V. Human rights, the European Union and dual-use export controls

Chapter:

15. Dual-use and arms trade controls

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2017

Author(s):

Sibylle Bauer

The application of human rights concerns has long been a widely accepted norm in the field of export controls for military equipment and the issue is referenced in the 2008 European Union (EU) Common Position on Arms Exports (EU Common Position), the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) Best Practice Guidelines and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The EU Common Position, among other things, requires EU member states to take account of human rights issues when granting export licences for military equipment and to deny an arms export licence if ‘there is a clear risk that the military technology or equipment to be exported might be used for internal repression’.¹ The WA recommends that exporting states consider whether there is ‘a clearly identifiable risk that the weapons might be used to commit or facilitate the violation and suppression of human rights’.² Human rights issues also feature in the export assessment criteria included in the ATT.³