AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
PRESS RELEASE
Sept. 30, 2009
New Amnesty International Report Charges Legal Loopholes Allow Questionable Arms Dealers to Obtain Defense Contracts
DoD Awarded Millions to Arms Intermediaries Accused of Breaking U.N. or E.U. Arms Embargos, Potentially Fueling Future Grave Human Rights Abuses
(Washington) -- Amnesty International published today a new report charging that millions of taxpayer dollars have landed in the hands of at least six arms dealers with problematic backgrounds who transferred arms abroad, due to loopholes in the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD) hiring of private contractors.
The six arms intermediaries examined in the report, Dealing with Arms Intermediaries: The Pentagon’s Missing Controls on Contractors Engaged in Arms Transfers, include Aerocom (Moldovan air cargo firm), Petr Bernatik (Czech arms broker), Irbis (Kazakhstan air cargo firm), Henrich Thomet (Swiss arms broker), Bao Ping Ma / Poly Technologies (Chinese arms broker and manufacturing firm) and Tomislav Damnjanovic (Serbian arms broker and freight forwarder).
Some of the above are listed by the United Nations as being involved in violating U.N. arms embargos on Angola and Liberia. One was previously accused of trafficking rocket-propelled grenades to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Another’s agent has been indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury for smuggling weapons into the United States for use by organized crime. Many of them have been involved in attempts to arm human rights violators.
"The fact that someone can be accused and/or indicted for U.S. or foreign arms trafficking and still receive American tax dollars to transfer weapons boggles the mind,” said Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA executive director. “This happens simply because DoD does not have a specific regulation that prohibits U.S. companies or individuals from subcontracting to questionable actors. DoD procedures in this vital area seem to be missing in action.”
However, the U.S. State Department’s Directorate for Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), which manages U.S. and foreign arms intermediaries involved in U.S. commercial arms exports, has established more stringent controls. DDTC automatically excludes individuals or companies that have been indicted for violating U.S. arms control laws, and it has a greater ability to prohibit others that are connected with U.N. arms embargo violations.
In many cases, however, DoD private contractors engaged in international arms transfers do not have to comply with DDTC’s controls if the transfer is government to government. Conversely, U.S. citizens and residents must be approved by DDTC to export or broker weapons to foreign entities. DoD’s new authorities for transferring arms such as, the Iraq Security Forces Fund and Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2006, have fewer controls than traditional U.S. government-to-government arms transfer programs, such as Foreign Military Sales, which are managed by DoD.
"While the U.S. government has made some efforts to prevent contracts with known arms traffickers in the last few years, there is a great risk that taxpayer dollars will continue to fund known violators of U.N. arms embargos and other profiteers of violent conflict," said Colby Goodman, the author of this report. "DoD needs to do more to avoid funding arms traffickers that often fuel grave human rights violations abroad by immediately closing these gaping loopholes."
The report also points out that DoD contracting officers are often not aware of all of the subcontractors before awarding an arms transfer contract, which inhibits them from knowing and preventing U.S. funds from going to known arms traffickers.
In one case, Taos Industries Inc., a major player in transferring weapons to Iraq for the DoD, said it unknowingly used DoD funds toward subcontracting a charter cargo airline, Aerocom, with a previous record of funneling arms to Liberia, at the time under a U.N. arms embargo. When Amnesty International later asked U.S. military officials in Iraq if they had received the weapons from Aerocom; the officials could not account for them or that the delivery had ever been made.
The report also highlights the actions of the arms dealer, Thomet, after receiving DoD funds. In one deal, Thomet reportedly worked with the U.S.-based company Ohio Ordnance to ship machine gun parts purchased from Zimbabwe to the United States. This was despite U.S. sanctions on transactions with the Zimbabwean supplier, Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), and those that support ZDI.
Among its recommendations, Amnesty International USA urged the U.S. Department of Defense to:
1) Stipulate that DoD will not hire any prime contractor or subcontractor where there is credible evidence that they have been involved in: a) violating U.S. or foreign national laws related to arms control; b) breaking regional or global arms embargoes established by the U.N., E.U., or other multilateral bodies; or, c) helping transfer arms to entities that have engaged in gross violations of international human rights or humanitarian law
2) Create mechanisms to help identify known arms traffickers such as an internal watch list similar to the one created and maintained by the State Department’s DDTC
3) Require DoD prime contractors bidding for any arms transfer contract to list all of their subcontractors at every tier, including arms brokers, before receiving an award
4) Add a clause in DoD arms transfer contracts when DoD uses its new authorities to train and equip foreign security forces that prime contractors must get a license or approval from the State Department’s DDTC in order to receive funds.
“The egregious oversight by DoD to not review U.S. prime contractors’ partners at all levels involved in the U.S. government’s weapons program can be easily corrected with a simple solution,” said Cox. “All companies and individuals at every level must be reviewed and certified by DoD. Let’s ensure Americans’ hard-earned money doesn’t go into the hands of those who help fuel harm against innocent civilians around the globe.”
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
To receive the full embargoed report, Dealing with Arms Intermediaries: The Pentagon's Missing Controls on Private Contractors Engaged in Arms Transfers, please contact the AIUSA media office at 202.544.0200 x302.
For more information, please visit: www.amnestyusa.org
# # #
Make a difference!
» Protect Human Rights in Colombia
