Umarbek’s report on an important meeting with the Foreign Ministry of Tajikistan

On 9 July 2009, the Tajikistan campaign and the Afghanistan campaign met with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan. We met with Mr. Iskandarov, Head of the UN Department, as well as Mr. Jonmahmad Rajabov, Head of the Tajikistan Mine Action Centre.

The meeting began with an introducing statement by Mr. Rajabov. Other meeting participants included Bakhtiyor Begmuradov, Umarbek Pulodov, Suliman Amini and Mr. Iskandarov. The meeting was really positive and we gave Mr. Iskandarov a copy of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in Russian, the Cluster Munition Coalition Briefing paper in English and Tajiki, as well as several booklets and flyers (prepared by Umarbek). At the beginning of the discussion, Mr. Iskandarov asked Umarbek about his meeting with the Tajik Embassy in Berlin during the Berlin conference. He said: “How was the meeting with Ambassador Imomuddin Satorov?” Umarbek answered that he met with the Ambassador together with Suliman Amini and Stephanie Castanie. He said that they spoke to Mr. Sattorov from the perspective of cluster munitions victims and that all those countries who signed the Convention are now ready to destroy their stockpiles. Umarbek called on the Tajikistan government to think about its victims and to sign the CCM as soon as possible.

Mr. Rajabov then updated meeting participants about Tajikistan’s position towards the new Convention and the Oslo process. He said that Tajikistan took part actively in several conferences on cluster munitions and had signed the Oslo Declaration. Mr. Iskandarov told that he received a letter from Mr. Imomuddin Satorov from the Tajik Embassy in Berlin and that Tajikistan is now considering to sign the Treaty. He said: “We never refused to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions, because Tajikistan has not any munitions, but right now we are working on this issue.” It was great that Suliman Aminy could join us at this meeting because his input was very helpful: he told about his country’s experience and how him and other Afghan campaigners (Soraj Ghulam Habib and Firoz Ali Alizada in particular) convinced his government to sign the treaty on 3 December 2008 in Oslo. Suliman also spoke from the prospective of cluster munition victims who are still suffering from cluster munitions in both Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

Mr. Iskandarov said that a governmental workshop or meeting should soon be organized and that he would raise this issue there. Then he said that the Foreign Ministry was pleased to meet with us and discuss such an important issue. He said he hoped that we would see the fruits soon.