MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union

MISSING PIECES
conflict. 16 By February 2007 there were mandatory territorial arms embargoes
in force against Côte d’Ivoire, Lebanon, and Somalia. 17 Non-state actors
are also subject to arms embargoes. Currently, every state in the international
community is prohibited from transferring arms to non-state groups
in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and
in Sudan, as well as to Al-Qaida and associated persons. 18 Under article
41 of the UN Charter, states have a legal obligation to abide by embargoes
enacted by the Security Council and a duty to implement measures to ensure
that persons within their jurisdiction also comply with the embargoes.
Increasingly, regional instability, human rights and humanitarian law
concerns motivate the imposition of arms embargoes but, for political
reasons, the pattern of imposition is by no means consistent. Despite the
difficulties that permeate their implementation and enforcement, the fact
that arms embargoes are viewed as a necessary element of the international
community’s reaction to violent conflict is significant. Even where the
Security Council calls upon states to halt the flow of arms to a war or conflict
zone without pronouncing a mandatory embargo, its action reinforces
the idea that weapons transfers in violent circumstances are never innocent. 19
There has been some progress recently to improve the effectiveness of
arms embargoes. The establishment of UN investigative panels to monitor
different sanctions regimes has been a major development. 20 The publication
of hard-hitting panel reports documenting embargo violations has
helped focus attention on the problem and pushed some arms suppliers,
brokers, and private traffickers to re-evaluate the risks of engaging in such
deals. The investigative panels have identified consistent problems that compromise
the effectiveness of arms embargoes, such as:
• lax arms export controls in supplier countries;
• allies in the governments of other countries who provide cover and
sometimes financing for embargoed parties; and
• uncontrolled arms brokers and transport agents who will supply arms
to anyone for the right price.
Although UN arms embargoes are obligatory, governments and individuals
that are caught in violation do not face real or punitive consequences.
This is especially true of governments that serve on the Security Council,
such as France during a mid-1990s scandal over arms sales to Rwanda. A
range of other countries also provided arms to forces subsequently engaged
in genocide. 21 Individuals who facilitate sanctions busting, including cor-
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