The Arms Flyers Commercial Aviation, Human Rights, and the Business of War and Arms
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The Arms Flyers Commercial Aviation, Human Rights, and the Business of War and Arms Peter Danssaert & Sergio Finardi Published by IPIS vzw (Antwerp, Belgium) Transarms-Research (Chicago, USA) TA-R 1 Editorial The Arms Flyers. Commercial Aviation, Human Rights, and the Business of War and Arms Authors: Peter Danssaert & Sergio Finardi Editing: John Satriano Layout: Anne Hullebroeck Antwerp and Chicago, December 2010, issued June 2011 Photo Credit Front Page: St. Lucia Airways’ Boeing 707, J6-SLF, photographed in Ostend by Paul Van Damme. The aircraft was used for illegal deliveries of missiles to Iran in 1985. Acknowledgments: The authors take full responsibility for the ! nal text and views expressed in this report but wish to thank Brian Wood (Amnesty International), Mike Lewis, Nicholas Marsh (PRIO), and Brian Johnson-Thomas (consultant) for their input and advice. Special thanks for their assistance to Alexandre Avrane (AeroTransport Data Bank), Association for a Clean Ostend (CleanOstend), Frederik Lecok (Russian translations), and John Satriano (editing). Relevant information on history, events, cargoes, and sources for airlines and executives named in this report were retrieved from TransArms/IPIS databank on airlines, brokers, and maritime companies that engage/d in transfers of military equipment and defence logistics. The databank was initially developed by TransArms thanks to the ! nancial support of the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (1999 and 2001) and the San Francisco-based Ploughshares Fund (2003, 2005, 2006), UNDP (2006), and has been generously added by IPIS. 2 Table of Contents Part I - Airlines and the Business of War and Arms 7 1. Airlines and Human Rights 8 1.1 Introduction 8 1.2 Arms transfers and human rights violations: the responsibility of air carriers 8 1.3 Airlines, wars, and arms 10 2. From Nicaragua’s Civil War to the “War on Terror” 12 2.1 The human costs of the Nicaragua civil war 12 2.2 A model for gunrunning: the logistics chains of the Iran-Contra operations 14 2.3 Flying arms and drugs: the Central American illegal supply-chain 17 2.4 Flying missiles and explosives to Iran 24 2.5 From Nicaragua’s civil war to the”war on terror” 29 3. Frauds and Arms Transfers from Russia to Armenia 32 3.1 Civil war, displacement, and human rights violations 32 3.2 A case of reverse military logistics outsourcing 34 3.3 The logistics of the illegal arms transfers to Armenia 35 3.4 The Rokhlin report resurfaces in 2009 37 4. Fueling Wars and Human Rights Violations in Central Africa 39 4.1 Aviation companies in the Second Congo War 39 4.2 The war began with an act of international air piracy 41 4.3 Violations of the Chicago Convention 47 4.4 Aircraft and companies in DRC’s war zones: the Entebbe ! ight logs 49 4.5 Still active, still ! ying 54 4.6 Does facilitating a war of aggression constitute a crime? 55 5. Leased Aircraft for Arms Deliveries in D.R. Congo 58 5.1 The Antonov 28 ER-AJG 58 5.2 The Ilyushin RA-75496 59 5.3 Azza Transport 60 5.4 Enterprise World Airways 61 6. Arms for Rwanda, Uganda, Darfur and Southern Sudan 62 6.1 From the Balkans to Rwanda and DRC rebels 62 6.2 Rwanda and Air France 64 6.3 Mystery plane lands at Entebbe 66 6.4 Arms to Darfur 66 6.5 The need to monitor arms movements in Southern Sudan 68 7. Airlines and Brokers for the War in Afghanistan 70 7.1 Air carriers for the new surge in arms shipments 70 7.2 The case of AEY Inc. 75 7.3 The Mesopotamia Group 79 8. Flying Arms to Human Rights Abusers: the Case of Equatorial Guinea 81 8.1 Repression and exploitation of natural resources 81 8.2 Flying Croatian arms for the Obiang regime 81 8.3 Croatia not the only country to sell arms to Obiang 84 9. From deceit to discovery: The strange ! ight of 4L-AWA 85 9.1 A Georgia-registered IL-76 impounded in Bangkok 85 9.2 The web of companies 86 9.3 Incongruities in cargo and shipping documents 90 9.4. Incongruities in the 4L-AWA ! ight plans 91 9.5. The IL-76 history of registrations and operators 93 9.6. Concluding remarks 94 3 Part II - Example of Fraudulent Aircraft Registration 96 10. Ghost Planes: New Findings on GLBC’s An-12 9Q-CGQ 97 10.1 Introduction 97 10.2 The case of two An-12s with the same manufacturing number 98 10.3 The sale and registration of 9Q-CGQ in DRC 99 10.4 A ghost plane becomes 9Q-CGQ: owners and ! nancers 100 10.5 The An-12 9L-LCR and manufacturing number 4341801 105 Part III - Airlines and Aviation Laws 108 11. Weapons by Air: International and National Regulations 109 11.1 The Chicago Convention (ICAO) 109 11.2 The European Union 109 11.3 Wassenaar Arrangement 111 11.4 The French Initiative in the OSCE 112 11.5 Samples of National regulations 112 12. Air Safety Regulations 121 12.1 The US and EU initiatives 121 12.2 The IASA Program 121 12.3 EU Regulation 2111 122 12.4 The European Union list of banned airlines 123 13. Do Aviation Safety Regulations Play a Role in the Control of Arms Transfers by Air? 126 13.1 Introduction 126 13.2 Companies involved in “destabilizing” arms transfers according to SIPRI’s CIT-MAP database 127 13.3 A sample of the 80 air cargo carriers in the CIT-MAP database. 128 13.4 Aircraft markets and air transport safety 140 Conclusions 144 Index: Boxes, Documents, Maps & Tables 146 Documents & maps in readable format see separate Addendum 4 Ninety per cent of things that are said about the ‘black market’ in arms are the ! gment of writers‘ and politicians’ imagination. There are no secrets in this world. Everybody knows what you’re doing. If weapons are being ‘smuggled’, some government agency is behind it. 1 Val Forgett, arms dealer, 2000 1 Quoted in Silverstein, K. Private Warriors, New York, Verso Books, 2000 5 !"#$%&%'%()#*)+,-%"+.%$/,%01-)+,--%23%4"#%"+.%(#5- RAF Brize Norton - 2005, a MK Airlines Boeing 747 (9G-MKM) waiting to load new Iraqi Police Land Rovers. (©UK MOD Crown Copyright 2011) 7 1. Airlines and Human Rights 1.1 Introduction The international community has decided, through a variety of covenants and agreements, that the promotion and protection of inherent human rights transcend national and cultural boundaries. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls on “every individual and every organ of society”2 to play their part in securing the universal observance of human rights. Companies and ! nancial institutions are “organs of society” and, as their operations come under scrutiny around the world, consumers, shareholders and the communities they interact with are increasingly demanding that they conduct themselves according to humanitarian principles. All companies have a direct responsibility to respect human rights in the course of their operations, and this includes their labor practices.3 Those companies delivering arms or other military or security equipment also need to help ensure that what they ship will not be used for serious violations of human rights. Even when such companies transport and deliver military equipment to end-users who are not under United Nations embargoes, they should consider the possibility that these transfers may lead to violations of international laws and standards, including those governing human rights and humanitarian issues. Aiding in the supply of weapons to State and non-State actors involved in gross human rights abuses or aiding in covert operations that violate international and humanitarian laws, such as the US “extraordinary renditions” program,4 may amount to the crime of complicity. In public international law, there are two notions of “complicity,” one concerning state responsibility and the other concerning individual criminal responsibility. The ! rst applies exclusively to inter-State relations,5 whereas the second relates solely to the responsibility of individual human beings. Rules of international criminal law prohibit persons from aiding and abetting in the commission of an international crime.6 For example, a violation of the right to life or a violation of the prohibition against torture, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack upon the civilian population, may amount to a crime against humanity.7 1.2 Arms transfers and human rights violations: the responsibility of air carriers Air carriers that aid in the transport of military equipment and civilian arms, either as part of a country’s international trade or as military assistance to other countries, should carefully evaluate the risks involved in arms transfers that violate national and international laws and regulations, including those dealing with international humanitarian concerns. Air carriers should also carefully examine requests from defence agencies for logistics support for military operations, in the light of relevant international and humanitarian laws. In e" ect, the legality of such support depends upon the types of operations involved. Clearly illegal in terms of international law is the logistic support of wars of aggression in violation of the UN Charter and support of expeditionary missions abroad without UN Security Council approval. 2 .United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948. Preamble,http://www.un.org/ 3 Finardi, S. & Wood, B.: Considerations for an air cargo industry voluntary code of conduct. January 18, 2007, TransArms Europe, Study done for UNDP. Human rights include freedom from discrimination, the right to life and security, freedom from slavery, freedom of association, including the right to form trade unions, and fair working conditions.