Briefings
Arms Trade Bulletin November – December 2020
ETHIOPIA’S MILITARY OFFENSIVE IN TIGRAY ACCOMPANIED BY ATROCITIES AND INTERNAL REPRESSION: ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM On 4 November 2020 the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) launched a military offensive against the Tigray regional government. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed dubbed it a “law enforcement operation” reportedly “to restore the rule of law and the
Arms Trade Bulletin September – October 2020
ARE COURTS GOING TO SET A HIGHER STANDARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DUE DILIGENCE IN ARMS EXPORTS ? The obligations of companies to implement human rights due diligence (HRdd) has reached the political agenda with the announcement of EU Commissioner Reynders to propose a binding EU framework, a range of national initiatives and the negotiation of a UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights. However, such huma
Arms Trade Bulletin July – August 2020
Pompeo covers up US failure to address Yemen civilian casualties from US munitions exports On the 11th August 2020 the Department of State Office of Inspector General (OIG) released its report on the investigation into Secretary Pompeo’s May 24, 2019 emergency determination made under the Arms Export Control Act for the sale or transfer of over $8.1 billion in defence articles and services to the
Arms Trade Bulletin May – June 2020
LES TRANSFERTS D’ARMES À L’ÉPREUVE DE LA JUSTICE ET DU COVID-19 La première partie de l’année 2020 a été édifiante en France tant sur le plan des décisions de justice sur les autorisations d’exportations d’armes, que sur le principe de lier la puissance d’un État à la force militaire – à la fois son budget militaire, son potentiel technologique militaire et sa capacité de produire et vendre
Arms Trade Bulletin March – April 2020
UNITED STATES SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT POLICY On 9th March 2020 the Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) of State for Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions presented the United States Government’s sanctions policy and future sanctions enforcement posture at an event organised by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The measures will impact the global maritime industry. (1) “The message from these ac
Arms Trade Bulletin January – February 2020
THE LIBYAN CONUNDRUM Since ousting Gaddafi in 2011 Libya has succumbed into chaos. The country is since 2014/15 split into two factions: the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), which enjoys UN recognition, and the Tobruk-based Libyan House of Representatives. Despite a UN arms embargo both sides receive material support from various countries. The Libyan House of Representatives is
Arms Trade Bulletin November – December 2019
THE CASE FOR ON-SITE INSPECTIONS South Africa has decided to block arms exports to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Algeria after these countries refused to allow South African officials to inspect their facilities to verify compliance with the South African National Conventional Arms Control Act and South African National Conventional Arms Control Regulations. The clause in the end-us
Arms Trade Bulletin September – October 2019
EDITORIAL “The Kurds ‘didn’t help us’ in Normandy” On 8 October the invasion of northern Syria by Turkey began with air strikes on the positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). This military offensive came after a telephone call between president Trump and president Erdogan on 6 October. Trump had agreed to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria. The U.S. media speculate that Trump’s will
Arms Trade Bulletin July – August 2019
Gender-Based Violence and Arms Transfer Controls – is it still just talk and no real action? The Fifth Conference of States Parties (CSP5) to the Arms Trade Treaty was being held in Geneva between 26th and 30th August 2019. The theme of CSP5 was gender and gender based violence (GBV), which is a very widespread problem worldwide, fuelled as it is by dominant cultures that equate masculinity with t
Arms Trade Bulletin May – June 2019
Arms proliferation still undermining peace prospects in Libya The chaos within Libya has given rise to a score of armed groups. Porous borders and the cross-border proliferation of arms and ammunition enables these armed groups to engage in a wide variety of illegal activities, which in turn undermine peace and security in Libya and the neighbouring countries. Weapons from Libya’s stockpile
Arms Trade Bulletin March-April 2019
UK arms supplies to Saudi Arabia – a view from London “This is the fourth anniversary of the latest stage of a terrible conflict. Britain will do everything possible to ensure that Yemen’s people do not have to suffer a fifth.” These were the words of the Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt in March 2019, on the fourth anniversary of the Saudi-led bombing of Yemen. That same day, Saudi-led forces bom
Arms Trade Bulletin – December 2018 – February 2019
STOP ARMING YEMEN THE VIEW FROM PARIS By Benoît Muracciole and Jean Claude Alt for ASER All parties involved in the war in Yemen continue to plunge the population into what the United Nations Secretary General has denounced as “the planet’s worst humanitarian crisis.” One estimate put the death toll at nearly 60,000 since 2016. Hostilities between the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition and the Houthi and
Arms Trade Highlights October-November 2018
EDITORIAL No Common Position By Frank Slijper – PAX The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October put the Saudi royal family under more pressure than the immense human suffering in Yemen largely caused by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Especially for Yemenites, the public outcry after Khashoggi’s killing is a cynical co
Arms Trade Highlights July-September 2018
“A high rate of access to firearms results in a high rate of intentional deaths with firearms (e.g. homicides and suicides)”. That is the conclusion of a new study on “Global Mortality from Firearms, 1990-2016” in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The research was done by the Global Burden of Disease 2016 Injury Collaborators at various universities and research centres. The authors
Arms Trade Highlights May – June 2018
On 8 June 2018 the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court acquited the Congolese businessman Jean-Pierre Bemba from the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the troops of his Mouvement de libération congolais (MLC) in the Central African Republic between October 2002 and March 2003. The then President of the Central African Republic, Ange-Félix Patassé, had c
Arms Trade Highlights March – April 2018
This briefing on arms trade demonstrates once again how arms or military technology and equipment are exported from European countries to countries where, arguably, they can contribute to serious human rights violations or violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Some of these transfers are challenged by civil society. On 12 April the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) was at the Court
Arms Trade Highlights: January – February 2018
The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is entering its fourth year. For signatories to the ATT, its implementation and translation into national laws often remains a challenging work-in-progress. Others, like Canada, have plans to accede to the ATT. For a thorough legal and practical analysis of the ATT, we like to remind you of the book “Weapons and International law: The Arms Trade Treaty”, published by La
Arms Trade Highlights: November – December 2017
Data interpretation: a cautionary tale As much as strong datasets are a prerequisite for strong interpretations, the framework used to interpret data is equally important. Which contextual factors are considered or not, which definitions applied or thresholds used will strongly impact the message that will emerge, especially out of complex, geo-political settings. An in-depth knowledge and conside
Arms Trade Highlights: August – October 2017
Arms Trade Treaty UN’s Arms Trade Treaty ‘too weak to make a difference’ | 11 September 2017 | DW Diplomats from over 100 countries met in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday to discuss why the United Nations’ landmark Arms Trade Treaty (ATT),which came into force three years ago, has so far failed to stop the flow of weapons to the world’s war zones. Celebrated as a paradigm shift in the regulation of
Arms Trade Highlights: March – May 2017
IPIS Publications Fatal Freight: Ships, Guns and Human Rights Abuses TransArms and IPIS undertook a thorough research of the responsibilities of states and companies involved in the transfer of military equipment by sea under customary international law. The maritime transport is by far the main modality for the transfers of military equipment and commodities. The report considers cases of irrespo
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