The Black Sea region is experiencing a changing military balance. The six littoral states (Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine) intensified their efforts to build up their military potential after Russia’s takeover of Crimea and the start of the internationalized civil war in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Despite the imposition of Western arms embargoes on China in 1989, China’s efforts to modernize its defence forces’ industrial and technological capabilities have continued to benefit from the transfer of military-relevant Western goods and technologies, including military goods, dual-use items (goods and technologies that have the potential to be used in both civilian and military products) and other non-controlled items.
Despite the imposition of Western arms embargoes on China in 1989, China’s efforts to modernize its defence forces’ industrial and technological capabilities have continued to benefit from the transfer of military-relevant Western goods and technologies, including military goods, dual-use items (goods and technologies that have the potential to be used in both civilian and military products) and other non-controlled items.
This Background Paper discusses violence against health workers and facilities in complex security environments, including armed conflict.
Although South Korea began to establish its export control system in the 1980s, conflicting domestic and international pressures meant that it was not fully implemented. Today, South Korea—now a major player in the global market and a major producer of dual-use items—has successfully implemented and is further improving its export control system.
Israel accounted for less than 1 per cent of transfers of major weapons to sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2006–10. Deliveries consisted mainly of small numbers of artillery, unmanned aerial vehicles, armoured vehicles and patrol craft. However, in addition to major weapons, Israel also supplied small arms and light weapons, military electronics and training to several countries in the region. Israeli weapons, trainers and brokers have been observed in numerous African trouble spots and may play a bigger role than their numbers imply.
The drafting of an arms trade treaty (ATT) represents a unique opportunity to define common state responsibilities for exercising control over the different stages of the arms transfer process and, as a result, prevent illicit and destabilizing arms transfers. Import controls represent a vital tool for helping to prevent cases of illicit diversion. They can also enable importer countries to play their part in preventing arms from being used to fuel conflicts or facilitate human rights abuses.
The drafting of an arms trade treaty (ATT) represents a unique opportunity to define common state responsibilities for exercising control over the different stages of the arms transfer process and, as a result, prevent illicit and destabilizing arms transfers. A large proportion of arms transfers transit through third countries. Therefore transit controls provide opportunities to strengthen state control at a stage when arms shipments are particularly vulnerable to diversion to illicit markets.