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Jan. 18, 2001
Speech by Michael Crowley To the Preparatory Committee for
the U.N. 2001 Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and
Light Weapons In All It's Aspects.
SECTION 1: REDUCTION AND CONTROL OF ILLICIT TRADE IN SMALL
ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS
U.N. Arms Embargoes Require Better Enforcement
Good morning. My name is Michael Crowley and I am from the
transatlantic weapons trade and security think tank, BASIC
- the British American Security Information Council. I speak
this morning on behalf of the Biting the Bullet Project (which
involves BASIC, Saferworld and International Alert). I will
address the issue of U.N. embargoes.
The U.N. Security Council has, in recent years, made increasing
use of its power under Article 39 of the U.N. Charter to pass
resolutions imposing sanctions and embargoes when it considers
there to be "a threat or breach of the peace or act of aggression."
All U.N. member states are required to adhere to these resolutions
by refraining from transferring arms to the embargoed entity;
they are also required to take steps to enforce the embargo
against individuals within their jurisdiction.
Furthermore, in a 1998 U.N. Security Council resolution,
states were requested to adopt national legislation making
the violation of such arms embargoes a criminal offense.
In short, arms transfers in breach of mandatory U.N. embargoes
are illicit, and those who undertake or knowingly allow such
transfers should be treated as criminals. Mechanisms to ensure
adherence of embargoes and prosecution of violators therefore
merit the full consideration of this PrepCom and the forthcoming
Conference.
In the last decade, the U.N. Security Council has imposed
14 arms embargoes. However, the enforcement of such U.N. arms
embargoes has proven problematic, and states and private actors
have violated them with impunity. The cases of embargo-busting
are notorious and the human cost horrendous.
Between April and July 1994, genocide was committed in Rwanda,
the murder of up to one million men, women and children. Much
of the killing was facilitated by small arms supplied by foreign
traders. Eventually, in May 1994, one month after the genocide
began, the U.N. Security Council finally imposed an international
arms embargo against the genocidiaires. But despite
this U.N. embargo, arms continued to reach those committing
genocide.
Research by a U.N. Commission of Inquiry, NGOs and journalists
confirmed the continuation of illegal flows of weaponry and
ammunition to the exiled former Rwandan government forces
- often from or through South Africa, Angola, Eastern Europe,
the former Yugoslavia and Zaire - such transfers being organized
by international networks of arms brokers and shipping agents.
But despite such evidence none of the foreign traders responsible
for arming the genocidiaires, were brought to justice.
Not one.
The international community has been too slow to learn the
lessons from Rwanda, too slow to close loopholes in national
legislation, too slow to address inadequacies in enforcement,
too slow to control arms brokers. And the embargo-busters
have found the loopholes and continued their trade with impunity.
Whether shipping guns to UNITA guerillas in Angola or trading
small arms for diamonds with the RUF in Sierra Leone.
BASIC believes that the international community, in the form
of the U.N. Conference, must now address embargo enforcement,
as a crucial element in the fight against the illicit trade.
States should treat any small arms transfer in breach of a
U.N. arms embargo as a serious criminal offense, and adapt
their domestic laws accordingly. To be effective, such legislation
must be matched with adequate resources for police and customs
officials to ensure compliance, for example by undertaking
follow-up checks to track the end-use of exports. Where appropriate,
the international community should offer technical assistance
and resources to countries - particularly in the region or
neighboring the embargoed country, which are likely transit
routes, in order to enhance their national controls and ensure
stringent enforcement regimes.
Since the late 1990s, the Security Council has begun to develop
recommendations to ensure effective embargo implementation,
monitoring and follow up. Such initiatives have included the
Security Council panels on Angola and Sierra Leone, the Security
Council Working Group on Sanctions, and the recently completed
process on targeted sanctions undertaken at the initiative
of the German government.
A number of possible tools are thus being developed for use
by the international community to ensure respect for U.N.
embargoes. What is needed now is the political will to put
them into practice. The forthcoming U.N. Conference provides
the arena to address this issue and the International Action
Programme, the ad hoc implementation mechanism, and follow-up
procedures provide the vehicles for harnessing international
action.
For more information about the Jan. 8-17 PrepCom for the
U.N. Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light
Weapons In All Its Aspects, and to read other presentations
by NGOs at the meeting, see the Web site of the International Action Network on
Small Arms (IANSA); and the Web site of the Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom.
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