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	Over 100 countries support the Arms Trade Treaty to fight against illicit weapons trafficking by Control Arms Coalition, agencies   Mar. 2021   Business as Usual: How major weapons exporters arm the world’s conflicts. (Campaign Against the Arms Trade)   The global arms trade has proven remarkably resistant to effective controls – with direct enabling consequences on conflict situations.   Report Overview:   The harmful impact of arms transfers on conflict has been well-documented by campaigners, humanitarian NGOs, and the United Nations.   Further, researchers have found evidence that arms transfers to a state increase the likelihood of conflict breaking out; and, once begun, render conflicts longer and more deadly.   Recognizing these detrimental impacts, in recent decades, policymakers committed to a range of measures designed to control arms exports. These controls were especially focused on limiting sales when conflicts involve patterns of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law.   In subsequent years, there have been heated debates about whether sales should proceed in a number of particular instances, but there is no comprehensive assessment of the overall impact of policies designed to limit arms sales to countries involved in conflicts.   This research provides the first global analysis of how conflict in, or involving, a recipient state, impacts exporters’ willingness to supply arms. It analyses the top eleven global arms suppliers over the ten-year period 2009-18.   Listed in order by the volume of major conventional weapons transfers, these global sales leaders are: The United States, Russia, Germany, France, China, The United Kingdom, Spain, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, and Ukraine. These countries assert widely varying formal policies regarding arms exports, but the empirical record is, for the most part, remarkably similar.   Key Findings   1. There is very little evidence that war or armed conflict leads to restraint in arms transfers by major exporters, regardless of whether their stated policies suggest they should. All major arms exporters supplied substantial volumes of arms to at least some of the wars of the current century.   2. There are no clear cases where the outbreak of war was accompanied by a halt in arms sales by a major exporter. In cases where exporters did not supply arms to war, the recipient(s) tended to be smaller, poorer countries where demand for arms is lower (‘low stakes’ cases), even in wartime.   Clearly, political factors also prevail in some cases, for example where the supplier and recipient had a hostile relationship, or where the recipient had been regarded by (western) suppliers as a ‘pariah’ long before the outbreak of war (e.g. Iran and Syria).   3. There are some differences among the eleven top arms exporters covered in this report: Russia supplied arms to the greatest number of wars; and Ukraine, the smallest of the exporters, was a significant conflict supplier in relation to its overall level of exports. Even so, the difference between these countries and the US and western European suppliers, was relatively minor.   4. For some exporters (Russia, France, Israel, Spain, and the Netherlands), conflict appears to be associated with a higher probability of transfers. For the other seven, it made no significant difference either way.   5. Rather than conflict, demand factors – levels of GDP and military spending, and the overall level of arms acquisitions by a particular country – were key determinants of whether a given exporter would supply arms to that country.   6. US and European exporters sometimes displayed a pattern of selective, ‘low stakes’ restraint, including cases where they imposed arms embargoes in direct response to conflict or repression. These tended to be cases where opportunities for sales were in any case limited.   7. An established arms supply relationship was one of the most powerful determinants of whether arms transfers would occur in the future between a supplier and recipient, regardless of the recipient’s conflict status at any particular moment in time.   http://sites.tufts.edu/wpf/business-as-usual/   Feb. 2020   Half of all violent deaths involve small arms and light weapons. (UN News)   Nearly 50 per cent of all violent deaths between 2010 and 2015, more than 200,000 each year, involved small arms and light weapons, the UN Security Council was told on Tuesday, during a briefing by UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu.   Ms. Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, noted that one billion small arms are in circulation worldwide, and that their use in lethal violence is prevalent from the Americas, to Africa and Southern Europe.   'Current and past crises that have been addressed by this Council', she said, 'from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Haiti to Mali, have all been aggravated by the widespread availability and uncontrolled flow of small arms and light weapons and their ammunition'.   Small arms also pose a challenge to UN peacekeeping and political missions. Nine of the mission mandates address issues related to conventional weapons, including the control of small arms and light weapons.   'The illicit flow of small arms is having a serious impact, including in relation to violent extremism, throughout the African Sahel region, and parts of Central Africa', warned the disarmament chief.   'This is a cause for serious concern in war-torn Libya and South Sudan, both of which are seeing a steady influx of weapons and ammunition.   Illicit small arms and light weapons have a negative impact on all of the core pillars of the UN's work', explained Ms. Nakamitsu, from security and conflict prevention, to human rights, sustainable development, and gender equality.   They are factors in a large range of human rights violations, including the killing and maiming of children, rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence.   Small arms also play a role in displacement and food insecurity, including the world's most high profile and serious conflicts: 'In Yemen, as of the end of 2019, an estimated 4 million people are internally displaced amidst devastating conflict facilitated by steady arms flows'.   Regional efforts are, she declared 'especially critical' in combatting cross-border trafficking. The UN is supporting the African Union in achieving its goal of a conflict-free continent, through such initiatives as 'Africa Amnesty Month' in September, which calls for the surrender, collection and destruction of illegally acquired weapons.   The wide and easy availability of small arms and light weapons is a key denominator in all of the issues addressed by the Security Council, said Ms. Nakamitsu. For this reason, she concluded, the problem should remain a priority and the root causes of illicit arms flows should be examined as a matter of urgency.   http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/salw/ http://attmonitor.org/en/ http://controlarms.org/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/taking-stock-arms-trade-treaty-summary-policy-options http://reliefweb.int/report/world/enhancing-protection-civilians-through-conventional-arms-control   Apr. 2019   EU criticizes US withdrawal from international arms trade treaty. (AFP, agencies)   The European Union warned Saturday that Donald Trump's rejection of a UN treaty designed to regulate the global arms trade would hamper the global fight against illicit weapons trafficking.   "A decision by the US to revoke its signature would not contribute to the ongoing efforts to encourage transparency in the international arms trade, to prevent illicit trafficking and to combat the diversion of conventional arms," said the EU's chief diplomat, Federica Mogherini.   "The EU will continue to call on all states, and in particular the major arms exporters and importers, to join the Arms Trade Treaty without delay," she said.   Trump said Friday the United States would not abide by the 2013 treaty aimed at regulating the global arms trade, calling it an encroachment on US sovereignty.   The US Senate never ratified the treaty after former president Barack Obama endorsed it. Trump said he was revoking his predecessor's signature.   Mogherini said the EU viewed the pact -- which seeks to regulate the flow of weapons to conflict zones -- as key to "contributing to international efforts to ensure peace, security and stability.   "All 28 Member States have joined the ATT and are determined in pursuing its objectives and its universal ratification and implementation," Mogherini said.   The treaty, which entered into effect in December 2014, requires member countries to keep records of international transfers of weapons and to prohibit cross-border shipments that could be used in human rights violations or attacks on civilians.   Over 100 countries have ratified the treaty, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The world's largest arms traders, the United States, China and Russia, have not joined.   "The unregulated arms trade continues to cause major suffering in many parts of the world, fuelling conflicts, terrorism and organised crime," Mogherini said.   "Small arms and light weapons kill at least 500,000 people every year, in addition to the victims of other conventional weapons."   UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the treaty "is the only global instrument aimed at improving transparency and accountability in the international arms trade'.   'This is particularly important in present times, when we witness growing international tensions and renewed interest in expanding and modernizing arsenals," he said. http://bit.ly/2PA2CUK   Apr. 2019   The USA announces intention to withdraw signature from the Arms Trade Treaty. (Control Arms Coalition)   The White House announced that it will withdraw the US signature from the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). This announcement follows the US's withdrawal from two other key instruments, the Paris Agreement in June 2017 and more recently the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.   It follows last week's difficult negotiations on the UN Resolution 2467 (2019) addressing sexual violence in conflict when the US insisted that any language about the need for sexual & reproductive health services be removed from its text as well as President Trump's veto of the Yemen War Powers Resolution and continued military support for Saudi Arabia in the war in Yemen.   The announced intention to un-sign the ATT is therefore yet another step back by the Trump Administration from rules-based international cooperation which aims to reduce human suffering.   The ATT is the first global instrument to set common international standards for the transfer of conventional arms and ammunition with the express purpose of reducing human suffering.   The Treaty seeks to regulate the multi-billion dollar global arms trade, requiring governments to assess the risk of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law before they authorise an arms deal, to not transfer arms where they are likely to end up in the hands of terrorists and organised criminal groups.   As the Treaty applies only to cross-border transfers, the ATT does not interfere with the US citizens the right to bear arms, protected under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, or the US's ability to acquire arms for national security.   Irresponsible arms transfers and illicit arms flows fuel brutal conflicts in for example Yemen and Syria, and armed violence, organized crime and terrorism in countries like Afghanistan, Jamaica, Honduras and Nigeria. Their reverberating effects - the refugee crisis, instability, economic decline - are felt globally.   The announcement today is an indication that the Trump administration puts economic interests above human rights, turning it's back on the millions of civilians affected by conflict and armed violence each year around the world.   When then-Secretary of State John Kerry signed the Treaty on behalf of the US on 25 September 2013, only six months after it opened for signatures, Oxfam International, a member of the Control Arms Coalition, welcomed it as a 'powerful step demonstrating the United States' commitment to preventing mass atrocities and protect civilians from armed conflict'.   Today, we lament the US's loss of commitment and respect for multilateral efforts to promote and protect International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.   As the biggest arms exporter, the US's signature to the ATT demonstrated its support for the establishment of common international standards for all states in the global arms trade.   Despite the actions of the US, the international community more broadly continues to recognise the value of the Treaty, with the number of States Parties recently passing 101 and with more than 30 other signatories working towards full membership.   Control Arms urges the US Government to recognise the value that the ATT brings and to think again. Instead of seeking to undermine its promise, the US should be working to support its effective implementation, both at home and abroad.   http://controlarms.org/blog/the-usa-announces-intention-to-withdraw-signature-from-the-arms-trade-treaty/ http://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2019/world-military-expenditure-grows-18-trillion-2018 Visit the related web page
	Libya: Civilians face deep suffering from long conflict by UN News, UNHCR, ICRC, OCHA, agencies Libya   June 2021   True stability in Libya will only come about by rebuilding people’s lives. (NRC)   A decade of protracted crisis has left one in five people in Libya - comprising 1.3 million Libyans, migrants and refugees - in need of humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs.   The destruction of entire cities and towns has left 280,000 people living in damaged or substandard shelters that they cannot afford to rebuild themselves.   A further 245,000 people still displaced by the conflict are unable to return to their homes, due to obstacles such as the presence of unexploded ordnance.   “The recurrent armed conflict has left a legacy of explosive remnants of war that will take years to clear to allow people to safely return to their homes and livelihoods. There have been at least 250 victims since May 2020 and many more likely undocumented. Ten years of instability has taken a substantial toll on the country’s population, yet international assistance to Libya is failing to keep pace with the humanitarian needs on the ground.” said Liam Kelly, the Danish Refugee Council’s Country Director in Libya.   Between January and May last year, Libya suffered the highest number of attacks on health care service providers in the world, further undermining the ability of its health system to provide for the population, and putting health workers’ and patients' lives at further risk.   The situation has been compounded by chronic underfunding that has left many basic services now teetering on the brink of collapse. To date, donors have only committed to fund about a fifth of Libya’s Humanitarian Response Plan for 2021.   “More than one million people in Libya are estimated to have acute health needs. With only half of its health facilities still functioning, the Libyan health system is over-stretched and struggles to respond to the population's basic health needs. Amid the Covid-19 global pandemic, strengthening healthcare services has to be more than an afterthought,” said Samy Guessabi, Country Representative in Libya for Action Against Hunger.   Some of the most vulnerable people in Libya include migrants, refugees and asylum seekers who face serious protection risks and human rights violations. Many have been subjected to systematic and arbitrary detention, exploitation, sexual violence, and a myriad of other abuses since leaving their countries of origin.   Currently, more than five thousand migrants, refugees and asylum seekers languish in often abusive conditions in Libya’s detention centres. While this year is on course to see a record number of migrants and refugees intercepted at sea and forcibly returned to Libya, despite the UN declaring it cannot be considered a safe place for disembarkation.   Aid groups warn that humanitarian needs in Libya will not simply disappear, even if momentum continues on the political front: “For the first time in many years, Libya has a real chance at achieving peace and stability,” said Tom Garofalo, the International Rescue Committee’s Country Director in Libya.   “But, the foundations for Libya’s recovery are extremely fragile. International donors must maximise this critical moment to address the immediate humanitarian and longer-term needs of everyone in Libya. A failure to do so will leave hundreds of thousands of people struggling to cope while they also face the potentially decades-long task of rebuilding their lives.”   http://www.nrc.no/news/2021/june/libya-conference-true-stability-in-libya-will-only-come-about-by-rebuilding-peoples-lives/   Feb. 2020   Libya: Civilians face deep suffering from long conflict, as fighting forces schools and health facilities to close. (ICRC)   Civilians in Libya are suffering deeply from a war that is hitting neighborhoods, health facilities and schools. Daily life for many Libyans is marked by chronic fear and uncertainty as families find it harder and harder to make ends meet, President Peter Maurer of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said at the end of a visit.   One in four Libyans is affected by a conflict that is entering its ninth year. Months of fighting in Tripoli has led to the closure of an additional 13 health facilities and 220 schools, according to the UN, disrupting much-needed health services and education. Many Libyans are increasingly facing a scarcity of basic items and decaying or destroyed public services and infrastructure. More than half a million people are estimated to be in critical need of medical care.   "The combination of economic collapse and protracted conflict is making it difficult for people to acquire even the most basic items and services, like health care, clean water and education," Mr. Maurer said after meetings with residents and government and military officials, as well as Libyan Red Crescent Society's (LRCS) representatives in Tripoli and Benghazi. "People's savings and other resources are dwindling. The most vulnerable among them are those households who have lost a breadwinner."   The ICRC urges all belligerents to respect basic principles of international humanitarian law while conducting military operations to ensure that civilians are spared from the effects of ongoing hostilities and that they shall never be a target of any attack.   Similarly, infrastructure necessary for human survival such as hospitals, schools, water and electricity plants must be protected.   Thousands of Libyans have been forced to flee their homes, many repeatedly. Last year saw around 177,000 people displaced from their homes because of fighting in different parts of the country, including 150,000 people uprooted due to fighting around Tripoli.   Over a million people in Libya in 2019 benefited from one or more services provided by the ICRC, working closely with the LRCS. Food parcels were distributed to more than 240,000 people, including the internally displaced, residents, returnees and migrants. The ICRC also provided medical supplies to 66 hospitals and primary health care facilities which collectively carried out 750,000 consultations. In addition, ICRC visited people in three places of detention under the authority of the Ministry of Justice in Tripoli, Misrata and Benghazi.   The ICRC reiterates its commitment to playing the role of neutral intermediary between the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) to address humanitarian needs.   "The trust so far shown by both sides towards ICRC is reassuring and we want this to endure," said Mr Maurer. "However, more needs to be done to spare civilians from the appalling consequences of the conflict. This week I spoke with people who are suffering deeply from this war. They are following the ongoing ceasefire talks and tentatively hoping that they will bring them lasting relief."   http://www.icrc.org/en/document/libya-civilians-face-deep-suffering-long-conflict-fighting-forces-schools-health-facilities   Feb. 2020 (OCHA)   Libya is in its ninth year of instability and conflict following the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011. In 2019, escalations in conflict, in both the south and in the country's capital, Tripoli, saw fighting move into more populated urban areas. The use of explosive weapons in this environment has put civilians at high risk of indiscriminate harm. Civilian casualties, displacement and damage to civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, have increased. Protracted political and economic instability, which has severely impacted governance structures, has resulted in a significant deterioration in basic services provision. With each passing year, people's well-being and living standards have been eroded.   Ongoing conflict has increased the exposure of individuals to risks to life and safety due to violence, indiscriminate attacks and exposure to explosive remnants of war. Much of the conflict is characterized by its indiscriminate nature, with regular violations of international humanitarian and international human rights laws.   Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, particularly health infrastructure which doubled in 2019, are increasing. This year, at least 647 civilians have been killed or injured, the majority in Tripoli.   Insecurity and conflict remain the central driver of displacement. The number of IDPs has nearly doubled in 2019, with new displacement mostly from Tripoli and Murzuq. Of the more than 343,000 IDPs, many struggles to pay rent and/or live in substandard shelters. Those living in informal settlements are particularly vulnerable and are at high risk of eviction. Children are exposed to high levels of psychosocial distress and trauma.   Despite some improvements, 30 per cent of households report food affordability challenges. As a result, around 64 per cent of Libyan households and 78 per cent of migrant and refugee households report employing negative coping strategies to afford food, including reducing the number and size of meals per day, withdrawing children from schools, or selling their remaining assets.   Around 24 per cent of Libyans and 80 per cent of migrants and refugees, reported facing challenges accessing health services. Many public health care facilities are closed and those that are open lack medicines, supplies and equipment. Education and water, sanitation and hygiene services have also been disrupted.   Out of the 1.8 million people who have been affected by the crisis, more than 893,000 people are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. This includes 212,000 women and 268,000 boys and girls under 18 years of age.   http://reliefweb.int/report/libya/libya-humanitarian-needs-overview-2020-january-2020   July 2019   UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Libya, Maria Ribeiro, has also underlined the devastating impact of the violence on civilians:   'The United Nations condemns the escalation of violence that has reached to residential areas in Tripoli. Families in Tripoli are living in fear due to indiscriminate shelling landing in their neighbourhoods from afar with no knowledge of who is behind these attacks and where they are coming from. The violence is also forcing families to flee their homes and has caused damage to a number of medical facilities.   On behalf of the humanitarian community in Libya, I call on all parties to immediately refrain from the use of indiscriminate weapons in residential areas. I also underline to all parties their obligation under International Humanitarian Law to ensure the safety of civilian and civilian facilities and allow safe, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access to the affected areas. Over 1 million civilians remain in Tripoli and are at high risk in the midst of the ongoing conflict'.   http://bit.ly/2XowKd0 http://bit.ly/2LBdJNe http://bit.ly/2KYqRMT http://www.icrc.org/en/document/operational-update-libya-fierce-fighting-amid-fears-protracted-violence http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/childrens-lives-and-well-being-danger-fighting-intensifies-tripoli-libya http://www.msf.org/detained-refugees-trapped-libyan-families-flee-fighting-worsens-tripoli-libya http://reliefweb.int/country/lby Visit the related web page
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