Countering illicit arms and armed groups across Greater West Africa: Re-setting priorities and the utility of large-scale data
April 8, 2025Greater West Africa is undergoing significant turmoil. In the past five years, more than half of the region’s countries have experienced a coup attempt (a growing threat across the continent) or are confronting armed secessionist movements. While some countries have made progress in confronting the growing threat of armed violence, other states’ abilities to govern have deteriorated. The ready sup
Due diligence in the arms sector: Possible implications of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
February 5, 2025The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), adopted in June 2024, represents a significant effort to enforce corporate accountability for human rights and environmental impacts. However, the Directive’s application to the arms sector is limited due to exclusions in downstream activities such as the sale and use of arms. These exclusions potentially create gaps in accountabilit
Human rigths due diligence in the global defence industry: lessons from other sectors
January 31, 2025The defence sector, characterized by complex and sensitive supply chains, faces growing international scrutiny to mitigate risks related to human rights violations, conflict financing, and environmental harm. While the sector faces a unique combination of challenges, the report assesses these challenges individually and demonstrates that valuable lessons can be drawn from other industries. It draw
Annual Report 2023
September 9, 2024In 2023, the international scene was marked by several high-intensity armed conflicts, with peace-building efforts and diplomacy being cast aside by military solutions and a new global arms race. Peace actors saw their window to engage — to bring their perspective on conflict resolution — greatly reduced. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), violence in the east further escalated […]
Regulating the brokering of small arms and light weapons
June 28, 2024Especially since the 1990s, international transfers of SALW and ammunition have been conducted in increasingly differentiated markets. A multitude of products, buyers and suppliers around the world, including State-owned entities and large defence manufacturers, use the services of specialist intermediaries, as well as private agents and dealers […]
Human, economic and social costs of small arms and light weapons violence: selected global data
May 30, 2024This Briefing Paper provides selected global data and figures to highlight the massive global scale and impacts of violence and destabilization committed with small arms and light weapons (SALW) in both conflict and non-conflict settings. This briefing paper alsp includes the enormous economic and social costs, arising from the illicit circulation, diversion, frequent misuse, and inadequate regula
Belgian arms exports to Israel: The discrepancy between words and deeds in export control policy
March 5, 2024In this report, Vredesactie and IPIS take a critical look at Belgium’s policy on the export and transit of defense-related goods and dual-use goods to Israel. The new Gaza war puts this arms trade policy back in the spotlight. The regional governments, responsible for arms trade, regularly claim to assume the highest standards. And according to current policies, Belgium does indeed have a strin
The Ukraine war, environmental destruction and the question of ecocide
October 17, 2023Arms Trade Bulletin: September – October 2023 Early September, controversy erupted due to the US delivery of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition to Ukraine as part of their latest $175 million military aid package, including the M1A1 Abrams tanks. Despite the US following the UK’s example, which had already sent DU ammunitions, this is the second controversial US arms delivery since the
Due diligence responsibilities of businesses involved in small arms and light weapons
September 18, 2023IPIS and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) have developed a Fact sheet on “Due Diligence Responsibilities of Businesses Involved in Small Arms and Light Weapons.” For over a decade, the international community has been developing guidelines for responsible business conduct for States and companies to prevent, address and remedy human rights abuses committed in business operati
Where would Ukraine’s “wings for freedom” be flying to?
February 24, 2023Arms Trade Bulletin: January – February 2023 Today marks the first year of Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine, and with a Russian spring offensive in sight, Kyiv is requesting ever more offensive weapons from NATO countries. From the very outset of the war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has been maintaining a proverbial shopping list that included NATO-standard weapons. Despi
Viktor Bout documents released under Mandatory Declassification Review by the Clinton Library
September 26, 2022In 2015 IPIS vzw asked for a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) of selected documents in relation to Viktor Bout, produced by the Clinton administration between 1999 and 2001, and held in the Clinton Library. MDR “is a means by which any individual or entity can request any Federal agency to review classified information for declassification, regardless of its age or origin, subject to certai
Arms Trade Bulletin March-April 2022
May 10, 2022End-Use Monitoring of Military Assistance to Ukraine Peter Danssaert, Brian Wood & Markus Fahlbusch Since late March, arms transfers to the Ukraine armed forces have increased and changed in nature to counter the invading Russian forces, their atrocities and wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure. Under Putin’s orders, Russian forces have re-concentrated in the south east of Ukraine in
