Arms Brokering

For over a decade now, international attention has focused on the role of the so-called arms brokers in both the licit and illicit (small) arms trade. Generally speaking, arms brokers are "middlemen who organize arms transfers between two or more parties," including buyers, sellers, transporters, financiers and insurers.

Arms brokering is not an illicit activity per se. However, research during the past years has shown that brokers have been central in transfering weapons to illicit or undesirable users or destinations. These have included, for example, countries under UN or other embargo, armed groups, repressive governments and zones of conflict.

When facilitating illicit deals, arms brokers rely on a general lack of governmental control and screening over their activities. Around the world, very few countries have enacted specific measures for the regulation of such activities. This means that, unlike other arms trade actors - notably, importers and exporters - brokers have so far operated with few, if any, constraints.

At the international level, increasing awareness of the problems posed by unregulated brokering and greater knowledge about the latter's dynamics and techniques have spurred a variety of political initiatives. These have aimed at creating common understandings on the nature of the problem and on possible ways to prevent it. In a few instances, these initiatives have generated explicit commitments - whether political or legal - for governments to enact specifically targeted control measures.

At the United Nations level, efforts to identify “steps to enhance international cooperation in preventing, combating and eradicating illicit brokering” in [SALW] have led to the establishment of a Group of Governmental Experts that met in three sessions between November 2006 and June 2007 (mandate conferred with GA resolution 60/81, 8 December 2005). In its report —presented to the General Assembly in August 2007 (UN doc. A/62/163)— the Group reiterated the concern with the mostly unregulated nature of activities by brokers, dealers and shippers, whose actions sometimes feed into the illicit small arms trade and thus represent a risk for international peace and security, economic and social development as well as for the safety of individuals.

The report contained recommendations for action at both national and international levels. These related to, inter alia : the establishment of adequate domestic legal frameworks, possibly integrated into the broader national regimes for arms export controls; information sharing on a bilateral and/or multilateral basis, for instance to allow cross-checking of documentation submitted in brokering license applications; interstate judicial cooperation (e.g. in evidence gathering for “purposes of investigation and prosecution”); and voluntary national reporting specifically relating the arms brokering.

 
 
 

Illicit Arms Brokering

Thanks to their expertise and networks, arms brokers are common intermediaries in arms deals. Generally speaking, they bring together a variety of actors in the arms market for the setting up and conclusion of an arms deal. Specifically, they perform seven main types of activities that range from deal intermediation to the identification of potential buyers, sellers, and weapons sources.

Arms brokering is not an illegal activity per se. However, research during the past years has shown that brokers have been central in transferring arms, including small arms and light weapons, to illicit or otherwise undesirable users. These have included countries under a UN or other arms embargo, zones of conflict, repressive governments and armed groups.
 
 
 

National Arms Brokering Controls

Around the world, fewer than 40 countries have adopted legislation specifically intended to monitor and control the activities of arms brokers. In the majority of cases, then, arms brokering is entirely unregulated. Even among countries with controls in place, important differences remain, and international cooperation and exchange of information among relevant national authorities seriously lags behind.

This general lack of regulation and international cooperation/harmonization has allowed brokers mediating illicit arms transfers to operate with very few constraints and low risks of being detected or punished.
 
 
 

International Initiatives on Brokering

At the international level, the issue of illicit arms brokering has drawn considerable attention during the past decade. Particularly with regard to the brokerage of small arms and light weapons, a variety of initiatives have been taken up in multilateral and regional fora. These have led to the adoption of explicit commitments for states to enact adequate national controls and to improve international cooperation in order to detect and prevent illicit brokering activities.
 
 
 

The United Nations and Illicit Brokering

At the United Nations level, the question of unregulated arms brokering and its critical role in the transfer of weapons - including small arms and light weapons - including small arms and light weapons - to conflict zones and/or illicit recipients goes back at least a decade. From 1995 - when the issue first surfaced in UN Panel investigations on violations of SC-mandated arms embargoes - to date, a number of steps have been taken within the UN. Here is an essential chronology:

• In 1995, the first reports of the International Commission of Inquiry - established to investigate implementation of the arms embargo against the Rwandan government forces - unveiled the role of a complex network of actors, including brokers, in providing arms to genocide perpetrators. Similar conclusions were reached by UN Panels (or Groups) of Experts tasked with investigaging violations of UNSC arms embargoes in, among others, Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Somalia, among others.
• The UN Panel of Experts on Small Arms - appointed in 1995 and reporting in 1997 - requested the United Nations to initiate a study on "The feasibility of restricting the manufacture and trade of small arms and light weapons to the manufacturers and dealers authorized by States, and of establishing a database of such authorized manufacturers and dealers."
• The related Group of Governmental Experts was established in 1999 and reported to the General Assembly in 2001. The Group concluded that states should adopt adequate national controls and an appropriate level of international cooperation in order to prevent the problems posed by unregulated brokering in relation to the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
• Provisions for the control of brokering activities were inserted in both the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Componentes and Ammunition, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.
• In 2003, the United Nations decided to initiate "broad-based consultations on further steps to enhance international cooperation in preventing, combating and eradicating illicit brokering in small arms and light weapons." Eight meetings were held between 2004 and 2005 at the United Nations Headquarters of Geneva and New York.
• With resolution 60/81 (2006), the UN General Assembly decided to appoint a Group of Governmental Experts tasked with considering "further steps to enhance international cooperation in preventing, combating and eradicating illicit brokering in small arms and light weapons." The Group met in three sessions - between November 2007 and June 2007 - and reported to the General Assembly in August 2007 (UN doc A/62/163).