Tag Archives: Weapons
25 September 2012
The continuing conflict in Syria has raised many questions of shared responsibility (see, for example, here and here). This blog post will discuss the issue of the provision of weapons and other military equipment to Syria.
In June this year, Human Rights Watch urged governments and companies around the world to stop signing new contracts (and evaluate existing contracts) with arms suppliers that are providing weapons to the Syrian government, such as the Russian firm Rosoboronexport, and suggested that those providing weapons to the Syrian regime could be regarded as being complicit in the crimes committed by the Syrian army. (more…)
10 September 2012
The State Department of the United States (US) stated that Iraq is obliged under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions to require Iranian planes, which are suspected to be flying arms into Syria over Iraqi airspace, to land in Iraq so that the cargo can be examined.
Iranian flights over Iraqi airspace were suspended in March, after the US objected, but flights resumed in July. According to US intelligence, these flights were carrying military equipment and weapons. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki stated he was assured by Iran that these flights only carried humanitarian aid.
Source: New York Times | U.S. Presses Iraq on Iranian Planes Thought to Carry Arms to Syria
3 July 2012
On 2 July, talks began at the United Nations over a proposed treaty on global trade in conventional weapons, particularly small arms and ammunition, valued in 2010 at $411 billion. The treaty could ban weapons shipments to conflict areas, as well as areas where they would lead to serious human rights violations.
Source: The Independent | UN talks could finally rein in lawless trade in killing
Source: The Guardian | Why this arms trade treaty is essential
10 April 2012
In a special report entitled ‘Profit and Proliferation’ (Part I and II) in the New York Times’ At War blog, Belgium journalist Damien Spleeters reports how Belgium arms entered and were used during the conflict in Libya, and discusses the question ‘how much responsibility Belgium and other European countries may share in weapons proliferation in the region’.
Source: New York Times | Profit and Proliferation: A Special Report on Belgian Arms in the Arab Uprising, Part I
Source: New York Times | Profit and Proliferation, Part 2: Will Belgian Arms End Up in Syria?
6 September 2011
China offered huge stockpiles of weapons to Colonel Moammar Gadhafi during the final months of his regime, according to papers that describe secret talks about shipments via Algeria and South Africa. Documents obtained by The Globe and Mail show that state-controlled Chinese arms manufacturers were prepared to sell weapons and ammunition worth at least $200-million to the embattled Col. Gadhafi in late July, a violation of United Nations sanctions.
Source: http://m.theglobeandmail.com