TAJIKISTAN: Landmine victims struggle for recognition

DUSHANBE, 1 September 2004 (IRIN) - Landmines remain a concern in Tajikistan, where more than 330 people have been injured or killed by these weapons over the past 10 years. Assistance to affected people and their families needs to be enhanced, according to local observers. Zubaidullo Makhmadnosirov, a 16-year-old resident of Shul village in the eastern Rasht district - an area heavily mined during the 1992-97 civil war - was injured when he stepped on a mine two years ago. Zubaidullo lost both legs, underwent basic rehabilitation treatment at the Dushanbe Orthopaedic Centre and was given artificial limbs. The orthopaedic centre is the country's main facility providing prosthetic devices to people in need and is supported by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (MLSP), Tajikistan's Red Crescent Society (TRCS) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Artificial limbs, pins, crutches and wheelchairs have been made at the centre since March 1999, Monem Arab, a manager of the ICRC's orthopaedic programme, told IRIN in the capital. Almost 160 people injured by landmines have undergone rehabilitation and adaptation to artificial limbs over the past five years, he added. Jonmakhmad Rajabov, head of the Tajik Mine Action Centre (TMAC), told IRIN that 338 people had been affected my landmine blasts in various districts of the country since 1993, of which 175 died and the remaining 163 were seriously injured. According to TMAC, the problem of landmines is a longstanding issue aggravated by the fact that minefields are often close to villages and areas where local people are active, gathering wood and grazing cattle. Following a decision by the local body responsible for granting disability status, Zubaidullo have been receiving a disability pension worth a little over US $2 a month, but his father said that the meagre sum was not enough to support his son, while their plot of land was failing to provide enough income. Zubaidullo needs to go to Dushanbe a few times a year to change or repair his artificial limbs - they often get broken as the area he lives in is mountainous. The orthopaedic centre covers his expenses, but neither of his parents can accompany him - the trip to the capital is a huge burden on the family's tiny budget. Adolat Uzakova, head of the pension policy department at the Labour Ministry, agreed that Zubaidullo's pension was not sufficient. But he was given a basic pension based on the fact that he was a minor when the explosion occurred and had neither worked nor earned any pension for himself since then, she said. Given that the majority of landmine victims have families to support, making a living is critical for them. But the prospects of finding employment for this vulnerable group - often living with serious disabilities - are very limited in this the most impoverished former Soviet republic. According to the World Bank, 83 percent of Tajikistan's population live below the national poverty line, of which 17 percent are considered destitute. This being the case, Zubaidullo's family tried to help him by getting permission to open a workshop. "We have not decided yet what it is going to be - a hairdressing saloon, a shoe workshop or a small shop," his father said. "Anyway, the main thing is that my son will have a job." Although resources are few, the Labour Ministry has some initiatives to help people such as Zubaidullo. "We have a programme aimed at employing disabled people, which can include people injured by mines. We provide them with training in various professions," Khalimdjon Rakhimov, head of the ministry's national employment centre, told IRIN. "We have a wide choice of professions - about 40." In an effort to tackle the issue, TRCS is planning to launch this month a special project - Samopomosh (self-help) - supported by the government of Italy and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for assisting landmine victims with the involvement of victims' families. The families would receive livestock, food products, seeds and mineral fertilisers, Davron Mukhammadiev, deputy head of TRCS, told IRIN. According to TRCS, affected families will be monitored and aid will be rendered to 60 of the most needy cases in the northern Sogd province and the eastern Rasht district.