Azerbaijan

Following a 24-hour large-scale military offensive by Azerbaijan on 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan regained full control of Nagorno-Karabakh (the Karabakh Economic Region), adding to existing anti-personnel (AP) mined area already under Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction and control. A massive effort to survey and clear areas containing mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) continued in 2023. The Mine Action Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ANAMA) reported clearance in 2023 of 18.1km² of mined area containing solely AP mines and a further 26.23km² of land that contained a mix of AP and anti-vehicle (AV) mines, for a total of 44.33km² of AP mined area. Operations involved the destruction of 3,495 AP mines.Emails from Nariman Gasimov, Deputy Head of International Relations Department, ANAMA, 9 and 11 September 2024; and interview with Nariman Gasimov,10 September 2024. These figures, however, are based on manually extracting AP mine release data from release of all explosive ordnance as ANAMA does not currently disaggregate AP mine tasks from AV mine clearance or battle area clearance (BAC). It also does not disaggregate clearance from release through technical survey (TS). In order to avoid overestimating clearance data, Mine Action Review has estimated that the amount of area containing AP mines that was released through clearance in 2023 at 10km².

• Armenia should commit never again to use AP mines and should accede to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) as a matter of priority.
• In the meantime, Armenia should submit voluntary Article 7 reports annually under the APMBC.
• Armenia should comply with its obligations under international human rights law to clear AP mines on territory under its jurisdiction as soon as possible.
• Armenia should clarify the extent of remaining mine contamination.
• Armenia should expedite the adoption of national mine action legislation.

Click here to download the "Clearing the Mines 2024" report for Azerbaijan.