Human Rights and the Arms Trade

Amnesty International USA Release

The U.S. government has allowed gun violence to become a human rights crisis, according to “In the Line of Fire: Human Rights and the U.S. Gun Violence Crisis,” a new report from Amnesty International. The report examines how all aspects of American life have been compromised in some way by the unfettered access to guns, with no attempts at meaningful national regulation.

While most countries have licensing and regulation systems in place for firearms, the United States lacks measures like a national registration, and 30 states allow handguns to be owned without a license or permit.

“The U.S. government is prioritizing gun ownership over basic human rights. While many solutions have been offered, there has been a stunning lack of political will to save lives,” said Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA. “Despite the huge number of guns in circulation and the sheer numbers of people killed by guns each year, there is a shocking lack of federal regulations that could save thousands.”

Amnesty International USA today urged the Senate to approve a resolution to block the impending arms sale to Saudi Arabia. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure today. The deal, involving more than $500 million in weapons, would arm members of a military coalition that has attacked thousands of civilians in Yemen and violated international humanitarian law. Joanne Lin, senior managing director of advocacy and government relations, issued the following statement:

“By selling arms to Saudi Arabia, knowing that they may well be used to kill civilians in Yemen, the U.S. government may be complicit in serious violations of international law, including war crimes,” said Joanne Lin. “The Trump Administration has repeatedly indicated a willingness to partner with Saudi Arabia despite its appalling human rights record. It is up to the Senate to stop this.”

By Rasha Mohamed and Rasha Abdul Rahim

The airstrike on Abs Rural Hospital in Yemen's Hajjah governorate on 15 August was the fourth attack on a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in 10 months. That didn't lessen the shock.

Sixteen-year-old ambulance driver Ayman Issa Bakri was among the 10 dead. He had been working there since MSF began supporting the hospital in the summer of 2015. When his body was found near the impact site, he was still holding the woman he had been transferring from the ambulance to the A&E.

Shortly after, MSF announced it was winding up its operations in Yemen; it is hard to imagine the despair that Yemenis feel when the only hospital for miles disappears.

At the site of the ruined hospital, Amnesty International identified remnants of bombs that appear to have been manufactured either in the USA or the UK. This would be consistent with what we know about prolific arms exports by these countries to Saudi Arabia and other members of its military coalition.

Posted at 0001hrs GMT   29 February 2016

Escalating violations, including possible war crimes, that have sparked a humanitarian crisis amid Yemen’s armed conflict will only worsen unless all states immediately impose a comprehensive embargo on arms transfers that could be used by any of the warring parties, Amnesty International warned today as a meeting on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) got under way in Geneva.

ATT States Parties and signatories are among those who continue to supply weapons to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners for use in Yemen – in brazen violation of the treaty, in particular its human rights provisions. Arms have also been diverted into the hands of Huthi and other armed groups fighting in Yemen.

On April 2, 2013 Canada, together with 154 other states, voted in favour of a global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the UN General Assembly. The ATT will prohibit states from transferring conventional weapons to countries when they know those weapons would be used to commit or facilitate genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. The treaty also requires governments to assess the risk of transferring arms, ammunition or components to another country where they could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Where that overriding risk is real and cannot be mitigated, the transfer will not happen.

At least 500,000 people die every year and millions more are displaced and abused as result of armed violence and conflict.

By Marek Marczynski, Head of Amnesty International’s Military, Security and Police team at the International Secretariat. Follow Marek on Twitter @MarekMarczynski. You can also follow discussions and developments at the ATT Conference of States Parties on Twitter via the @AmnestyATT account.

The recent explosions that apparently destroyed a 2,000-year-old temple in the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria were yet another grim example of how the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS) uses conventional weapons to further its agenda.

But what has fuelled the IS’s growing firepower? The answer lies in recent history – arms flows to the Middle East dating back as far as the 1970s have played a role.

After taking control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in June 2014, IS fighters paraded a windfall of mainly US-manufactured weapons and military vehicles which had been sold or given to the Iraqi armed forces.

Posted at 0501hrs GMT  24 August 2015

The global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), created to rein in the poorly regulated international arms transfers that fuel war crimes and serious human rights abuses, will face its first major test in Mexico this week, Amnesty International said today.

The ATT’s first Conference of States Parties, taking place in Cancún from 24-27 August, will be attended by dozens of states, including some that have neither signed nor ratified the treaty since its adoption in 2013. Amnesty International, which campaigned alongside NGO partners for more than two decades to make the ATT a reality, will also attend the meeting.

“Cancún marks the first major test for the Arms Trade Treaty, and states will have an important opportunity to make history by following through on the treaty’s lifesaving goals,” said Marek Marczynski, Head of Military, Security and Police at Amnesty International.