Towards an arms trade treaty

A new report published by Amnesty International on July 19 reveals that transport companies registered in the UK, France, the Russian Federation, the USA and China manage to circumvent national laws enabling them to freely move weapons and munitions to countries where human rights violations and war crimes have been repeatedly reported. The report was published to coincide with the first round of UN talks about the creation and content of an international arms trade treaty, widely supported by international NGOs.

According to the report, Deadly Movements: Arms Transportation Controls in the Arms Trade Treaty, the fact that these countries are all permanent members of the UN Security Council does not prevent shipping and transport companies from finding loopholes. For example, although both the UK and Germany have committed to banning the transfer and use of cluster bombs, ships registered in the UK and managed by British and German shipping companies still managed to transport cluster munitions and their components from South Korea to Pakistan between March 2008 and February 2010.

Brian Wood, Amnesty International’s arms control manager, said: “To save lives and protect human rights, the arms trade treaty being negotiated at the UN must address the role of transporters and other intermediaries in arms supply chains, not just specify what states’ export and import licensing procedures should be.”