Arms control and human rights

War crimes, unlawful killings, torture and other serious human rights abuses have been committed around the world using a wide range of weapons, munitions and military and security equipment. These are often provided to perpetrators in almost unlimited supply, encouraging and prolonging unlawful violence. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, injured, raped and forced to flee from their homes as a result. Global society has no treaty to ensure the strict control of the international trade in conventional arms, while governments license irresponsible arms flows to fuel human atrocities and abuse.


Since the early 1990s Amnesty International has been calling for a treaty to ensure that states stop allowing transfers of military and policing equipment where it is likely those arms will be used for serious human rights abuses. In 2003 Amnesty International launched an international campaigning with civil society for a global Arms Trade Treaty to set rules for the strict regulation of the international transfers of conventional arms.


We are now delighted to share with you the good news that, on 2 April 2013, governments at the United Nations voted overwhelmingly to adopt a global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The rules, if implemented, will stop a wide range of arms flows when the sending state knows those weapons would be used for human atrocities and abuse. States that are parties to the Treaty will meet and report regularly, and can strengthen it over time.


This is the first time a treaty has explicitly included conventional arms control and human rights rules and was a culmination of over 20 years of campaigning. This is a huge victory for human rights, given the powerful forces that opposed the Treaty and the fact that 156 states voted in the General Assembly voted in favor of its adoption!


Now the ATT has been adopted, there is an urgent need to put pressure on governments to sign, ratify and implement the Treaty. 50 ratifications will bring the Treaty into force, but we must keep pushing to get as many states as possible to implement the treaty. Only then will the Treaty have the potential to save lives and livelihoods.


Our message is simple – if there is a substantial risk that arms exported to another country will contribute to serious human rights abuses or war crimes, those arms supplies must be stopped.


No more arms for atrocities or abuses!

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Ongoing threats to human rights worldwide are posed by the irresponsible transfer not only of existing conventional arms and military equipment but also of policing equipment. In addition to this, new military and policing technologies are presenting new international challenges to human rights. Amnesty International also researches and takes action on problems posed by the trade and use of inhumane weapons of warfare, robotic weapons, ‘less lethal’ weapons used in policing and prisons and the trade in equipment used for torture.

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News and Updates

The long journey towards an Arms Trade Treaty

27 March 2013

Sometimes a simple but potentially revolutionary idea can change the world for the better. But it often takes a crisis to galvanize people to take action, and that's how the idea for a global Arms Trade Treaty was born.

UN: States must urgently shore up ‘serious deficiencies’ in draft arms treaty text

25 March 2013

Serious deficiencies in a new draft Arms Trade Treaty text would fail to prevent arms transfers to countries where they could be used to commit or facilitate summary and arbitrary killings, torture and enforced disappearances.

Arms proliferation and abuse shatter communities in Côte d'Ivoire

20 March 2013

A new Amnesty International report says that reckless and illegal arms supplies from Europe, Africa and China continue to fuel grave human rights abuses in the country.

UN: Don’t waste historic chance for a lifesaving Arms Trade Treaty

18 March 2013

World leaders must address the poorly regulated global arms trade that fuels grave human rights abuses of tens of millions of people and claims countless lives each year, Amnesty International said from the UN.

From ‘Days of Rage’ to raging conflict - Two years of turmoil in Syria

15 March 2013

Two years since the Syrian uprising began, we speak to Amnesty Researcher Cilina Nasser and Senior Crisis Advisor Donatella Rovera about the conflict so far.

Reports

Controls on military assistance to Somalia must be tightened

21 January 2010

Arms transfers should be suspended until there are adequate safeguards to prevent weapons from being used to commit war crimes and human rights abuses, says Amnesty International.

How to Apply Human Rights Standards to Arms Transfer Decisions

1 October 2008

In order to achieve a more effective regulation of the international arms trade, all international transfers of conventional weaponry, munitions and equipment should be carried out in accordance with states’ legal obligations. All states have obligations under international human rights law applicable to transfers of conventional arms. The purpose of this document is to assist states and regional organisations in applying their human rights obligations. It proposes guidelines for assessing the risk of a proposed transfer being used for serious violations of human rights.

Arms Trade Treaty could fail without human rights

17 September 2008

Every year, more than 300,000 people are killed with conventional weapons. Millions more are injured, abused, forcibly displaced and bereaved as a result of armed v