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Confronting the arms trade and war profiteering

The international arms trade is big business. The profits generated from the production and sale of weapons are put above the lives of the people these weapons are used against. Since its founding in 1915, WILPF has called out war profiteering as the biggest obstacle to peace. Reaching Critical Will continues this work by calling for an end to the global arms trande, weapons production, and military spending; holding governments to account to their Arms Trade Treaty obligations and working with our human rights programme to make submissions to human rights forums on arms transfers. We have also linked our work on ending the use of explosive weapons in populated areas to ending the global arms trade.

Above all else, weapons are tools of violence and repression by those that use them, and tools of financial gain by those who make and sell them. Every year, thousands of people are killed, injured, raped, exploited, or forced to flee from their homes as a result of the poorly regulated and irresponsible global arms trade. This trade continues to make our world a poorer, less democratic, more corrupt, and less safe place. WILPF has highlighted this problem throughout our 105 year history and has been part of global efforts to reveal and challenge the links between arms production, the arms trade, military spending, violent conflict, and the reduction of available resources for social and economic justice.

HOLDING GOVERNMENTS TO ACCOUNT FOR THEIR ARMS TRADE TREATY OBLIGATIONS

We have some international tools designed to help prevent human suffering from the arms trade. After a seven year process at the United Nations, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 2 April 2013. The ATT is the first ever legally-binding regime that recognises the link between gender-based violence and the international arms trade, in part thanks to campaigning by WILPF and the IANSA Women's Network.

 Throughout the years, WILPF has monitored and reported on Conferences of States Parties to the ATT. While one of the purposes of the Treaty is to reduce human suffering, states parties have drifted away from this goal, refusing to address issues of compliance and carrying out work in a “business as usual” approach. Nevertheless, WILPF continues to advocate for the implementation of key provisions of the Treaty, as well as opposing transfers of concerns, including to Israel, Saudi Arabia , and others. We have written or co-published a number of advocacy sheets, research papers, publications, and articles about the ATT, which you can find at below in this page.

EXPOSING THE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT OF ARMS

WILPF plays a crucial role in positioning weapons-related issues as human rights concerns in UN human rights mechanisms. In collaboration with the human rights programme, RCW has been working to help bridge the human rights and disarmament communities, by bringing disarmament issues into human rights mechanisms and vice versa.

WILPF’s analysis is particularly critical in articulating the gendered dimensions of the human rights impacts of arms transfers, and the human rights and gendered impacts of weapons use, acquisition, and proliferation. WILPF human rights advocacy on arms-related concerns also contributes to conflict sensitivity analysis, prevention of serious violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL), including in conflict settings, and to pushing for accountability of all actors.

Throughout the years, WILPF has submitted contributions highlighting the human rights impact of arms to several human rights bodies and mechanisms, including the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the Human Rights Council, and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Through these submissions, WILPF has played a central role in shaping and developing the understanding of obligations of states, including extraterritorial obligations, and of corporations and other companies involved in the arms trade, under various international human rights treaties and commitments like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). This contributes to holding states and arms companies accountable for the human rights impacts of weapons and to counter the narrative that the arms industry is somehow exceptional compared to other sectors. Some recent examples of our advocacy can be found below.

CHALLENGING WEAPONS PRODUCTION AND MILITARY SPENDING 

WILPF has a long tradition of rejecting militarism as a system that diverts society’s resources towards weapons and war. From 1915 until today, WILPF has argued that governments that spend financial, technological, and human resources on their militaries divert resources from economic, social, and environmental programmes.

Beyond the diversion of resources, military spending is also harmful for other reasons. Militaries are among the greatest polluters in the world; the manufacture and use of weapons creates unequal access to resources and further impedes poverty reduction initiatives; military investments directly fuel violence and armed conflict and perpetuate a system of violence and exploitation, in which security is associated with weapons and war.

WILPF defends an alternative feminist and anti-militarist approach to safety and security that puts people and the planet above profits. We stress the need to turn from a political economy of conflict to one of construction, from endless war to sustainable peace. We have defended this approach in several of our submissions, including in the context of the New Agenda for Peace and the Summit of the Future. WILPF also supports campaign's such as ICAN's Don't Bank on the Bomb and CODEPINK's Divest From the War Machine. We have done research on companies profiting from nuclear weapons, missile "defence," and space weapons. Check out below our other publications and articles on the subject. 

RESOURCES 

Holding governments to account for their Arms Trade Treaty obligations

Open Letter: Ending Complicity in International Crimes – A Two Way Arms Embargo on Israel

WILPF, together with Al-Haq and the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), have drafted an open letter outlining states' legal obligations to end arms transfers and other forms of military support to Israel. It the letter calls on states to impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel, to cease arms transfers to Israel, and for transit states to not allow shipments of weapons to Israel. The statement was signed by 189 organisations.

Briefing paper for Arms Trade Treaty Delegations Regarding Arms Transfers to Israel

This briefing paper provides delegations with information about their legal obligations under the ATT in relation to arms transfers to Israel, including in the context of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s ruling that Israel is plausibly commiting genocide of Palestinians and the interim measures the Court imposed on Israel to prevent this genocide. We hope these points are useful for delegations to use when engaging in the Sub-working Group on current and emerging implementation issues, to be held on 21 February 2024 under the auspices of ATT Working Group on Effective Treaty Implementation.

Gender-based violence and the Arms Trade TreatyCover GBV_ATT-brief

This briefing paper aims to provide some background on the terminology around GBV and to highlight questions that will be relevant for risk assessments under article 6 and 7 of the Arms Trade Treaty.


preventing-gbv-cover

Preventing gender-based violence through arms control: tools and guidelines to implement the Arms Trade Treaty and UN Programme of Work

This report provides tools and guidelines for effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty and the UN Programme of Action on small arms and light weapons provisions related to gender-based violence.
 

Preventing gender-based violence through effective Arms Trade Treaty implementation

This briefing paper provides tools and guidelines for effective implementation of the gender provisions of the Arms Trade Treaty. It is a summary companion to our comprehensive report on preventing gender-based violence through arms control.


women-weapons-war-coverWomen, weapons, and war: a gendered critique of multilateral instruments

This publication considers synergies—and contradictions—related to gender and women in a number of multilateral resolutions, treaties, and commitments on conventional weapons and women's rights and participation. Among others it looks at the Arms Trade Treaty and the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons.

Other relevant materials:

Uncovering the human rights impact of arms

Joint Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee for the Review of the UK

Ahead of the review of the United Kingdom (UK) by the UN Human Rights Committee at its 140th Session on 12 and 14 March 2024, WILPF, Al-Haq, and the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), — with the contribution of Saferworld to the analysis on Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) obligations and arms export controls under UK domestic law, — sent this joint submission highlighting concerns about the UK’s arms transfers to Israel, especially in the context of the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Submission to OHCHR on the Role of Access to Information Regarding Human Rights Impacts of Arms Transfers

WILPF submitted this report in response to the call for inputs for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report to the Human Rights Council on the impact of arms transfers on the enjoyment of human rights, with a focus on the role of access to information. Among other issues, WILPF highlights how access to information on arms transfers is essential to prevent serious violations of human rights, to stop violations related to ongoing arms transfers and is a prerequisite for accountability and access to justice and remedy.

Joint Submission to CESCR for the Review of France

WILPF with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) made a joint submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) for its review of France taking place at the 74th session (25 September – 13 October 2023). With this submission, WILPF and ECCHR brought to the CESCR’s attention the organisations’ joint report to the fourth Universal Periodic Review of France, submitted in October 2022, and which highlights human rights impacts of France’s arms transfers to countries with poor human rights records. It also illustrates concerns regarding the transfer of surveillance and biometric technology and other dual-use products from France to China and Egypt, and lack of fulfillment of France’s human rights obligations in this regard.

Joint Submission for the UPR of Russia

Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Russia, 44th session of the UPR Working Group. The joint submission with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), describes violations linked to Russia’s threats of using nuclear weapons, and its failure to negotiate to achieve nuclear disarmament. It presents concerns regarding Russia’s nuclear weapons modernisation and spending, and illustrates the human rights impacts of its nuclear weapon testing and production.

Submission to OHCHR on the Negative Impacts of Firearms and the Role of the Business Sector

Submission to the UN Office for the High Commission on Human Rights (OHCHR) for the report requested by UN Human Rights Council resolution 50/12 on “Human rights and the regulation of civilian acquisition, possession and use of firearms.” The submission refers WILPF’s previous submissions on this topic, and highlights some of the human rights concerns linked to firearms availability. It emphasises the responsibility of the business sector, particularly the gun industry, in firearms-related violence. 

Other relevant materials:

Challenging weapons production and military spending

Written Input for Preparation of Zero Draft of the Pact for the Future

WILPF's submission highlights intersectional feminist approaches to peace and development and advocates for disarmament, demilitarisation, and nonviolent approaches to strengthening the multilateral system and ending war. 

 

RCW's Review of A New Agenda for Peace’s Recommendations for Disarmament and Demilitarisation

On 20 July 2023, the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) launched A New Agenda for Peace as an input to preparations for the 2024 Summit for the Future. This paper provides a review of the Agenda's recommendations on disarmament and demilitarisation.

 

RCW's Review of the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralim’s Recommendations for Disarmament and Demilitarisation

In April 2023, the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB) released a report providing recommendations for the upcoming Summit of the Future. This paperprovides a review of the HLAB's recommendations on disarmament and demilitarisation. 

Disarmament and Socioeconomic Justice

This publication was written by Emma Bjertén and Laura Varella for the 2023 First Committee Briefing Book. It provides a background on how military spending has been considered in disarmament fora, analyses the current context of increased military budgets and offer recommendations for states during the First Committee and beyond.

 

RCW's Submission for the Secretary-General's New Agenda for Peace

As a response to a call for submission from the UN Secretary-General, RCW submitted a contribution for the New Agenda for Peace (NAP). In its submission, RCW highlighted some key issues related to disarmament and arms control that should be addressed in the NAP, including nuclear weapons, cyber peace, autonomous weapon systems, and explosive weapons in populated areas. We also highlighted the need to divest from weapons and war, as well as the problems associated with the arms trade, and the connection between militarism and the climate crisis. RCW recommends that the Agenda adopts a feminist and anti-militarist approach, and that it adopts commitments towards disarmament, divestment, and demilitarisation in order to set a meaningful path towards peace.

Other relevant materials: