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ARMS TRADE

1. Top 5 arms producersi. Lockheed Martin (US)ii. Bae Systems (UK)

BAE Systems has been under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, into the use of

political corruption to help sell arms to Libya, Chile, Czech Republic, Romania, SaudiArabia, South Africa, Tanzania and Qatar. an embarrassing admission. In September2009, the Serious Fraud Office announced that it intended to prosecute BAE Systemsfor offences relating to overseas corruption.The Guardian claimed that a penaltypossibly of more than 500m might be an acceptable settlement package. On 5February 2010, BAE Systems agreed to pay 257m criminal fines to the US and 30mto the UK. The UK already massively benefited from 43 billion contract in taxreceipts and jobs in the UK, and had dropped an anti-corruption investigation into theAl Yamamah contracts later taken up by US authorities. On 2 March 2010 CampaignAgainst Arms Trade and The Corner House were successful in gaining a High Courtinjunction on the Serious Fraud Office's settlement with BAE. The High Court mayorder a full review of the settlement.

iii. Boeing (US)iv. Northrop Gunman (US)

U.S. State Department investigators found that Litton Industries, a subsidiary ofNorthrop Grumman, provided portions of the computer source code ofAir Force Oneto a company in Russia in 1998. Northrop Grumman agreed to pay a $15 million finefor 110 violations, occurring between September 1998 and November 1998, of theArms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). TheITAR violations centered around guidance and navigation system interfaceinformation unique to Air Force One. Additionally, documents filed by the StateDepartment state that between 1994 and 2003, Northrop Grumman failed to notifythe U.S. State Department about the computer guidance systems also beingtransferred to Angola, Indonesia, Israel, China, Ukraine and Yemen

v. General Dynamics (US)

2. Arms Trade TreatyArms trade treaty is a potential multilateral treaty that would regulate theinternational trade in conventional weapons and will be negotiated at a globalconference under the auspices of the United Nations from 2 - 27 July 2012 in New

York.

24 countries abstained: Bahrain, Belarus, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait,Laos, Libya, Marshall Islands, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia,Sudan, Syria, UAE, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. The United States of Americavoted against the resolution.

It would ensure that no transfer is permitted if there is substantial risk that it is likelyto:

be used in serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law,or acts of genocide or crimes against humanity;

facilitate terrorist attacks, a pattern of gender based violence, violent crime ororganised crime;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_Fraud_Office_(United_Kingdom)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Yamamahhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litton_Industrieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Onehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_Export_Control_Acthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_Fraud_Office_(United_Kingdom)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Yamamahhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litton_Industrieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Onehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_Export_Control_Acthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations

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violate UN Charter obligations, including UN arms embargoes; be diverted from its stated recipient; adversely affect regional security; or seriously impair poverty reduction or socioeconomic development.

Loopholes would be minimized. It would include:

all weaponsincluding all military, security and police arms, related equipmentand ammunition, components, expertise, and production equipment;

all types of transferincluding import, export, re-export, temporary transferand transhipment, in the state sanctioned and commercial trade, plus transfersof technology, loans, gifts and aid; and

all transactionsincluding those by dealers and brokers, and those providingtechnical assistance, training, transport, storage, finance and security.

It must be workable and enforceable. It must:

provide guidelines for the treatys full, clear implementation; ensure transparencyincluding full annual reports of national arms transfers; have an effective mechanism to monitor compliance; ensure accountabilitywith provisions for adjudication, dispute settlement and

sanctions; include a comprehensive framework for international cooperation and

assistance.