Transparency saves lives

Conference begins in Geneva to define key issues about the workings of the Arms Trade Treaty

The Second Conference of States Parties to the ATT (Arms Trade Treaty), the only global agreement to regulate the purchase and sale of conventional arms and munitions – a category that includes everything from pistols to tanks and combat aircraft – started today, August 22, in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting brings together governments, companies and civil society to discuss key issues about the workings of the treaty, such as the model of the reports that must be submitted annually by countries and the measures that will be adopted to ensure the universalization of the treaty and the effective implementation of its provisions.

Despite being the world’s fourth largest exporter of small arms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2015, and being one of the first countries to sign the ATT, Brazil will play a supporting role at the conference. The country may comment in meetings, but it is not eligible to vote on the decisions about the workings of the treaty.

The marginalization of Brazil in the ATT is due to the delay in the approval process of the legislative decree ratifying the treaty. In the Executive alone, the official translation and its analysis by the various different ministries took 17 months. Until the treaty is ratified, Brazil will participate in the debates only as an observer.

Right now, the decree is being analyzed by the Public Security and Combat of Organized Crime Committee and the Constitution and Justice Committee of the Lower House of Congress. In this second committee, it has already received a favorable report recommending its approval from the rapporteur, Congressman Bruno Covas. If approved in the committees, it will proceed to the floor of the Lower House and then to the Senate before returning to the Executive for the process to be concluded.

What Brazil thinks

During the opening session of the conference this morning, Neil Benevides, deputy permanent representative of Brazil to the UN Conference on Disarmament, stated that the ATT should “respect national sovereign decisions and the existence of sensitive aspects related to this specific trade”, in reference to the mandatory presentation of annual public reports by countries with details of international transfers of arms and munitions.

Benevides also defended that the priority of States Parties and signatories should be the universalization of the agreement, “to encourage the accession of countries to the treaty, especially the major arms exporting States, with a view to avoiding loopholes and the perpetuation of negative effects caused by unregulated international trade”.

Click here to read the full address by the representative of Brazil.

According to Jefferson Nascimento, adviser to the Foreign Policy program at Conectas, “it is serious that Brazil gives only limited support to the total transparency of the mandatory reports, since they are key to the primary objective of the ATT, which is to ensure the responsibility of international transactions”. “It is not the first time that we have heard this weak argument that information on the sale of arms is sensitive for commercial reasons. In practice, the argument for exceptionalism only serves to justify the opaqueness of this market and it has a harmful effect on the population because it prevents the effective control of the flow of arms,” he explained.

Nascimento also commented on Benevides’ reference to the need for the universalization of the ATT. “This is undoubtedly a fundamental aspect for the treaty to be effective, but it is notable that Brazil is so vocal on this matter when it has itself still not managed to ratify the agreement. We can no longer hide behind bureaucratic procedures to justify a position that is essentially political,” said Nascimento. He mentioned, by comparison, the ratification in less than four months of the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Lack of transparency

In all, 87 countries have already ratified the ATT – among them major producers and exporters of small arms, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. By joining the treaty, which has been in effect since December 2014, they agreed to prepare annual reports detailing their imports, exports and donations. This is important because the only control exercised by the UN prior to the treaty was voluntary and marked by under-reporting.

Human rights organizations that for years have supported the creation of the ATT claim that, with more transparency, it will be possible to identify and control States that supply arms and munitions to conflict zones and authoritarian governments, as well as curb trafficking and illegal diversion, such as resale to countries under embargo.

This aspect is especially relevant in Brazil’s case. The country is one of the world’s leading manufacturers, but it stands in 43rd place in the transparency ranking of the Small Arms Survey, which evaluates 49 countries that have reported annual small arms exports of at least US$10 million at least once since 2001. In the index of 25,000 available points (the higher the number, the greater the transparency), Brazil has just 7,000 points – the same score as China – and comes behind countries such as Russia, Mexico and Pakistan.

According to data compiled by the UN based on information from the federal government and from other countries, the value of Brazilian arms and munitions exports has grown 171.4% since 2006, reaching US$364.7 million in 2015.

While the importance of the arms industry has grown exponentially for Brazil, the national policy that regulates international transfers has remained the same. Known as PNEMEN (National Export Policy for Military Equipment), the policy was created in 1974 during the military dictatorship and remains secret to this day.

Campaign for the ratification of the ATT

In May, a coalition formed by five Brazilian organizations launched a campaign to pressure Congress to ratify the ATT. Conectas, Amnesty International, Dhesarme, the Igarapé Institute and the Sou da Paz Institute argue that the treaty will prevent Brazilian arms and munitions from being used by genocidal governments or from supplying terrorism, while also making it more difficult for illegal weapons to reenter Brazil and fuel urban violence in the country.

Click here to visit the campaign page.

Brazilian weapons have been found in Ivory Coast, in Africa, in spite of the arms embargo that restricted the sale of these materials to the country. There are also signs of Brazilian arms being used in Yemen, in the Middle East, where at least 3,000 people have been killed since March 2015, according to data from the UN.