Summer 2017 | Volume 38 | Issue 2
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ATT legistation Behind the scenes Peacebuilders Q&A on South Sudan Examining Canada’s Ploughshares at work on A look at Canadians Geoffrey Duke discusses its tank-sized loophole the Space Security Index devoted to peace troubled path to statehood The Ploughshares Monitor SUMMER 2017 | VOLUME 38 | ISSUE 2 MADE IN CANADA Canadian weapons, Saudi Arabia, human-rights violations, and forced displacement Project Ploughshares is an operating division of The Canadian Council of Churches “and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn Contents war any more.” Isaiah 2:4 The Ploughshares Monitor Volume 38 | Issue 2 Summer 2017 PROJECT PLOUGHSHARES STAFF Cesar Jaramillo Executive Director Debbie Hughes Matthew Pupic Tasneem Jamal Wendy Stocker Branka Marijan Barbara Wagner From the Director’s desk Sonal Marwah Jessica West Canada’s ATT legislation. 3 The Ploughshares Monitor is the quarterly by Cesar Jaramillo journal of Project Ploughshares, an operating division of The Canadian Council of Churches. Ploughshares works with churches, nongovernmental organizations, Arms and forced displacement and governments, in Canada and abroad, to advance policies and actions that prevent war 5 The case of the Canada-Saudi Arabia arms deal. and armed violence and build peace. Project Ploughshares is affiliated with by Sonal Marwah the KCU Centre for Peace Advancement, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo. Q&A on South Sudan Office address: Project Ploughshares 12 A conversation with Geoffrey Duke. 140 Westmount Road North by Cesar Jaramillo Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G6 Canada 519-888-6541, fax: 519-888-0018 [email protected]; www.ploughshares.ca Project Ploughshares gratefully acknowledges The Space Security Index the ongoing financial support of the many Behind the scenes with Project Ploughshares. individuals, national churches and church 17 agencies, local congregations, religious orders, by Jessica West and organizations across Canada that ensure that the work of Project Ploughshares continues. We are particularly grateful to The Simons Foundation The determined optimist in Vancouver 20 A tribute to the Hon. Douglas Roche. for its generous support. All donors of $50 or more receive a complimentary subscription to The Ploughshares Monitor. Annual Re: Canadian leadership on disarmament subscription rates for libraries and institutions are: $35 in Canada, $45 (U.S.) in the United 22 A letter from Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. States, $50 (U.S.) internationally. Single copies are $5 plus shipping. Unless indicated otherwise, material may be reproduced freely, provided the author and source are indicated and one copy is sent In Memoriam: Ann Strauss Gertler to Project Ploughshares. Return postage 23 is guaranteed. Publications Mail Registration No. 40065122. ISSN 1499-321X. The Ploughshares Monitor is indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. Printed at Waterloo Printing, Waterloo, Ontario. COVER: In 2014, Canada agreed to sell an undisclosed number of General Dynamics Land Systems’ light- Printed with vegetable inks on paper armoured combat vehicles (LAVs), one of which is pictured on the cover, to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, with recycled content. the force that deals with internal threats to the ruling regime. Funded by the Government The Ploughshares Monitor, the quarterly publication of Project Ploughshares, of Canada is available online at www.ploughshares.ca. From the Director’s desk: Canada’s ATT legislation: A loophole you could drive a tank through By Cesar Jaramillo or years Project Ploughshares ous delay, Canada announced that common to the standards applied to has had deep concerns about it would accede to the Arms Trade others. Fthe arrangement under which Treaty (ATT). We dared to hope that Besides the obvious economic Canada exports military goods to the process of legislative and regula- benefits to Canada’s arms manufac- the United States. This arrangement, tory changes required for Canada to turing industry, Ottawa’s position which has long exempted the United become a state party to the Treaty seems to be founded on blind trust States from licensing and reporting would quell our concerns about U.S.- in the United States. Not only is the requirements applicable to every bound exports. It has now become assumption of trustworthiness debat- other destination, undermines oft- clear that we were wrong. able, it is not even relevant. The ATT repeated claims from successive gov- Canada’s intent to join the ATT is most definitely not a trust-based ernments about the strength of Can- has made questions about the com- regime—it is a binding legal instru- ada’s military export controls regime. patibility of exemptions with the ment with unambiguous obligations, As stated in the annual Report on expectations and promises of greater including an obligation to issue re- Exports of Military Goods from Can- rigour and transparency around ports on ALL military exports. ada, “due to close and long-standing military exports more pressing. But military cooperation with the United those looking for answers in the draft A customer like no other States, including the integrated na- ATT legislation recently tabled in the It is hard to see how Canadian ture of North America’s defence Canadian parliament will surely be exemptions could be compatible with industry, permit exemptions apply to dismayed. ATT obligations, regardless of the most Group 2 exports destined for Bill C-47, tabled by Minister of recipient. In the case of the United final use in that country. Statistics Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland on States, they are especially suspect. related to exports of military goods April 13, contains no provisions to Here’s why: and technology to the United States end the special exemptions afforded therefore are not reported here.” to the United States. Not only will • The United States is, by far, To be sure, Canada does not enjoy the preservation of such a loophole the largest recipient of Can- the same latitude it affords its south- be considered highly problematic by adian military goods, year ern neighbour. Military exports civil society, but other ATT states after year. Of course, we have from the United States to Canada parties may also question such special no exact figures because of are—and will likely continue to be— treatment. the reporting exemption, but subject to the more stringent regula- The ATT calls for the “highest analysts estimate that Canada tions of U.S. export controls. possible common international stan- exports military goods worth dards.” Yet the arrangement with the as much as $2-billion to the The hope of the ATT United States neither constitutes the United States annually—more In June 2016, after a highly conspicu- highest possible standard nor is it than half of total military The Ploughshares Monitor | Summer 2017 3 FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK exports. So even after Canada tirely consistent with the pro- left in place precisely the type of joins the Arms Trade Treaty, visions of the treaty, including scenario that not only runs contrary the majority of all Canadian those related to licensing and to the spirit and objective of the military exports will not be reporting obligations. More- Treaty, but also could set a troubling reported and will thus be over, a widely shared goal international precedent. If more and shielded from public opinion is the universal adoption of more countries set up bilateral spe- and scrutiny. the ATT, but it is hard to see cial arrangements instead of com- how Canada will contribute to mon standards, the ATT regime will • Canada considers the United that objective when it offers be gradually but effectively weak- States the end-user of Can- laxer conditions to a non-state ened. adian-made military goods party than it does to those Bill C-47 does put Canada one and components—and it is, states that have agreed to be step closer to becoming a state for the most part. But the bound by the obligations of party—a goal that Project Plough- United States is also the lar- the treaty. shares, among many stakeholders at gest exporter of weapons home and abroad, has worked for. and military equipment in Falling on deaf ears It covers important issues that were the world. Some Canadian Following the announcement that known to require attention, such as components are incorporated Canada would accede to the Arms establishing controls over brokering into systems in the United Trade Treaty, Project Ploughshares, in military goods between two coun- States and then exported to Amnesty International Canada, Ox- tries outside of Canada. In this in- third parties. This does not fam Canada, and Oxfam Quebec stance, it will raise the regulatory bar. require further authorization jointly produced a detailed briefing Further, Bill C-47 creates a legal from Canada, even though that outlined key elements of Can- obligation for the Minister of For- recipients could be countries ada’s military export controls regime eign Affairs to consider certain as- to which Canada would not that require attention. This briefing sessment criteria before authorizing export military goods. For ex- was the basis for discussions with permits. However, while moving ample, Canada might impose Global Affairs Canada that attempted from the current guidelines to legal sanctions targeting a specific to support Canada’s effective imple- obligations is positive in principle, the state through the Special Eco- mentation of its Treaty obligations. value lies in the details of pending nomic Measures Act, which Specific recommendations included: regulations. Will these regulations does not fully align with the indicate clearly that export authoriza- U.S. sanctions regime. The • R4.1 Canada must amend its na- tions must be denied if certain fac- inverse situation—Canada’s tional control system to control tors are unfavorably assessed? Or will exporting U.S.