International Arms Trade and Military Training

There is clear evidence that the international transfer of arms or the training of foreign security forces can provide repressive governments and abusive armed groups with the means to carry out or intensify gross human rights violations. By encouraging governments to act responsibly in this area, Amnesty International USA seeks to prevent or minimize gross violations or abuses of humanitarian and human rights law.

Take Action

US Weapons in Gaza

Stop Investigate misuse of US weapons in Gaza and stop arms transfers to Israel

Amnesty International researchers came across many US made white phosphorus artillery carrier shells, and fragments of other US produced weapons, throughout Gaza. We consider the repeated use of white phosphorus in densely-populated civilian areas a form of indiscriminate attack, and amounts to a war crime.

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Sudan arms action

Stop Ruthless Arms Brokers that Fuel Deadly Conflicts

Ruthless arms brokers have been at the center of many of the most disturbing arms deals, including weapons transfers to abusive armed groups and countries under U.N. arms embargoes. Many of these merchants of death remain free and unhindered, and continue to traffic arms to human rights abusers. Urge your Member of Congress to press the Bush Administration to support a strong global agreement on arms brokering to better enforce U.S. law and halt this global threat to human rights. » More actions

News and Updates:
• Read Amnesty International USA's press release about our new report entitled "Blood at the Crossroads: Making the Case for an Arms Trade Treaty."
•Play the Control Arms Campaign's new game where you get to trash bombs sent to conflict zones and take action to stop irresponsible and illegal international arms transfers.
• Are you a U.S. Senator or Representative? If so, sign up for the Parliamentary Declaration in support of the Arms Trade Treaty here

Human Rights Goals

Prevent arms transfers from reaching Darfur

Arms are still being transferred to Darfur, Sudan for military operations in which extremely serious violations and abuse of human rights and international humanitarian law are committed by the Sudanese government, the government-backed Janjawid militias and armed opposition groups. There is a high risk that weapons supplied to Sudan from China and Russia and Iran, Belarus, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have been used to commit or support human rights abuses in Darfur. Amnesty International is urgently calling upon the international community to adopt steps to expand and strengthen the implementation of the UN arms embargo and stem the flow of arms to Darfur. Amnesty also calls for all governments to immediately suspend arms transfers to all parties involved in the conflict in Darfur.

Latest News:

» AIUSA's Executive Director, Larry Cox's letter on Darfur Embargo(PDF)
» Amnesty International’s August 24, 2007 Press Release: Sudan: New photographs show further breach of UN arms embargo on Darfur
» Amnesty's May 2007 Report: Sudan: arms continuing to fuel serious human rights violations in Darfur

Amnesty's September 2008 Report: Blood at the Crossroads: Making the Case for an Arms Trade Treaty (pages 80-96)

Eye on U.S. Approved Arms Transfers to Iraq

In a May 2006 report, Amnesty International raised serious questions about U.S. government efforts to ensure weapons transfers to Iraq reach the intended user. For example, Amnesty International discovered that the U.S. company Taos Inc. subcontracted the company Aerocom, which had previously been listed as violating the UN arms embargo on Liberia, to transport thousands of arms from Bosnia to Iraq between July 2004 and July 2005. In addition, U.S. military air traffic controllers in Iraq said no landing slots were requested by Aerocom to touch down in Iraq. Based on a letter Amnesty International USA sent to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in September 2006, the DoD is now investigating the case.

For more information, click on the items below:

» Amnesty letter sent to DoD
» Response to the letter

Read chapter eight of Amnesty International's report entitled » Dead on Time - arms transportation, brokering and the threat to human rights.

Add Safeguards to DoD's New, Global Train & Equip Authority

Amnesty International is concerned that future U.S. arms transfers and military training under the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) new, global train and equip authority may fuel serious human rights violations and deadly conflict unless critical safeguards are added. Since 2006, this DoD authority, often referred to as Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act, has been used to furnish arms and military training to over 40 foreign militaries, several of which have gross human rights records and/or involved in armed conflicts such as Sri Lanka and Chad. The authority also appears to exempt DoD from several critical protections included in U.S. laws and regulations that other, traditional U.S. authorities to provide arms and military training must comply with.

For more information, check out:

» Amnesty's Issue Brief entitled U.S. Defense Departments Global “Train & Equip” Authority Lacks Critical Safeguards

Letter Amnesty co-signed encouraging the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a hearing on the issue

Stop Violence Against Women by Foreign Security Forces

One of the most common threats to human security worldwide is Gender Based Violence (GBV), including sexual assault, trafficking, and domestic abuse. While private individuals and groups represent a significant proportion of the GBV perpetrators, a disturbing number of those mandated to protect women – peacekeepers, soldiers, gendarmeries, and police – target women and girls for violence or fail to prevent women from violence. In order to address this problem, AIUSA is supporting U.S. legislation entitled the International Violence Against Women Act (S. 2279), which provides $8 million to the U.S. government to train foreign security forces on the prevention of GBV.

For more information and to take action on the International Violence Against Women Act, click here.

Building Support for an Arms Trade Treaty

Control Arms representatives give the Million Faces Petition to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

In October 2003, Amnesty joined forces with Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) to create the Control Arms Campaign. As a part of this effort, the campaign is calling for an international, legally-binding Arms Trade Treaty to ease the suffering caused by irresponsible conventional weapons transfers. Since late 2003, the campaign has gathered the support of over one million people worldwide for an Arms Trade Treaty. In December 2006, 153 governments voted at the United Nations to start work on developing an international Arms Trade Treaty.

For more information, go to these resources:
» Read a letter 15 U.S. Senators sent to Secretary Rice about the Arms Trade Treaty
» Visit the Control Arms Campaign website
» Find information on global guidelines on the international transfer of small arms and light weapons