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TRANSFERS OF CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS

The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet bloc had a profound impact on the international conventional arms trade. The nature of global demand altered, moving from rivalry between the two superpowers to new regional security issues. Although these changes led to a big drop in global arms sales (in 2007, they were at barely half the 1982 level), many countries, particularly in the developing world, have continued to buy large quantities of new weapons.
Instruments adopted over the past twenty years (strengthening national legislation, the United Nations 1992 Arms Register, the 1993 Wassenaar Arrangement, the European Union 1998 Code of Conduct, etc.) have made considerable progress in controlling arms exports. GRIP’s work is a determined part of this dynamic to constantly reinforce the control of and restrictions on the arms trade.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Art Exhibition "Crush the Illicit Trade in Small Arms"
Location: United Nations, New York
Date: 29 June 2006
An art exhibition, by Almaparlantes, a musical group from Colombia, entitled "Crush the Illicit Trade in Small Arms" opened at UN Headquarters in New York. The musician (left) is playing an "escopetarra," a guitar made from an AK-47.
Note : l'histograme représente les totaux annuels, en milliards USD, aux prix de 1990. La courbe représente un indicateur de tendance basé sur des moyennes mobiles de cinq ans ; La moyenne est pointée à l'année correspondant à la dernière année de la période de cinq ans (exemple : l'abcisse 1980 correspond à la moyenne de la période 1976-1980, l'abcisse 2007 correspond à la moyenne 2003-2007, etc.).
Arms Trade Treaty First Preparatory Committee (12-23 July 2010): A first positive meeting (Virginie Moreau)

The first Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) of the United Nations Conference for an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was held in New York from 12 to 23 July 2010, four years after the first UN resolution on this issue. Even though no actual element of a Treaty has been negotiated yet during this first PrepCom, the meeting is considered generally positive. Indeed the very principle of a treaty on arms trade has now been accepted by all States. Nevertheless, one question remained at the end of the meeting: what kind of an ATT will it be? The work is just beginning and much remains to be done, but the first step has been encouraging.

Other Analyses:

The problem of end use and destination of arms exports (Damien Callamand)

The final destination and end use of weapons are two sides of the same coin – ensuring that arms are actually delivered to the people who ordered them and not siphoned off for use by others, and do not escape controls in order to be re-exported. A trend is emerging for contractors to take responsibility in this domain. Agreements with international scope recommend that responsible arms sales should closely respect the principles of international humanitarian law, but these principles are restricted by the lack of international consensus on their scope of application, whether they should be binding, and the equipment they cover.


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Update: 27/08/2010


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