Global Policy Forum

By Richard Norton-Taylor

Arms supplied by G8 countries are being used by regimes that violate human rights, impoverish their people and fight their neighbors, a report by leading development agencies and campaigners warns today. The report urges G8 leaders, who meet in Scotland next week, to take immediate steps to control the trade and support a British proposal for a global arms trade treaty that will close loopholes allowing governments and dealers to bypass existing controls.

The G8 countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US - account for 84% of all worldwide arms supplies, according to the report, published by Amnesty, Oxfam, and the International Action Network on Small Arms and titled The G8: Global Arms Exporters. "The G8 states have a special responsibility for leadership in addressing the world's security problems," it says.

Both France and Germany have exported arms to countries which are meant to be subject to an EU arms embargo such as Burma, China, and Sudan. Russia, too, sells arms to Sudan as well as to Ethiopia and Iran. Canada sells military equipment to the US which uses them in weapons exported to countries, such as Colombia, which the Canadian government would not have approved, says the report.

In other examples, the report notes that despite severe internal repression by the Kenyan police, France has exported tear gas to the country - a trade suspended by Britain. Italy has sold small arms to Algeria, as has Japan, a country which officially "does not export any arms whatsoever". Japan in fact exports a significant number of small arms, including to Algeria, the Lebanon, and the Philippines, according to the report.

Britain is increasingly approving open-ended arms sales licenses, including armored vehicles to Algeria, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - where armed forces and police have committed persistent human rights violations. The US continues to export a wide rage of military equipment to Israel and is increasing its military assistance to Pakistan despite risking an arms race with India.

Six of the G8 countries are in the top 10 arms exporters in a trade valued at $28.7bn (£15.7bn) a year - "a paltry sum compared to the human, security, and development costs", says the report - and all export large amounts of conventional or small arms. Many of the G8 countries are large donors to aid programs in Africa and Asia, notes the report. "However, continuing arms transfers to developing countries undermine their pledges to relieve debt, combat Aids, alleviate poverty, tackle corruption and promote good governance."

Arms sales to unaccountable and poorly trained military forces are used to suppress human rights, encouraging the brutal exploitation of resources and environmental degradation, it says. It notes: "Large numbers of women and girls are at risk of armed violence, whether they are directly involved in the fighting or dealing with the emotional, social, and economic consequences of the loss of male relatives."

"Given the effects of weapons misuse, it is shocking how few governments give serious thought to the impact on development and human rights of their arms exports. And for the few that do, it has yet to become a genuine priority."

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