Implications of States’ Views on an Arms Trade Treaty Sarah Parker January 2008 The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the individual author. They do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the United Nations, UNIDIR, its staff members or sponsors. Structure and purpose UNIDIR has undertaken a study involving an analysis of states’ views on an arms trade treaty (ATT) submitted to the Secretary-General during the consultation process that took place during 2007 following the adoption of Resolution A/RES/61/89, Towards an arms trade treaty: establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms (the ATT Resolution). The study involved a review of states’ views and the preparation of a statistical analysis of the elements suggested by states for inclusion in an ATT. The results are contained in UNIDIR’s report, Analysis of States’ Views on an Arms Trade Treaty (the Analysis report); the report can be downloaded at <www.unidir.org/pdf/activites/pdf2-act349.pdf>. The study then aimed to explore the implications of states’ views on the possible scope of an ATT and the process as a whole. Sections 2 to 5 of this report review the background to the ATT initiative, the objective of an ATT and why one is needed. Sections 6 to 8 revisit the issues of feasibility, scope and parameters raised in the Analysis report, to look beyond the question of what items and criteria were nominated by states for inclusion and explore why their inclusion in an ATT is important and how they might be addressed in an ATT. With respect to the transfer criteria nominated by states, numerous extracts taken from a range of existing instruments have been included in the annexes to show that a number of states are already committed to assessing arms transfers in accordance with certain standards, and also show the different ways in which such criteria are formulated. No attempt has been made in this report to compare these criteria or assess their adequacy or appropriateness for the purposes of an ATT. They are provided purely for illustration. Section 9 provides an in-depth analysis of possible implementation and compliance mechanisms. This section takes the examples of implementation mechanisms suggested by states and provides a detailed analysis of why such mechanisms are necessary and what issues need to be considered when designing them. Examples of relevant measures in various arms control conventions are provided as are lessons learned from existing mechanisms promoting transparency in arms transfers (the UN Register) and restricting the transfer of arms (embargoes). Section 10 provides possible options for structuring an ATT, although this issue is touched on throughout the document. This report should be read in conjunction with the Analysis report, which provides the framework for this report, particularly as statistical references used here are drawn from the first report but do not repeat the identities of the included states. It is hoped that this report will be a valuable resource for governments, non-governmental organizations and academics in helping to understand why and how discussions on an ATT have evolved, what the central issues and obstacles are, and what its scope could and should look like based on the views submitted by states to the Secretary-General. Contents Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................................................i 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................................1 2. Overview of states’ views.........................................................................................................................1 3. Historical overview ..................................................................................................................................2 4. What is the objective of an ATT?...........................................................................................................6 5. Why do we need an ATT? ....................................................................................................................... 7 5.1. Impact of the arms trade ....................................................................................................................7 5.2. Changing nature of the arms trade.....................................................................................................8 5.3. Inadequacy of existing arms transfer control mechanisms ................................................................9 6. Feasibility of an ATT.............................................................................................................................10 7. Possible scope for an ATT.....................................................................................................................12 7.1. Categories of weapons or items .......................................................................................................12 7.2. Activities and transactions...............................................................................................................16 8. Parameters for an ATT: transfer criteria............................................................................................21 8.1. Considerations based on existing obligations and commitments.....................................................23 8.2. Considerations based on likely user.................................................................................................25 8.3. Considerations based on likely use..................................................................................................29 8.4. Considerations based on likely impact ............................................................................................31 8.5. Considerations based on recipient country ......................................................................................34 9. Range of implementation measures......................................................................................................37 9.1. Creating the capacity to implement an ATT....................................................................................37 9.2. Transparency and accountability .....................................................................................................40 9.3. Compliance mechanisms .................................................................................................................47 9.4. Institutional arrangements................................................................................................................51 10. Options for structure ...........................................................................................................................54 11. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................55 Acronyms ...................................................................................................................................................57 Annex A List of international and regional agreements and arrangements ............................................58 Annex B OSCE questionnaire ................................................................................................................60 Annex C Examples of definitions of categories of weapons and items..................................................62 Annex D Examples of provisions regarding activities and transactions.................................................65 Annex E Transfer criteria nominated and committed to by states..........................................................66 Annex F Examples of transfer criteria based on existing obligations and commitments.......................74 Annex G Examples of transfer criteria based on likely user...................................................................77 Annex H Examples of transfer criteria based on likely use....................................................................80 Annex I Examples of transfer criteria considerations based on likely impact ......................................83 Annex J Examples of transfer criteria considerations based on recipient country ................................86 Annex K Example guidelines for assessing transfer decisions and implementing transfer criteria........91 Acknowledgements The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) would like to thank the Governments of Finland and the United Kingdom for financially supporting this project, and as well the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UN ODA) for its support and assistance. We are grateful to all of those who through their academic and intellectual support contributed to this analysis, and we extend our special thanks to Michael Brzoska, Malcolm Chalmers, Edward Laurance and Pieter Wezeman. i 1. Introduction At the Sixty-first General Assembly in 2006, Member States adopted Resolution A/RES/61/89, Towards an arms trade