Exports without transparency

Yet to ratify the ATT, Brazil is now the world’s third largest small arms exporter

In 2014, Brazil sold the equivalent of US$591 million in small arms and became the world’s third largest exporter. The data feature in the Small Arms Survey Trade Update and were presented this Wednesday, September 13, during the Third Conference of States Parties to the ATT (Arms Trade Treaty), an event that is being attended this year by nearly 100 countries in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the course of the international trade in conventional arms and munitions. In 2013, Brazil was one of the first countries to sign the ATT, but it has still not ratified the treaty.

In the previous report, containing data from 2013, Brazil was in fourth place, with total exports of US$387 million. After this latest update, the country overtook Germany and now comes behind only the United States and Italy, respectively the top and second ranking countries.

Despite this significant volume of arms exports, Brazil is still one of the least transparent countries when it comes to the arms trade. In the ranking of transparency in arms exports, which was also released during the conference, the country came in 39th place out of 49 countries.

“After the release of these new data, Brazil’s obligation to ratify the ATT is even clearer. The State needs to produce data transparently so civil society and international regulatory bodies can monitor the trade flows of Brazilian arms. This would prevent Brazilian weapons from being found in conflicts that cause serious human rights violations,” explained Jefferson Nascimento, foreign policy adviser at Conectas.

The ATT is the first global treaty to regulate international transfers of conventional weapons. When ratifying the treaty, States agree to monitor international weapons transfers transparently and prevent their arms from being used to violate restrictions established in the UN Charter, to commit war crimes or crimes against humanity, genocide, transnational crimes (including drug trafficking, arms trafficking and terrorism) and serious human rights violations.

The text of the ATT is currently pending in Congress. Last week, the Public Security and Combat of Organized Crime Committee of the Lower House approved a report endorsing its ratification. The text now proceeds to the house floor and then to the Senate.

Sign and share the petition: www.paraondevaoasarmas.org.br