WILPF's statement about the arms industry to the Preparatory Meeting of CSP9

The Working Group meetings and First Informal Preparatory Meeting of the Ninth Conference of States Parties (CSP9) to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) took place in Geneva on 14–17 February 2023. WILPF delivered a statement under the discussion about the priority theme for the Korean Presidency on ‘the role of industry in responsible international transfers of conventional arms’.

WILPF Statement on the priority theme of the Korean Presidency CSP9 PrepCom 
17 February 2023

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) welcomes the choice by the Korean Presidency of “the role of industry in responsible international transfers of conventional arms” as the CSP9 President’s priority theme. We believe that discussing the role of the industry is essential to address the impact by arms transfers, and to fulfil theATT’s purpose of reducing human suffering.

A recent valuable contribution to the topic, and one that should be considered by the ATT states parties in their discussions, is the 2022 Information Note elaborated by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights about responsible business conduct in the arms sector. In this Information Note, the working group reminded that arms companies must carry out human rights due diligence, and that the business responsibility to respect human rights exists independently of States’ abilities and/or willingness to fulfil their own human rights obligations.

Thus, state obligations associated with licensing processes should not be used by the industry as an excuse for not conducting their own due diligence. On the contrary, having both licensing state and arms companies conducting human rights risk assessments can only decrease the risks that the weapons will be used for human rights abuses.

It is worth recalling that states have due diligence obligations under international human rights law regarding private actors. As stated by the OHCHR in a report on the issue of firearms in 2016, “human rights law requires States to protect human rights with due diligence, which entails the obligations to prevent and sanction harmful private activity that impairs the enjoyment of human rights.”

Therefore, it is part of states’ obligations under international human rights law to ensure that the arms sector is subject to mandatory human rights due diligence. WILPF notes that under international law, the ATT is just one instrument that interacts with international humanitarian and human rights law. These areas cannot be artificially siloed. As such, human rights risk assessments prescribed by the ATT are only one of the aspects that states should evaluate regarding arms transfers.

WILPF recommends that states take the opportunity provided by the President’s priority theme to further discuss their responsibilities in preventing and sanctioning harmful activities conducted by private actors. We also recommend that states require arms companies to develop policies and practices to address the human rights impacts of arms and to pressure them to abide by their corporate responsibility to respect human rights.