MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union

MISSING PIECES
the threat to peace or a breach of
peace, it may decide to impose a
legally-binding arms embargo.
Four Geneva Conventions of 1949
Articles on the Responsibility of States
for Internationally Wrongful Acts, 2001
UN Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing
of and Trafficking in Firearms,
their Parts and Components and
Ammunition, supplementing the United
Nations Convention against Transnational
Organised Crime, 2001 (Firearms
Protocol or Vienna Protocol)
Agenda for Humanitarian Action,
adopted by the 28 th International
Conference of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent, 2003
International Instrument to Enable
States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely
and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms
and Light Weapons (International Tracing
Instrument)
Common Article 1 provides a customary
obligation for states not only to
respect rules of IHL, but also to ensure
their respect. This may constrain arms
transfers to a state violating IHL.
Prohibit aiding and assisting states in
violating international law.
Criminalises illicit trafficking in firearms,
provides that legal transfers of guns
require agreements between the governments
involved, and that guns must
be marked at the point of manufacture,
import, and transfer from government
into private hands. It also calls for the
regulation of arms brokering.
Calls for IHL to be one of the fundamental
criteria on which arms transfer
decisions are assessed (Action 2.3.1);
and for strengthened controls on
arms and ammunition (Action 2.3.2).
Adopted by the General Assembly on
8 December 2005, builds on the minimum
standards on marking, recordkeeping,
and cooperation in tracing of
small arms that are contained in the
UN Firearms Protocol and the PoA.
Regional level
Wassenaar Arrangement on Export
Controls for Conventional Arms and
Dual-Use Goods and Technologies,
1996
Inter-American Convention against
the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking
in Firearms, Ammunition,
Explosives and Other Related Material,
1997 (OAS Convention)
ASEAN Declaration on Transnational
Crime, 1997
OAS Model Regulations for the Control
of International Movement of Firearms,
their Parts, Components, and Ammunition,
1998
Mechanism of information exchanges
and export control to promote transparency
and greater responsibility in
transfers of conventional arms.
Outlines measures to improve the
control and monitoring of legal manufacture
and transfers of firearms (e.g.
marking, record-keeping, strict licence
systems) and to improve exchange of
information among Member States
regarding the illicit trade in firearms.
Framework for regional cooperation
on transnational crime, including trafficking
in small arms.
Non legally binding document designed
to assist with the implementation of
the OAS Convention, and outlining a set
of practical measures and procedures.
168