The International Responsibility of Governments for the Actions of ‎Non- governmental Groups through the Transfer of Weapons ‎According to the Arms Trade Treaty

Ebrahimi Erami, Keyvan; Najandimanesh, Heybatollah; Mohebi, Mohsen

doi:10.22059/jplsq.2023.359896.3325

Articles in Press

Document Type : Article

Authors

¹ Ph.D. Studenta in Public International Law, Faculty of Law, Theology and Political Science, ‎Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.‎

² Assistant Professor, Public and International Law Department, Allameh Tabatabai University, ‎Tehran, Iran. ‎

³ Assistant Professor, Department of public and International Law, Faculty of Law, Theology and ‎Political Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran‎

https://doi.org/10.22059/jplsq.2023.359896.3325

Abstract

Arms transfer is one of the important issues for the international community, because uncontrolled transfer leads to armed conflicts and insecurity. Therefore, the Arms Trade Treaty (2013) specifically regulates the conditions of the international transfer of conventional weapons and imposes obligations on the transferring government. Despite this, not paying attention to the issue of transferring weapons to non-governmental groups is one of the criticisms, because the transferred weapons are often used to severely violate human rights and humanitarian rights. Therefore, the current research is trying to answer the question of the international responsibility of governments in transferring weapons to non-governmental groups with a descriptive-analytical method. The findings of the research show that governments are not allowed to transfer weapons under the arms trade treaty, if it violates their obligations in the charter or international agreements or if they knew that these weapons are used in committing international crimes or terrorist acts. As a result, a government that is aware of the occurrence of an international criminal act and aids or assists in committing or facilitating it by transferring weapons, violates its obligations to prevent international crimes and causes the international responsibility of that government as an aiding or assisting that in this case, has effects including compensation.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Public International Law

References

English
1. A) Books
2. Casey-Maslen, S. (2014). Weapons under International Human Rights Law. Cambridge University Press.
3. Clapham, A. (2006). Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors. Oxford University Press.
4. Kendall, S. (2016). Beyond the ICC: State Responsibility for the Arms Trade in Africa. In: Africa and the ICC: Perceptions of Justice. Cambridge University Press
5. Shaw, N. Malcolm (2014). International Law. Cambridge University, 7th edition.
6. Parker, S. (2014). Breaking new ground? The Arms Trade Treaty, in Small Arms Survey 2014: Women and Guns. Cambridge University Press.
7. Worster, W. T. (2014). The Arms Trade Treaty Regime In International Institutional Law. The Hague University of Applied Sciences - International Law.
1. B) Articles
2. Alaraby, M., & Müller, A. (2020). Countering Illicit Arms Transfers in the Mena Region: The Case of Yemen and Libya. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 1-11.
3. Alley, R. (2022). Traded Without Restraint? Transfers of Small Arms and Light Weapons. Security and human Rights, 1-23.
4. Bellal, A., Casey-Maslen, S., Giacca, G. (2011). Implications of International Law for a Future Arms Trade Treaty. UNIDIR Resources, Ideas for Peace and Security, 1-26. <http://unidir.org/pdf/activites/pdf17-act537.pdf>.
5. Bromund, T. R. (2012). The Risks the Arms Trade Treaty poses to the Sovereignty of United States. The Heritage Foundation, leadership for America, Isue Brief, (3622), 1-3.
6. Carlos Federico Domínguez Avila; Deywisson Ronaldo de Souza; Marcos Aurélio Guedes (2017). Arms Transfer Policies and International Security: the Case of Brazilian-Swedish Co-operation. Contexto Internacional, (39), 135-156.
7. Clapham, A., Casey-Maslen, S., Giacca, G., Parker, S. (2013). The Arms Trade Treaty. Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, 1-44.
8. Commonwealth Secretariat (2017). The Arms Trade Treaty and international humanitarian law: a Commonwealth perspective., Commonwealth Law Bulletin, 33(3-4), 533-544.
9. Crovetto, L., Caponigro, D. (2016). Implication and Consequences of the ATT. Politikon the IAPSS Academic journal, (29), 25-37.
10. Tamara, E. (2017). Controlling Arms Transfers to Non-State Actors: From the Emergence of the Sovereign-State System to the Present. The Journal of Research Institute for the History of Global Arms Transfer, (3), 3-20.
11. Fukui, Y. (2015). The Arms Trade Treaty: Puruit for the Effective Control of Arms Transfer. Journal of Conflict & Security Law, 20(2), 301-321.
12. Gustavo Mauricio Bastien Olvera (2009). "Non-states Actors and Human Rights: The Case of Arms Manufactures. Amsterdam Law forum, (3), 114-119.
13. Henderson, S. (2017). The Arms Trade Treaty: Responsibility to Protect in Action?. global responsibility to protect, 9(2), 147-172.
14. Katja, LH S., Cassius, G. C. (2018). Closing the ‘Intangible Technology Transfer’ Gap within the Existing Legal Frameworks: Time for an Additional Protocol(s)?. Groningen Journal of International Law, 6 (1), 85-109.
15. Kellman, B. (2014). Controlling the Arms Trade: One Important Stride for Humankind. Fordham International Law Journal, 37(3), 687-732.
16. Lanovoy, Vladyslav (2014). Complicity in an Internationally Wrongful Act. the Amsterdam Center for International Law, SHARES Research Paper 38, 1-32.
17. Nave, Eva (2019). The Importance of the Aerms Tade Treaty for the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Journal of Conflict & Security Law, 24(2), 297-324.
18. Sharma, G., Finaud, M. (2019). The Arms Trade Treaty and Asia’s Major Power Defiance. Geneva Centre for Security Policy, (6), 1-12.
19. Smith, C. (2008). Weapon transfers to non-state armed groups. Disarmament Forum, (1), 45-51.
20. Stavrianakis, A. (2016). Legitimising liberal militarism: politics, law and war in the Arms Trade Treaty. Third World Quarterly, 37(5), 840-865.
21. Sabel, R. (2008). Weapons to non-state armed groups—back to Westphalia?. Disarmament Forum, (1), 5-16.
22. Zwijsen, S., Kanetake, M., & Ryngaert, C. (2020). The Law of State Responsibility and the Arms Trade Treaty. verdieping, 151-160.
References In Persian:
1. A) Books
2. Sharifi Tarzkohi, Hossein (2010). International Humanitarian Law.Tehran, Mizan Publications, ch. 1 (In Persian).
3. Ebrahimgol, Alireza (2012). International Responsibility of the Government. Tehran, Shahr Danesh Publications, ch. 9 (In Persian).
1. B) Articles
2. Tadini, Abbas & Kazrooni, Seyed Mustafa (2014). Comparative study of the international legal system governing the conventional arms trade at the level of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. Journal of Legal Studies of Shiraz University, Volume 7, Number 4, pp. 30-1 (In Persian).
3. Haddadi, Mehdi (2017). Assistance in committing an international criminal act of the government in the 2001 plan of international responsibility of the government. Legal Studies, Volume 10, Number 4, pp. 2-30 (In Persian).
4. Hakimiha, Saeed (2016). Evaluating the limits of governments' commitment to prevent and cooperate in fighting international crimes with an emphasis on the Arms Trade Treaty. Public Law Studies Quarterly, Volume 46, Number 4, pp. 1026 -1003 (In Persian).
5. Sobhani, Mohin & Bagheri, Nadia (2019). The nature and types of deputy responsibility in international criminal courts. Legal Studies Quarterly, Volume 12, Number 2, pp. 131-162 (In Persian).
6. Satishpour, Mohammad & Abdini, Abdullah (2015). Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iran in the imposed war: derivative responsibility of the United States of America. Public Law Research Quarterly, year 17, number 50, pp. 143-168 (In Persian).
7. Shafiei, Nozer & Dolatkhah, Zahra (2012). Explaining the effective factors in the formation of the Arms Trade Treaty. Strategy Quarterly, year 22, number 69, pp. 141-173 (In Persian).
8. Azizi, Sattar & Karimi, Siamak (2015), "Derivative international liability resulting from aid or assistance with emphasis on the case of cluster munitions use in Yemen", Public Law Research Quarterly, year 18, number 51, pp. 134- 109 (In Persian).
9. Askari, Pouria & Hosseinnejad, Ketayoun (2016). Arms Trade Treaty in the Ups and Downs of Conclusion and Implementation: A Comparative Study with the General Standards of International Law. Comparative Law Research, Volume 20, Number 1, pp. 174- 151 (In Persian).
10. Foroughi, Fazlullah; Ghani, Keyvan & Mirzaei, Mohammad (2015). Preventing a situation of nuclear terrorism with an emphasis on monitoring measures. Criminal Law Research, Year 4, Number 14, pp. 83-113 (In Persian).
11. Mohammadi, Sidhadadi & Sadaqat, Sidmakan (2014). Conventional Arms Control According to the Arms Trade Treaty. New Perspectives in Human Geography, No. 27, pp. 223-246 (In Persian).

The International Responsibility of Governments for the Actions of ‎Non- governmental Groups through the Transfer of Weapons ‎According to the Arms Trade Treaty

References

References

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript Available Online from 21 December 2024

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 21 December 2024