addressing the Impact (land release, risk education, victim assistance)

Country Summary

Mine contamination in the Republic of Azerbaijan is the consequence of the armed conflict with Armenia between 1988–1994, which saw landmines laid by both sides. In addition to landmines, explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination resulted from ammunition abandoned by the Soviet Army in 1991.

The most heavily contaminated areas are along the borders and confrontation lines between Armenia and Azerbaijan, including the area in and around Nagorno-Karabakh and the Nakhchivan region.[1] Some of the contaminated areas are under the control of Armenian forces and so the full extent of contamination is not known.[2] (See Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh impact profiles for further information).

Since cluster munition remnants clearance last took place in 2011 up to early 2020, Azerbaijan was not believed to be contaminated with cluster munition remnants. However, in September 2020, tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated and involved the use of cluster munitions.[3] On 28 October 2020, a cluster munition attack in Barda, 230km west of Baku, killed at least 21 civilians and injured at least another 70.[4]

Mine risk education is well established in Azerbaijan. Conducted under the auspices of Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA), risk education is integrated into the school curriculum and conducted at community level in mine and ERW-affected areas.[5] The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Emergency Situations operates a hotline through which residents can report the presence of explosive ordnance.[6]

Victim assistance is assigned to the information department of ANAMA, which is responsible for coordinating access to all pillars of victim assistance including medical care, physical rehabilitation including prothesis, psychosocial support, and livelihood assistance.[7]

Treaty status

Treaty status overview

Management and coordination

Mine Action management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination[8]

Coordination

ANAMA was set up with the support of UNDP at the request of the government of Azerbaijan in 1998.[9] As of June 2020, UNDP continued to support ANAMA with capacity development.[10]

ANAMA is responsible for coordinating and monitoring mine action in the country and reports to the Deputy Prime Minister as head of the State Commission for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation.[11]

Strategies and policies

Mine action is integrated into the Azerbaijan Socio-Economic Development plan 2019–2023 and is considered a key contributor to meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).[12]

All clearance operations are carried out in line with the annual plan approved by the government of Azerbaijan and based on requests from landowners such as local executive authorities, farmers, and different state organizations involved in reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in mine/ERW-affected areas.[13]

Legislation and standards

As of June 2020, Azerbaijan was still in the process of reviewing its national mine action law.[14]

The Azerbaijan National Mine Action Standards are in line with the Internationl Mine Action Standards (IMAS).

Information management

ANAMA uses an IMSMA database and has received technical assistance from the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) in its development and use.[15] Azerbaijan was reported as a country that had improved its information management system in 2019.[16]

Gender and diversity

Only 11% of the mine action program staff in Azerbaijan comprise women, mainly employed in administrative positions in ANAMA.[17]

Risk Education management and coordination

Risk education management and coordination[18]

Coordination

ANAMA coordinates the risk education program at the national level and works with the Ministry of Education in integrating risk education into the curriculum. The District Executive Authority coordinators are involved in coordinating risk education activities at the district level.

The Mine Risk Education TWG was established in 2000. Coordinated by ANAMA, it consists of representatives from several ministries including education, health, social protection, defence, and youth and sport, as well as from the Republic Children’s Organization, the Red Crescent Society, and other non-governmental organization (NGO) implementing partners.[19] The TWG holds an annual meeting at the beginning of each year to discuss and approve the annual risk education activity plan.

Victim assistance management and coordination

Victim assistance management and coordination[20]

Impact

Contamination

Contamination overview (as of December 2019) [21]

Notes: CHA=confirmed hazardous area; SHA=suspected hazardous area; ERW=explosive remnants of war.

* In areas controlled by Azerbaijan.

** This includes 1.01km² contaminated by antipersonnel mines and 1.43km² by antivehicle mines.

Landmine contamination

At the end of 2019, Azerbaijan reported a total of 9.44km² of mined areas in the regions under its control. The full extent of contamination in the areas under the control of Armenian forces is unknown.

In 2019, additional contamination was found, mainly in former Soviet Army firing ranges and training polygons. ANAMA has reported that precise figures for the extent of the contamination require country-wide survey, which will be carried out once resources are available.[22]

The Nakhchivan region and Nagorno-Karabakh are also affected by mine contamination.[23] (See Nagorno-Karabakh impact profile for more information).

Cluster munition remnant contamination

Use of cluster munitions during the escalation in conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in September–October 2020 resulted in contamination in both Azerbaijan and Nagorno- Karabakh. In October 2020, Smerch cluster munition rockets containing 9N235 submunitions were fired at Barda city, resulting in casualties.[24] The extent of contamination caused by cluster munition use during the 2020 conflict is unknown.[25]

ERW contamination

The extent of ERW contamination in Azerbaijan remains unknown. Ammunition abandoned by the Soviet Army in 1991 along with ERW resulting from the conflict with Armenia have both contributed to ongoing contamination. The number of ERW cleared by ANAMA during 2019 dwarfed the number of mines cleared (see clearance section below).

Casualties

Casualty data presented below corresponds with Azerbaijan excluding Nagorno-Karabakh. (See Nagorno-Karabakh impact profile for additional information).

Casualties overview[26]

Casualties in 2019—details

For 2019, ANAMA reported seven mine/ERW casualties.[27]

The total number of casualties from mines/ERW in Azerbaijan is unknown. The variation in past annual casualty figures reported by key actors is due to differing collection methodologies. ANAMA collects casualty data through a network of district representatives and from media reports. Only incidents that occur in mine/ERW hazard areas and that can be verified are recorded in the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA). The Azerbaijan Campaign to Ban Landmines (AzCBL) gathers information in affected districts, with the exception of the Nakhchivan region, from its regional coordinators, civil and military hospitals, and rehabilitation centers, as well as from the local media.[28]

Addressing the impact

Mine Action

Operators and service providers

Clearance operators

Clearance

Land release overview[29]

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war.

* This includes 3.7 km² cleared with no antipersonnel mines found.

Land release: landmines

ANAMA deploys mechanical clearance assets and mine detection dog (MDD) teams alongside manual clearance teams. Between 2011–2018, a total of 25 MDD were bred and trained.[30] In terms of mechanical clearance, ANAMA possesses six mechanical demining machines: four mini flail demining machines and two medium flail demining machines.[31]

Clearance operations are carried out in line with an annual plan approved by the government of Azerbaijan and based on requests from landowners and state organizations involved in reconstruction and rehabilitation.

In 2019 ANAMA released land through clearance and technical survey. Mine clearance output has increased between 2015 and 2019, but that included clearance of areas with no contamination.

Risk Education

Operators and service providers

Risk education operators[32]

Beneficiary numbers

Beneficiary numbers[33]

Note: N/A=not applicable.

In addition to the figures reported in the table above, a further 750 children participated in the ICRC’s forum theatre throughout 2019. The data for these participants was not disaggregated by gender.[34]

Each year via the curriculum, risk education messaging is delivered to 55,000 children in 1,200 schools across conflict-affected districts of Azerbaijan.[35]

During 2019, ANAMA oversaw 158 community risk education groups operating across 10 affected districts. These groups delivered risk education training to 26,663 residents throughout the year.[36]

UNICEF trained 60 youth leaders as risk education peer trainers in 2019. A total of 112 adolescents (58 boys and 54 girls) participated in risk education peer training provided by these youth trainers.

Implementation

Risk education in Azerbaijan is delivered mainly through schools and community sessions.

In 2004, ANAMA, the Ministry of Education, and UNICEF signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work on integrating risk education into the school curriculum. Textbooks for students and corresponding manuals for teachers were introduced. By the end of 2019, a total of 3,635 teachers had received risk education training across 1,200 schools in 26 districts.[37]

ANAMA and the Afghan government collaborated on the integration of risk education into the Afghan educational curriculum. Azerbaijan provided the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority with copies of the risk education student textbooks and teacher manuals translated into Dari. This pilot project was funded by the government of Azerbaijan and produced 24,000 textbooks along with 1,500 teacher manuals.[38]

ANAMA conducts training of trainers for volunteers to conduct community-based risk education sessions. The community risk education is coordinated by members of the District Executive Authority who report to ANAMA.[39] One hundred fifty-eight community committees have been set up in 11 frontline districts. ANAMA also uses billboards to raise public awareness in contaminated areas. In 2019, ANAMA produced over 100 billboards and displayed them in and around affected areas.[40]

Emergency risk education sessions are delivered in areas where items of ERW are found or a casualty occurs. Two hotline numbers to the Ministry of Internal Affairs are in place for people to report ERW finds.[41]

As part of the Azerbaijan Youth Advocates Program, UNICEF trains Youth Advisory Council members as peer educators for risk education.[42]

The ICRC delivers risk education training predominantly through face-to-face sessions with both children and adults.[43] Risk education is conducted in schools through a week-long participatory forum theatre activity.

Mine Mark started risk education activities in Azerbaijan in 2019. The pilot project was focusing on child-friendly spaces and was utilizing games, puzzles, and other materials specific to the target audience.[44]

In 2002, the risk education program was evaluated by UNICEF and ANAMA, but no further evaluation has taken place since. However annual monitoring has been conducted by the Ministry of Education and ANAMA.[45]

Target groups

ANAMA has collected data on mine/ERW incidents since 2000 and use the victim data to target risk education activities. The civilian accidents in 2019 were caused by people undertaking agricultural and animal herding activities. ANAMA reported that the incidents mainly happened in restricted military areas or areas under military surveillance and that people entered the areas intentionally.[46]

ANAMA considers children as a high-risk group and targets them through the school program.[47]

Teachers and parents are targeted to ensure that they understand and can reinforce the risk education messaging delivered to children.[48]

ICRC also identifies adult men as the largest casualty group due to their need to access hazardous areas to farm and cultivate the land. They are also the most difficult to reach for risk education sessions.[49]

Victim Assistance

Victim assistance providers and activities

Victim assistance providers and activities overview[50]

ANAMA is responsible for coordinating access to all pillars of victim assistance, notably: medical care, physical rehabilitation (including prothesis), psychosocial support, and socioeconomic reintegration. [51]

Policy

The Republic of Azerbaijan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty due to its long-standing position that it cannot consider joining until the conflict with Armenia is settled. Azerbaijan has stated that it supports the treaty’s goals, but cannot accede “without settlement of the armed conflict, restoration of territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and having a threat of hostility resumption, even though Azerbaijan stopped planting of additional mines.”[1]

In June 2021, Azerbaijan provided a detailed statement to the Mine Ban Treaty president, which elaborated on the government’s views on joining and adhering to the treaty.[2] According to the statement, “Azerbaijan endorses the purpose and objectives of the Convention and appreciates the humanitarian spirit reflected therein.” However, it states that Azerbaijan is not a State Party “for the obvious reasons arising from our assessment that the military posture of neighbouring Armenia does not allow us to become a full-fledged party to the Convention.”

Azerbaijan attended meetings of the diplomatic process that created the Mine Ban Treaty, but did not participate, even as an observer, in the treaty negotiations or the signing conference in 1997. Azerbaijan has participated in some meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty, most recently intersessional meetings in June 2021. It was invited, but did not attend, the treaty’s Eighteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2020.

Since 2005, Azerbaijan has voted in favor of an annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Most recently, it voted in favor of Resolution 75/52 on 7 December 2020.[3]

Azerbaijan provided voluntary Article 7 transparency reports to the Mine Ban Treaty in 2008 and 2009, which provided information on mine clearance and victim assistance, but not stockpiling.

Azerbaijan is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons. Azerbaijan is also not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Azerbaijan has stated on several occasions that it does not produce or export antipersonnel mines.[4] According to its June 2021 statement to the Mine Ban Treaty president, “Azerbaijan is not engaged either in transfer, transportation, or in production of anti-personnel mines.”[5]

Azerbaijan’s mine stockpile is a legacy of the Soviet Union era, but the types and quantities of mines in its stockpile are not known.

Use

Azerbaijan used antipersonnel mines in the past, but according to officials has not used mines since the end of the 1992–1994 conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.[6]

In its June 2021 statement to the Mine Ban Treaty president, Azerbaijan did not address its position on using antipersonnel mines or indicate whether its forces have used them since 1994.[7]

However, Azerbaijan alleges past use by Armenia, and accused Armenia of using antipersonnel mines during fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh in September–November 2020. In April 2021, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that found that “during almost three decades of occupation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, Armenia deliberately laid mines in these territories, as a result of which there had been numerous casualties among the Azerbaijani military and civilians.” Moreover, it alleged that “Armenia also deliberately planted mines on a massive scale during its forced withdrawal following the counter-offensive operation of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan.”[8]

On 27 May 2021, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces captured six Armenian soldiers that it accused of attempting to lay mines in the settlement of Yukhari Ayrim, in the Kalbajar border region.[9] Armenia denied the allegation of mine use and said that the soldiers were conducting engineering work.[10] At the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings in June 2021, Azerbaijan repeated the allegation, stating that: “Armenian colonel Gumashyan openly and hypocritically admitted the planting of landmines in Kalbajar and Lachin districts of Azerbaijan and I quote ‘My units and I have planted 17 trucks of mines near Lachin and Kalbajar, you will not be able to do anything in the areas due to mines.’”[11]

Since the end of 2020, Azerbaijan has repeatedly called on Armenia to hand over maps of areas in which it allegedly laid mines during the 2020 conflict.[12] On 12 June 2021, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that 15 detained Armenians had been handed back over to Armenia, in exchange for maps from Armenia showing the location of around 97,000 landmines laid in the Aghdam region, one of seven territories outside of Nagorno-Karabakh occupied by Armenia that Azerbaijan regained control over during the 2020 fighting.[13]