MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union

MISSING PIECES
EU Common Position on the Control
of Arms Brokering, 2003
Sets out brokering controls EU states
shall adopt to avoid circumnavigation
of arms embargoes and export laws.
Controls include the establishment of
a clear legal framework, broker licensing
and record-keeping requirements,
registration and authorisation, information
exchange and enforcement.
OAS Model Regulations for the Control
of Brokers of Firearms, their Parts and
Components and Ammunition, 2003
Wassenaar Arrangement Elements for
Export Controls of Man-Portable Air
Defence Systems (MANPADS), 2003
Wassenaar Elements for Effective Legislation
on Arms Brokering, 2003
OSCE Principles on the Control of Brokering
in Small Arms and Light Weapons,
2004
Nairobi Protocol for the prevention,
control and reduction of small arms
and light weapons in the Great Lakes
region and the Horn of Africa, 2004
Provide that a national authority must
be named responsible for registering
and licensing arms brokers, and sets
criteria for issuing licenses.
Agreement by Wassenaar Participating
States to apply strict national controls
on the export of MANPADS. States agree
not to use brokers for MANPADS sales,
and to weigh the possibility of diversion
or un-authorised re-transfer, the recipient
state’s level of stockpile security,
and other criteria, prior to sale.
States “agree to strictly control the
activities of those who engage in the
brokering of conventional arms” including
through licensing of brokers and
transactions.
Provides a set of core principles to
form the basis of arms brokering controls,
drawing significantly from the
EU Common Position on the Control
of Arms Brokering (see above).
Provides for the regulation of brokering,
and includes a definition of brokers
and brokering.
Breaking the deadlock: Guns and armed groups
Global level
Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949
Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
1951
Protocol Additional to the Geneva
Conventions, and Relating to the Protection
of Victims of Non-International
Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), 1979
Common Article 3 provides minimum
standards to be respected in the case
of armed conflicts “not of an international
character.”
Provides for the punishment of the
crime of genocide whether committed
by “constitutionally responsible
rulers, public officials or private
individuals.”
Subjects organised armed groups to
some basic principles of IHL.
170