SIPRI Insights No. 2008/3: Stemming destabilizing arms transfers

Air safety regulations are an underutilized but potentially promising tool for stemming the flow of destabilizing arms transfers. The recently released 'SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security' examines the impact of EU air safety regulations on the activities of air cargo operators that are suspected of being involved in destabilizing arms transfers. It presents new statistics showing that 80 air carriers covered by EU air safety regulations since 2006 have been previously named in United Nations or other reports on arms trafficking. The report also shows that air carriers involved in destabilizing arms transfers consistently violate international air safety regulations, increasing their chance of being caught by the EU air safety controls.

This SIPRI Insight is part of an on-going study by the Countering Illicit Trafficking-Mechanism Assessment Project (CIT-MAP) at SIPRI.