With
only one day left until the final draft text of the arms trade treaty (ATT) is
released, all participants have expended tremendous efforts to either improve or
further undermine the current draft text. As it stands, the draft is not
reflective of the positions of the vast majority of states. It is certainly not
reflective of the urgency of regulating the irresponsible arms trade and
preventing its most horrifying effects. As the Liberian delegation said, the
current draft elevates the views of arms exporters above those of the victims of
those exports. Thus states that want a robust treaty have been actively
proposing language to close some of the treaty’s biggest loopholes and ensure
the treaty is comprehensive and effective.
Currently,
ammunition, munitions, parts, and components are only subject to some
provisions of the treaty. Not all of the risk assessment criteria are applied
to them, nor are they subject to rules on brokering, transit, transshipment, or
reporting.
Liberia’s
delegation argued that the current scope “trivializes” the concerns of African
states. Indeed, not just the African delegations but also those of the vast
majority of other countries that have demanded that ammunition and parts and
components be fully integrated into the scope. Either these items must be
directly included in article 2(1), or articles 3 and 4 must be consistently referenced
throughout the text so that all of the Treaty’s relevant provisions apply also to
these items..
Furthermore,
the definitions of both ammunition/munitions and parts and components are so
narrow as to leave many important items, such as hand grenades, out of the
scope. In fact, the definitions of all arms and items in the scope-related
articles are deficient. The list of arms included in article 2(1) are,
according to article 5(4), to be based on definitions provided in the UN
Register of Conventional Arms at the time that the ATT enters into force. As SIPRI points out, the Register’s scope is defined
by items considered “indispensable” at the end of the Cold War. The ATT as
currently drafted also does not provide for updating items or re-defining scope
items in the future.
Many delegations
and civil society organizations have called for the ATT to be “future proofed”.
This could be done by having a more robust scope with better definitions from
the outset, and by explicitly providing for periodic reviews of the treaty’s
scope in the future. Last week, France suggested that the Conference of States
Parties “consider the impact of the evolution in the field of conventional arms
and the impact on relevant categories in article 2(1) and consider
recommendations for their possible update.” This should of course be expanded
to also include the items currently covered in articles 3 and 4.
Furthermore,
the scope of activities covered by the treaty must be expanded. Most
delegations want the treaty’s provisions to apply to non-commercial activities,
such as gifts, loans, and leases. Otherwise, many arms transfers could
circumvent the treaty altogether.
Capturing all war crimes
Norway
and Switzerland, supported by more than 55 other countries, have suggested new language on article 6(3) to fully capture
all war crimes, including those covered by customary international law.
Their
proposal is to change the wording of 6(3) to: “A State
Party shall not authorize any transfer of conventional arms covered under
Article 2(1) or of items covered under Article 3 or Article 4, if it has
knowledge at the time of authorization that the arms or items would be used in
the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes as defined
by its international obligations, including those under the Geneva Conventions
of 1949.”
This proposal is quite good, though
as some states have pointed out, knowledge “at the time of authorization” could
be changed to “at the time of transfer,” as the situation can change between
the time of authorization and that of the actual transfer. However,
strengthening article 7(10) could mitigate that concern. 7(10) currently “encourages”
exporting states to suspend or revoke the transfer if it becomes aware of new
relevant information. It should instead mandate the suspension or revocation,
for which many countries have called.
A
prohibition on human rights violations
Many countries have suggested adding
a prohibition against transfers where the arms are likely be used to commit
human rights violations. The delegation of Spain suggested a new paragraph in
article 6 that indicates states parties “shall
not authorize any transfer of conventional arms covered under article 2(1) or
items covered under article 3 or 4 if there is knowledge that items will be
used for the commission of gross violations of IHRL constituting violations
prohibited by relevant international agreements to which it is a party.”
A new
prohibition on this issue is imperative. However, as with war crimes, the
prohibition should also encompass customary international law.
Strengthening gender-based
violence (GBV) prevention
The
language on GBV in
the preamble opens up potentially incorrect interpretations
of international law. It also
continues to highlight women as “particularly vulnerable” and to group women
with children. Women and others targeted with gender-based violence are not
inherently vulnerable. They are subject to unique
effects of a common threat—in this case, armed violence or armed conflict.
More
than 100 states and more than 100 civil society organizations
are advocating for a gender-sensitive ATT not because women are vulnerable. We
do it because states have repeatedly and continually failed to assess the
substantial risk of violations of IHL and IHRL related specifically to GBV.
Thus,
the preamble must
recognize that acts of gender-based violence constitute violations of IHL and
human rights law when those legal regimes are applicable. It should not use the
patronizing term “women and children” but instead promote the equal, full, and
effective participation of both women and men in the prevention and
reduction of armed violence and armed conflict.
The GBV criterion should be
subject to mandatory risk assessments as well as to transfer denials.
An effective ATT must require states to assess whether there is a substantial risk that the items to be
transferred could be used to commit or facilitate acts of gender-based
violence. This should be done without prejudice to the assessment in 7(4).
The overriding risk of
“overriding risk”
In
article 7(3), the current draft pits the assessment of IHL and human rights
violations against assessment of the weapons’ potential “contribution” to
“peace and security”. It does not have language suggesting that if a transfer
is assessed to undermine peace and
security, the transfer shall not be made. It does not recognize that respect
for IHL and human rights themselves contribute to peace and security.
Furthermore,
the use of “overriding” rather than “substantial” risk in article 7 means that
even if the exporting state is 90% certain the weapons will be used to
slaughter civilians, it could decide the weapons contribute to promoting some
other, undefined interest, and thus approve the transfer.
As
the vast majority of states have suggested, articles 7(7) and 7(10) must refer
to “substantial risk”. That is the only way to ensure that an assessment of IHL
or human rights violations cannot be subordinated to undefined interests.
The importance of transparency
A
large number of delegations support mandatory public reporting under the ATT. As
Paul Holtom of SIPRI described during Monday’s side event on transparency,
public reporting will enable monitoring of government compliance with the
obligations outlined within the ATT; eliminate possibilities of actors
undermining congruent international conventions regarding the prevention of
armed conflict; and promote mutual cooperation in the efforts to curtail human
suffering and safeguard human rights.
On
behalf of a substantial number of delegations, Lithuania introduced a new
proposal for article 12 that obligates public reporting. It indicates that a
state party can request the Secretariat to “not make public those parts of the
report that the State Party considers commercially sensitive or national
security information.”
Unfortunately,
the new proposal does not require reporting on items currently included in
articles 3 and 4. If ammunition, munitions, parts, and components are added to
article 2(1), this is fine; otherwise, they must be explicitly mentioned in
article 12(2).
The “just kidding” clause
Even
if all of the above problems with the text are fixed, article 5(2) still allows
states to “contract out” of the treaty by signing other agreements such as
defence cooperation agreements. Some delegations, including Liechtenstein and
Turkey, have described this as the “just kidding” clause—after drafting a full
treaty, why add one more that says, “Just kidding, do whatever you want”? The
overwhelming majority of states have called for article
5(2) to be deleted or amended.
Conclusion
The
above challenges are certainly not the only ones. Much work remains to be done
on this treaty; yet we will receive the final draft (barring technical
corrections) on Wednesday morning. What will this draft look like? Will it
represent the positions of the vast majority of states that want to prevent
human suffering and contribute to international peace and security? Or will it
promote the interests of the minority that want a treaty to provide legal cover
for their profit-seeking arms industries?
As we
wait for the final draft text, states should keep in mind that if the latter
option is put on the table, they do not have to stand for it. As most of us
writing in the ATT Monitor have emphasized, along with many delegations:
a weak treaty would be worse than none at all.
