LM Report 2006

Armenia

Key developments since May 2005: The UN reported in 2005 that Armenian authorities have decided to submit to the UN Secretary-General, on a voluntary basis, the annual transparency reports required by the Mine Ban Treaty and CCW Amended Protocol II. Armenia completed a landmine impact survey, and teams from the Ministry of Defense demined 125,000 square meters of land. UNICEF conducted trainings in mine risk education in April 2006, and started to develop a mine risk education strategy. In 2005, five people were injured by mines and unexploded ordnance, a decrease from the 15 casualties reported in 2004.

Mine Ban Policy

The Republic of Armenia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Officials have often stated that Armenia cannot join the treaty because of the country’s security issues and the fact that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem has not yet been resolved. Armenia has said that all countries of the region must accede simultaneously.^[1] Armenia has shown support for an eventual ban on antipersonnel mines by voting in favor of each annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting the universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, including UNGA Resolution 60/80 on 8 December 2005.

Armenia did not take part in the Sixth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Zagreb, Croatia in November-December 2005, in the intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2005 and May 2006. Armenia is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), or its Amended Protocol II on landmines.

The UN reported in 2005 that Armenian authorities had decided to submit to the UN Secretary-General, on a voluntary basis, the annual transparency reports required by the Mine Ban Treaty and CCW Amended Protocol II.^[2]

The Armenian National Committee of ICBL (ANC-ICBL) continued its activities in support of the antipersonnel mine ban and mine action, as well as providing research for Landmine Monitor. In March 2006, it participated in a two-day seminar sponsored by the Armenian government, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) regarding the possible adoption of a law to support and regulate mine action. The ANC-ICBL published the section on Armenia from Landmine Monitor Report 2005 in three languages (Armenian, English and Russian).

In early 2006, the Armenian National Committee of the ICBL polled people in the two border regions of Tavush and Syunik in order to gauge public opinion toward the Mine Ban Treaty. A total of 59 percent of the respondents supported the government’s position not to accede, compared to 39 percent in a similar survey in 2005, and 42 percent in 2002.^[3]

Production, Transfer, Use and Stockpiling

In August 2005, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to Landmine Monitor that Armenia has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, that Armenia last used antipersonnel mines in 1994, and that no other forces have used antipersonnel mines on Armenian territory since 1994.^[4] The mines along the border are still viewed as essential to Armenia’s defense, and officials have stated that they will not be removed until peace is established with Azerbaijan.^[5] Armenia inherited a stockpile of antipersonnel mines from the Soviet Union, but its size and composition are not known.

Mine and ERW Problem

Armenia is affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW).^[6] Armenia’s landmine problem is largely a result of the conflict with Azerbaijan between 1988 and 1994. Landmines were laid in large numbers along the border between the two countries by both countries’ armed forces, as well as by the armed forces of the then-Soviet Union and by self-defense units (residents of villages and towns) established to protect border communities.^[7] The full extent of the ERW contamination is not clear, although the Landmine Impact Survey identified 20 unexploded ordnance (UXO) “hotspots.” Abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) is also found by demining teams.^[8]

The Armenia Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) was implemented in 2005 by the UNDP Armenian Humanitarian Demining Project, with technical support from the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF). The LIS identified 60 mine-and UXO-impacted communities in five regions of the country, 102 suspected hazardous areas, and 14 recent casualties. The total area of suspected contamination was estimated at more than 321.7 square kilometers, affecting the lives of nearly 70,000 people. The survey did not cover areas considered part of Azerbaijan but under the control of Armenia, including Nagorno-Karabakh.^[9]

Military officials have claimed on a number of occasions that no landmines were placed on Armenia’s borders with Turkey, Iran or Georgia during and since the Soviet era.^[10]

Mine Action Program

An Interagency Governmental Commission on Mine Action was set up by prime ministerial decree on 13 October 2005 “for the purpose of surveying mine-contaminated areas in border regions, their humanitarian demining and organizing works related to economic use of these areas, as well as for regulating normal activities of the beneficiary communities...”^[11] A draft mine action law, prepared in March 2006, would allocate specific responsibility to the commission for the preparation and oversight of the national mine action program, and require it to prepare a mine action strategy and annual workplans.^[12]

The new interagency commission, chaired by the Deputy Minister for Territorial Administration, initially included seven ministries (Agriculture, Defense, Environmental Protection, Labor and Social Issues, the State Cadastre, Territorial Administration and Urban Development) as well as the governors of Syunik, Tavoush, Vayots Dzor and Gegharkunik regions (marz).^[13]

The commission met for the first time in November 2005 to discuss the LIS results and to elaborate its workplan. At its second meeting in December 2005, the commission approved the final report of the LIS and the workplan. It met in February and April 2006 to discuss, among other things, the national mine action strategy, proposed national mine action legislation, and the relationship of mine action to Armenia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.^[14] The workplan included provisions for the development of “bases of National Landmine Impact Reduction Strategy” in June 2006 and the development of mine risk education programs in July 2006.^[15]

There is no national body coordinating mine action operations in Armenia. The Armenian Humanitarian Demining Centre (AHDC) acts only as an implementing body constituted within the Ministry of Defense; it was set up with support from the United States in March 2002. Its headquarters is located at a military garrison in Echmiadzin, some 26 kilometers outside the capital, Yerevan.^[16]

Armenia uses version 3 of the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) for storing information from the LIS. The main database is located at the UNDP Armenia Humanitarian Demining Project Office in Echmiadzin, with a copy at the Armenian Humanitarian Demining Centre.^[17]

Apart from the Prime Minister’s decree in 2005, no national legislation governing the mine action program has been adopted, although a draft law was developed at a UNDP workshop in Yerevan, facilitated by GICHD in March 2006. Discussion of the draft was ongoing as of May 2006.^[18]

There are no national mine action standards, but the Ministry of Defense has its own standing operating procedures, said to be based on International Mine Action Standards (IMAS), for its clearance operations.^[19]

Strategic Planning and Progress

A three-year mine action project was agreed between UNDP and the European Commission (EC) in December 2003.^[20] Due to bureaucratic delays, however, UNDP was not able to initiate the project until August 2004. A request by UNDP for an eight-month no-cost extension was rejected by the EC, meaning that the project will formally end in December 2006. It is not clear whether the EC will provide additional funding after this date.^[21]

The goal of the Armenia Humanitarian Demining Project is “to strengthen the national capacity for coordination and implementation of demining and recovery programmes in Armenia. In order to achieve this goal, the following will be undertaken: i) a countrywide Landmine Impact Survey will be conducted to improve available data and update the existing database; ii) a pilot technical survey in Syunik region will be conducted; iii) public awareness in mine affected regions will be increased; and iv) assistance scheme for landmine victims will be developed.”^[22]

According to the UNDP project document, “Border communities will highly benefit from public awareness-raising and mine [risk] education. Pilot technical survey, mapping and mine clearance will have a significant immediate impact on the Syunik community because a significant portion of agricultural lands will be cleaned and be used by poor communities living in that region. The survey results also will be of significant benefit to other agencies providing humanitarian and development assistance to Armenia.”^[23]

In April 2006, a staff member from GICHD’s Operational Methods Section visited Armenia to provide technical support for strategic mine action planning. As a result of the visit, work has begun on drafting a national mine action strategy. The draft was being discussed by the program stakeholders as of May 2006, and was to be reviewed during a second mission to Armenia by GICHD staff, due to take place at the end of June 2006.^[24]

No evaluations were conducted of the mine action program in Armenia in 2005 or from January-May 2006. The EC is responsible for monitoring the UNDP Armenia Humanitarian Demining Project.^[25]

No demining projects for Armenia were included in the UN Mine Action Portfolio for 2006. However, Armenia has six mine action projects that were planned for inclusion in the 2007 portfolio. The project proposals focus on a variety of mine action activities, including capacity-building and operational support to the Interagency Governmental Commission on Mine Action, and support to demining operations, mine risk education and survivor assistance.^[26]

Demining

As in previous years, mine clearance operations were carried out in 2005 by demining teams from the Ministry of Defense. Weather conditions allow clearance operations to be conducted only for about six months each year, usually May to October. Two 18-person teams, of whom 10 are deminers, were deployed to the border areas during the 2005 clearance season.^[27]

Three demining teams were established under a cooperation agreement with the US Department of Defense, with training from RONCO. One team was sent to Iraq for a six-month period from January to June 2005, and was then replaced by another team for the remaining six months of the year.^[28]

Given the slow pace of demining in Armenia, the mine action program would likely benefit from additional capacity, for example through a self-funded mine action NGO.

Identification of Mined Areas: Surveys and Assessments

The LIS was conducted over a seven-month period, ending in August 2005. The total area of suspected mine/ERW contamination was estimated to be 321,677,110 square meters, including 20 UXO hotspots, affecting a total of 68,737 people. The population of Armenia is reportedly just over three million people, of whom one million live in the capital.^[29]

The survey found that five of 11 regions of Armenia were contaminated by mines or UXO (Ararat, Gegharkunik, Syunik, Tavoush and Vayots Dzor), all of them located along the borders with Azerbaijan. Of these, the Syunik and Tavoush regions appeared to be the most affected, each with two of the four high-impact communities recorded by the survey; all of the recent casualties recorded by the survey were in these two regions.^[30] The 50 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs), in restricted military zones close to the border, compose almost half of the SHAs identified and represent two-thirds of the estimated total size of all SHAs. Based on this, the survey report concluded that SHAs in the restricted military zone were usually larger, or that their size was more difficult to estimate.^[31]

Key informants in the impacted communities pointed to four major types of land use to which landmines and UXO were blocking access: pasture, cropland, non-agricultural land (most of which was forest), and roads and trails. The dominant blockage was of pasture, affecting three-quarters of all impacted communities. In Armenia, pasture is usually located no more than 10 kilometers from the center of the community (depending on landscape and vegetation). According to the survey report, this suggests that the majority of impacted communities are involved in herding. Just over half (52 percent) of all impacted communities reported blockages of roads or trails. However, only two communities―Vazashen in Tavoush region and Shurnukh in Syunik region―reported that the mines were impeding their communications with major administrative centers.^[32]

The LIS also found that 42 percent of all impacted communities reported that SHAs were impeding access to rain-fed cropland. Cropland, especially rain-fed land, is usually located closer to the community center than pasture. A similar total (38 percent) of the affected communities reported blocked access to some of their irrigated perimeters. However, individual SHAs do not affect both irrigated and rain-fed farmland, and even communities with multiple SHAs rarely report both types impacted. Also, there are regional differences. Blocked irrigated land is relatively more common in the Tavoush region (17 of its 29 SHAs) whereas a significant proportion (8 out of 13) of the SHAs in Gegharkunik are impacting rain-fed farming.^[33]

The survey found only 14 recent casualties (“recent” defined as those in the 24 months preceding the visit of the survey teams). The survey report ascribes this low figure to a number of factors: the long period of time since the last landmines were emplaced on Armenian soil―11 years―resulting in a “fairly good knowledge base” among local residents of the dangerous areas and locations of minefields, and the location of many SHAs within the restricted military border zone where civilians have no access.^[34] Only one community was found to be affected by a mined area that also affected another community.^[35]

The VVAF Operations Technical Advisor to the LIS was deployed to Armenia on 31 May and departed on 17 June 2005.^[36] The survey report has been approved by the government and was certified on 28 February 2006 by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS). An UNMAS Quality Assurance Monitor oversaw the conduct of the survey.^[37]

It appears, however, that the LIS may have missed a number of affected areas. On 9 May 2006, an incident happened near Nerkin Srashen community in Aragatsotn region, in which one person was killed as a result of playing with UXO. Neither the area nor the community had been recorded as contaminated/impacted during the LIS. Aragatsotn was considered as a non-impacted region, according to the official letter received from the regional administration. Following the incident, UNDP Armenia Humanitarian Demining Project teams visited the community on 17 May 2006, recorded the new area and the casualty, and entered the data into the IMSMA database.^[38]

According to the UNDP, no IMAS-quality technical survey operations were conducted in 2005.^[39]

Marking and Fencing

As reported in last year’s Landmine Monitor report, known minefields along the international border are the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense, which monitors and maintains them and provides fencing and warning signs.^[40] In August 2005, the Ministry of Defense repeated previous claims that it has recorded all known minefields and closed them off with barbed wire, as well as marked them with warning signs.^[41] However, this claim is not sustained by the findings of the LIS, which found that in only five impacted communities―less than 10 percent of the total―had there been any marking of SHAs.^[42] Indeed, communities reported 76 suspected areas (74.5 percent) as being completely unfenced or unmarked. The LIS concludes that: “The marking of SHAs in restricted areas, at least along the edge of suspected mined area, separating the restricted area from the accessible one, may be a good alternative to actual demining.”^[43]

Mine and ERW Clearance

From 1 to 11 June 2005, the Armenian Humanitarian Demining Centre conducted “clearance preparation activities” for affected agricultural land in Shurnukh community in Syunik region. Clearance operations started on 16 June and were completed on 27 October 2005. Areas beside the Goris-Kapan main road were also cleared. In total, 97,620 square meters of dangerous area were cleared. In addition, a total of 12,000 square meters of the Kapan-Chakaten-Shikahogh road near Kapan (Syunik region) were also cleared.

In 2006, demining activities were due to continue in Shurnukh community in Syunik region, identified by the LIS as high impact.^[44]

Armenia uses a mixture of manual, mine detection dogs and mechanical clearance assets. The Ministry of Defense has 17 mine detection dogs and one demining machine, a MAXX flail.^[45] The US Marshall Legacy Institute, in cooperation with the US Humanitarian Demining Program, established the Mine Detecting Dog Partnership program in Armenia.^[46] The flail, which was provided using funding from the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance, was said in March 2006 to have been used twice as it needed constant maintenance and repair.^[47] Mines are reported to be always destroyed in situ.^[48] AXO destroyed in 2005 included two antivehicle mine detonators.

Area reduction is carried out using mine detection dogs. One dog is sent over a suspected area of land; if it finds no evidence of contamination another dog is sent over the same area. If the second dog also finds no contamination the area is considered free of mines and UXO and cancelled.^[49]

Area (square meters) Cleared of Mines and ERW and Reduced by Mine Detection Dogs (MDD) in Armenia in 2005[50]

Operator	Mine clearance	Antipersonnel mines	Antivehicle mines	UXO	AXO	Reduced by MDD
Ministry of Defense demining teams	94,620	44	21	45	1,202	15,000

According to information reported, Ministry of Defense teams have demined less than one square kilometer of land since 2003.^[51] Only four communities of the 60 impacted declared that any mine clearance had taken place on SHAs affecting them.^[52] There is no independent quality assurance system in place for clearance operations.^[53]

The LIS recorded 13 communities in which “village demining” had taken place.^[54] According to the final report of the LIS, “Remarkably, the portion of affected communities, which engaged in any local clearance efforts, is relatively low.”^[55] There is believed to be a low probability that local clearance efforts will continue in the future.^[56]

The Ministry of Defense reported that no deminers were killed or injured during 2005.^[57] All deminers are said to be insured by the ministry.^[58] The draft legislation developed during the UNDP workshop in March 2006 requires that all deminers in Armenia be insured.^[59]

Mine Risk Education

Mine risk education (MRE) was provided for local people during demining operations in Syunik region in May-October 2005 by staff from the information department of the Armenian Humanitarian Demining Centre.^[60] Public awareness of the mine issue was raised during 2005-2006 by the press and other media. All 12 major newspapers published articles on the mine problem and mine action in Armenia during 2005. In the first months of 2006, there were six television programs on the issue, including the UNDP demining project.^[61]

Armenia planned to provide MRE as an integral part of the UNDP project in the second half of 2006.^[62] The MRE component of the project aimed at: “Conducting public awareness campaigns and mine risk education in mine-affected areas [by] developing special MRE programmes based on training needs assessment; conducting MRE programmes in communities at risk by providing trainings to youth, schools, local community leadership and community members; raising public awareness through TV and radio spots; conducting seminars and presentations.”^[63]

A Public Awareness Support Assistant was recruited in November 2005 to work on the MRE component with UNDP. UNDP aimed to coordinate closely with UNICEF, in view of the latter’s existing capacity within the country, especially its established community activities. In April 2006, a UNICEF consultant assisted in developing an MRE strategy. From 17 to 22 April, UNICEF started a new program with two MRE trainings; the first was for 12 community trainers of the Armenian Red Cross Society and others who would be involved in MRE; the second training was for 14 educational staff from all affected regions. Two local MRE consultants from the National Institute of Education participated in both workshops; they will be involved in developing MRE guidebooks for Armenia.^[64] Following the training, the Armenian Red Cross Society planned to establish two MRE teams with UNDP support.^[65]

To raise general awareness of the adverse impact of mines and UXO, UNICEF planned to develop a mobile MRE exhibition and audiovisual material focusing on mine/UXO casualties. The closing event of this two-month campaign would take place in the capital, Yerevan.^[66]

Other educational and training activities planned include community puppetry groups and child clubs for the 27 most affected communities, and posters on types of landmines found in Armenia, as well as safety instructions.^[67]

Landmine/UXO Casualties

In 2005, the Armenian National Committee of the ICBL (ANC-ICBL) recorded at least five new adult mine/UXO casualties, all of them injured.^[68] This represents a decrease from the 15 people injured in 2004.^[69]

Casualties continued to be reported in 2006, with two adults injured and one killed as of 25 May. On 7 May, a person was injured in Khachik community, Vayots Dzor region; on 9 May, a person was killed while handling UXO near Nerkin Srashen community in Aragatsotn region.^[70]

The total number of landmine/UXO casualties in Armenia is not known. There are no official statistics available on mine/UXO casualties; the Ministry of Defense does not provide information on mine casualties among military personnel.

There are two primary sources of casualty data in Armenia: the LIS (this data was entered into IMSMA) and the ANC-ICBL.^[71]

The ANC-ICBL collects data from interviews with casualties and their families, and with medical and rehabilitation service providers. The data include military casualties.^[72] As of May 2006, the ANC-ICBL database contained information on 547 survivors in 11 regions since 1990; at least 10 survivors are children and 11 are women.^[73]

The LIS identified a total of 394 mine/UXO casualties in 11 regions: 110 were killed, and 284 injured. Casualties were identified in 39 of 60 affected communities, with seven of the communities reporting recent casualties. Only one community was not surveyed owing to it being under Azeri military control, and therefore inaccessible to survey teams.^[74]

Among recent (2003-2005) casualties, one was killed and 13 injured; all were from the Armenian border regions of Tavoush and Syunik; 12 were civilians. The majority of recent casualties (77.8 percent) happened in communities in restricted military zones without any marking. There were no female casualties or children under 15 years of age. The survey only identified new military casualties through the communities directly aware of the incidents; there may be other incidents involving military personnel in restricted areas about which the civilian population is unaware. The most common activities during which mine/UXO incidents occurred were farming and herding, with three casualties each. None of the recent casualties reported by the LIS were due to tampering with UXO.^[75]

Two regions accounted for nearly 80 percent of the 380 non-recent casualties: Tavoush recorded 193 casualties (50.7 percent) and Syunik recorded 109 casualties (28.7 percent). All of the Tavoush casualties occurred in border communities in restricted military zones; all the Syunik casualties occurred outside restricted zones.^[76] The LIS did not differentiate between landmines and UXO as the cause of non-recent casualties, nor identify the gender of non-recent casualties.^[77]

Survivor Assistance

Based on LIS data, 12 of the recent casualties received emergency care shortly after their injury. Only two of the recent casualties received rehabilitation services. Only one person received ‘other’ services (vocational training), and psychosocial support was not available for survivors.^[78]

The LIS report states that victim assistance services were only implemented in two out of 60 affected areas in the last two years. Therefore, the survey concluded that it is necessary to broaden the services and to expand access to services. Capacity needs to be reinforced and reorganized to provide a nationwide accessible network of services.^[79]

The third year of the UNDP project is scheduled to cover issues related to survivor assistance and the legislative framework of mine action in Armenia. Activities will include a full survey of landmine casualties, development of a survivor assistance strategy and draft legislation for mine survivors, as well as carrying out medical and physical rehabilitation projects and conducting training of medical personnel in mine-affected regions.^[80]

Armenia has a wide network of healthcare facilities with a generally adequate material-technical base and qualified personnel for specialized medical assistance, including for producing prosthetics and for rehabilitating and reintegrating landmine survivors. However, military mine casualties have greater access to better equipped facilities than do civilian casualties. Medical services are provided free of charge to people with disabilities within the framework of existing laws, but in reality, access to free, good quality care for civilians is problematic.^[81] Capacity is limited due to the lack of resources.^[82]

In April-May 2005, the ANC-ICBL conducted a detailed survey to better understand the availability of assistance for mine/UXO casualties. The survey studied the accessibility and quality of medical assistance, and capacity of medical institutions to provide adequate care. Results were reported in last year’s Landmine Monitor report.^[83]

There has been some progress on recommendations arising from the May 2005 roundtable discussion on survivor assistance; the Ministry of Health has provided medical equipment in border regions and base disability pensions were raised in April 2006. Other recommendations have not been acted upon.^[84]

In 2005, the local disability organization Pyunik, which operates with support from the Ministry of Defense and the Armenian government, established a basketball team that included 10 landmine survivors identified by the ANC-ICBL. Pyunik also provided computer training for people with disabilities.^[85]

In February 2006, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) conducted an assessment mission as part of its preventive mine action activities. ICRC concluded that the needs of mine survivors are adequately met in Armenia and ICRC assistance is not necessary.^[86]

Disability Policy and Practice

Armenia has legislation to protect the rights of people with disabilities, but it does not provide a special approach towards mine survivors.^{[87 ]} The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is responsible for the coordination of disability issues; however, it reportedly lacks the resources to fulfill its responsibilities.^[88] Both military and civilians with a disability receive pensions based on the degree of disability. However, these pensions are reportedly inadequate to provide a minimum standard of living. The ANC-ICBL survey revealed that the majority of people with disabilities are not well informed about their rights and the benefits available under legislation.^[89]

Although Armenian law prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, education, access to healthcare and in the provision of other state services, discrimination was reportedly a problem; both the law and a special government decree mandate disabled access to buildings, but in practice, very few public buildings or other facilities are accessible.^[90]

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[1] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 918, and other editions of the report.
[2] UNDP Armenia Humanitarian Demining Project, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 9. It mistakenly refers to a transparency report required by Article 11 of the Mine Ban Treaty, instead of Article 7. The Landmine Impact Survey report does not have a specific date of release.
[3] The Armenian National Committee of the ICBL conducted this survey in part in its role as Landmine Monitor researcher.
[4] Email from Arman Akopian, Director for Arms Control and International Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Landmine Monitor (HRW), 24 August 2005. Other political and military officials have made similar statements in the past. See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 658-659.
[5] Interview with Col. Vostanik Adoyan, Head of the Engineering Corps, Yerevan, 25 February 2004.
[6] Under Protocol V to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, explosive remnants of war are defined as unexploded ordnance and abandoned explosive ordnance. Mines are explicitly excluded from the definition.
[7] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 762.
[8] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 8.
[9] Ibid.
[10] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 659.
[11] Prime Ministerial Decree 794–A on the Establishment of an Interagency Commission, Yerevan, 13 October 2005 (unofficial translation).
[12] “A Law to Empower and Regulate Mine Action in the Republic of Armenia,” draft law developed at UNDP Workshop on Developing National Mine Action Legislation, Yerevan, 22-23 March 2006.
[13] Email from Armen Grigoryan, Coordinator, Armenia Humanitarian Demining Project, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[14] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[15] “Interagency committee for the purpose of surveying mine-contaminated areas in border regions, their humanitarian de-mining and organizing works related to economic use of these areas, as well as for regulating normal activities of the beneficiary communities, Work Plan (2005 - 2006),” Yerevan, undated.
[16] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 659.
[17] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Information provided by Col. Vostanik Adoyan, Ministry of Defense, May 2006, reported in an email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[20] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 47; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 662 for details of funding.
[21] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[22] UNDP, “Armenia De-Mining Project: Final Project Document,” Yerevan, undated, p. 1. This title describes the same project as “Armenia Humanitarian Demining Project” used in other documents.
[23] Ibid, p. 5.
[24] Emails from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 and 29 May 2006.
[25] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Ibid.
[29] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, pp. 2, 8, 43; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 660-661.
[30] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, pp. 8, 10, 40.
[31] Ibid, p. 8.
[32] Ibid, p. 23.
[33] Ibid.
[34] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 8 (footnote 1).
[35] Jwamer Dizayee, “The Armenia Landmine Impact Survey, Report on Survey Operations and Planning, Consultant’s Final Report,” VVAF, Washington DC, 1 July 2005, pp. 11-12.
[36] Jwamer Dizayee, “Consultant’s Final Report,” VVAF, Washington DC, 1 July 2005, p. 2.
[37] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Ibid.
[40] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 659.
[41] Ibid.
[42] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 25.
[43] Ibid, pp. 40-41.
[44] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[45] Presentation by Col. Hamlet Balyan, Acting Commander of the Armenian Humanitarian Demining Centre (AHDC) to UNDP Workshop on Developing National Mine Action Legislation, Yerevan, 22 March 2006.
[46] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 25.
[47] Presentation by Col. Hamlet Balyan, AHDC, UNDP Workshop on Developing National Mine Action Legislation, Yerevan, 22 March 2006.
[48] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[49] Ibid.
[50] “Report on demining operations in 2005,” received by UNDP from the AHDC on 24 May 2006.
[51] Presentation by Col. Hamlet Balyan, AHDC, UNDP Workshop on Developing National Mine Action Legislation, Yerevan, 22 March 2006.
[52] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 25.
[53] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[54] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 25.
[55] Ibid, p. 26.
[56] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[57] Interview with Col. Vostanik Adoyan, Ministry of Defense, 22 December 2005; email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[58] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[59] “A Law to Empower and Regulate Mine Action in the Republic of Armenia,” draft law developed at the UNDP Workshop on Developing National Mine Action Legislation, Yerevan, 22-23 March 2006.
[60] Email from Jemma Hasratian, Coordinator, ANC-ICBL, 21 March 2006.
[61] Emails from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 12 and 25 May 2006.
[62] UNDP, “Armenia De-Mining Project: Final Project Document,” Yerevan, undated, p. 1.
[63] Ibid, p. 5.
[64] Email from Hanoch Barlevi, UNICEF consultant, 26 April 2006; email from Alvard Poghosyan, Education Assistant Project Officer, UNICEF Armenia, 12 May 2006.
[65] Email from Hanoch Barlevi, UNICEF, 26 April 2006; email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 April 2006.
[66] Email from Hanoch Barlevi, UNICEF, 26 April 2006.
[67] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 12 May 2006.
[68] Email from Gayane Armaghanova, ANC-ICBL, 18 May 2006.
[69] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 664.
[70] Email from Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Armenia, 25 May 2006.
[71] Email from Gayane Armaghanova, ANC-ICBL, 18 May 2006; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 664. There are discrepancies between the two datasets, which might be a result of different methodology and their geographic coverage.
[72] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 664.
[73] Email from Gayane Armaghanova, ANC-ICBL, 7 April 2006.
[74] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 17.
[75] Ibid, pp. 9, 19-20, 40.
[76] Ibid, pp. 40, 41. The LIS concluded that the restricted or not-restricted status of communities is important for mine clearance but “not relevant for Victim Assistance. The data shows that explosive ordnances equally affect the populations of communities of SHA in restricted and not-restricted communities.”
[77] Email to Landmine Monitor (HI) from Tatyana Sargsyan, Mine Risk Education and Victim Assistance Specialist, UNDP Armenia Humanitarian Demining Project, Yerevan, 12 May 2006.
[78] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 42.
[79] Ibid, pp. 41-42.
[80] Ibid, p. 46.
[81] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 922-923; Landmine Monitor Report 2002, pp. 611-612. In the two most affected regions of Tavoush and Syunik, less than 50 percent of the population has access to even the most basic healthcare services when ill. UNDP, “Creation of Social Monitoring and Analysis System UNDP/Government Joint Project: Guidelines for development of pro-poor policies in the social sector,” Yerevan, December 2004, p. 21.
[82] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 42.
[83] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 663-664.
[84] Email from Gayane Armaghanova, ANC-ICBL, 7 May 2006. For details of the May 2005 roundtable and its recommendations, see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 664.
[85] Emails from Gayane Armaghanova, ANC-ICBL, 7 and 18 May 2006.
[86] Telephone interview with Herbi Almazi, Head of the Regional Preventive Mine Action Project, ICRC, Baku (Azerbaijan), 4 May 2006, and email, 17 May 2006.
[87 ] UNDP, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Armenia, 2005,” Yerevan, p. 42; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 664.
[88] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Armenia,” Washington DC, 8 March 2006.
[89] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 664.
[90] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Armenia,” Washington DC, 8 March 2006.