Brokers and brokering
One of the key issues highlighted in numerous reports published by the experts working for the UN Security Council investigating sanctions violations, and by NGOs and investigative journalists, is the vital role played by illicit arms brokers in facilitating black market arms shipments. The recipients of these arms are those groups that are prohibited by law from acquiring weapons – embargoed states, rebels and insurgents, criminal gangs, and terrorists.
That such transactions undermine the legal authority of governments and international organisations is bad enough. More importantly, a 2002 UN report on illegal arms supplies to Liberia noted that the arrival of fresh supplies of arms to combatants coincided with intensified fighting whose direct consequences were measured in the dead, wounded, and fleeing civilian population.
Organizing such illegal shipments of arms involves a large amount of skill, organization, preparation, and financial resources. Documents need to be forged, officials bribed, legitimate arms companies persuaded to sell their weapons, money laundered, and aircrew recruited. The illegal broker fulfils these functions; and acts as a ‘middle man’, bringing together the seller and purchaser of the weapons, and arranging the transport and financing of illegal arms deals.
A problem that governments have faced in bringing brokers to justice, after their role in facilitating illegal arms deals has come to light, is that in many states the activity of brokering is not covered by existing laws. While states have well established laws governing the physical export and import of arms, the activity of arranging arms transfers often falls outside the remit of their regulations.
Illegal arms brokering represents a particular challenge to governments. The activity, by definition, concerns conduct taking place in a number of jurisdictions and proof is often (as in cases of fraud) only found after following a long trail of documentary evidence.
Oslo Conference on Brokering
On 22 – 24 April 2003 the Netherlands and Norway sponsored a conference
hosted by NISAT which discussed common approaches towards ensuring effective
controls on small arms and light weapons brokering.
The Chairman's Report and Conference Report provide both a
summation of the points of agreement, and a wealth of background material on
arms brokering and measures to regulate the activity.
Download Chairman's
Report and Conference Report
The Arms Fixers
Download the full text of our groundbreaking publication on arms brokers.
The book explores the role of middlemen in setting up illegal arms deals and
contains recommendations for governments to curb their activities.
Download
The Arms
Fixers: Controlling the Brokers and Shipping Agents
Background information
A small collection of background
material has been gathered for further study. These background papers contain
both information on brokering activities and recommendations to governments
seeking to combat the
illicit trade.
Go to Background
information on Arms Brokering
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