Kazakhstan has acknowledged the harm caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA) and committed to take action on this issue. 

Statements

As a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Kazakhstan aligned with World Humanitarian Summit Core Commitments to ‘Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity’ in May 2016, including the commitment “to promote and enhance the protection of civilians and civilian objects, especially in the conduct of hostilities, for instance by working to prevent civilian harm resulting from the use of wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas, and by sparing civilian infrastructure from military use in the conduct of military operations.”[1]

Kazakhstan delivered a statement during the May 2017 UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict. The statement drew attention to statistics indicating that “about 75 per cent of all war victims are civilians, due to hostilities and the excessive use of explosives in urban areas” and discussed the grave humanitarian impacts of the use of EWIPA.[2]

[1] Agenda for Humanity. ‘Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)’. https://agendaforhumanity.org/stakeholder/233.html. 

[2] UN Security Council (2017). ‘UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict Meeting Transcript’. https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.7951.