Day 6 of the PrepCom

Civil society was excluded from all the discussions on Day 6 of the PrepCom. Two closed meetings covered implementation and application of the future Arms Trade Treaty. The European Union called  for national legislative and administrative measures to control exports, imports and transits.; national provisions to prohibit, prosecute, and penalise participation in the illicit arms trade; record-keeping and reporting, and tracing of diverted weapons; and the obligation to report on assessed transfers to a UN database. The Russian Federation made a proposal to regulate brokering through a sole authorised broker.

Side Event: “ATT Transport Controls Briefing”, organized by Amnesty International


This event focused on how to adequately monitor and control the transport of weapons, munitions, and associated equipment in order to prevent their diversion from the legal market to illegal use. Sergio Finardi (Trans Arms Research) presented ways and methods to control the arms supply-chains and stressed the need for States to commit to the development of common standards and a  mechanism of control as well as to exchange relevant data.

There is already a detailed system of transport controls for dangerous and hazardous goods, but not for arms. In the arms trade, maritime traffic amounts to 80% of total transportation, and 15 global companies control 66% of all full containerships. According to Finardi, there is a need to identify 1) logistics network in relation to the location of arms manufacturers, 2) the sea/air routes and land corridors, 3) the logistics carriers, 4) the sensitive free-trade zones for better regulation, and 5) to standardise documentation to enable better monitoring.

Amnesty International UK presented the key findings of their reports: Deadly Movements: Transportation Controls in the Arms Trade Treaty (July 2010). The report proposes three sets of core standards which should be included in an ATT to require each state to regulate the transport of arms (1) through States' territories or airspace; (2) by arms transport service providers operating from their jurisdiction, and (3) on ships and aircraft ‘flagged’ in their jurisdiction.