Controlling international Arms Transfers

The need for states to exercise control over international transfers of conventional weapons is widely accepted. National governments remain ultimately responsible for permitting or denying the transfer of arms and military equipment. Although the need to avoid supplying arms to zones of conflict or tension and contribute to destabilizing accumulations are considered in arms export decision making processes, domestic economic and political implications, as well as foreign and security policy priorities, continue to play an important role in decision-making. Nevertheless, discussions are underway within the framework of the UN for a global, legally binding Arms Trade Treaty. 

Groups of states have agreed guidelines and common minimum standards for regulating international arms transfers in supplier control regimes as well as in regional and sub-regional organisations and groupings. The participating states of the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as well as the member states of the European Union (EU), have agreed common standards and adopted guidelines for controlling their arms exports. Regional organisations ECOWAS, the OSCE, OAS, SADC, as well as regional groupings of states in Eastern and Central Africa, have also adopted transfer control measures to prevent the illicit trade in SALW. 

UN arms embargoes are the only global, legally binding prohibitions on arms transfers. Several regional organisations also impose arms embargoes on targets that are not subject to UN arms embargoes as a means of coercing a change in target behaviour. 

SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme researchers analyse developments relating to international efforts to control international arms transfers in the SIPRI Yearbook and other publications. They conduct research projects and consultancies to strengthen efforts to implement transfer controls and combat illicit trafficking in all conventional arms, including SALW. 

For more information on SIPRI’s work on national export control systems, please click here >>