Guns and Human Rights: Major Powers, Global Arms Transfers, and Human Rights Violations

In the recent past, there have been countless instances of arms transfers to countries with problematic human rights records, many of which have been cited in the reports of various advocacy groups. However, so far, the amount of research classifying these flows has been limited. This study examines the trends between 1999 and 2003 in arms transfer to countries with poor human rights records, as well as the reasons for continuation of these transfers. It puts forward two major arguments for these transfers to such countries. First, the national and international codes ostensibly "prohibiting" transfers to these countries are crafted in a way that eventually plays into the hands of the countries and manufacturers that want to transfer. Second, the end of the Cold War has turned the arms transfer market into a buyer's market more than ever. The declining domestic military spending experienced in most of the seller countries has forced arms manufacturers to pursue markets beyond their borders, sometimes even illegally and illicitly.