3. Transfers of "Surplus" Arms

Surplus weapons are a predictable consequence of changing security requirements, defence restructuring and re-equipment programmes. States periodically have to dispose of significant quantities of surplus small arms and ammunition. The importance of responsible disposal of surplus and illegal weapons has been recognised by the international community, especially with regard to small arms and light weapons (SALW). The 1997 UN General Assembly Resolution on SALW stated that: "All States should exercise restraint with respect to the transfer of the surplus of small arms and light weapons manufactured solely for…use by the military and police forces. All States should…consider the possibility of destroying such surplus weapons".(42)

This international consensus was reinforced and developed by governments in Europe through the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In 2000 the OSCE agreed a politically binding Document on Small Arms. All the 15 EU states and the 10 new states are members of the OSCE and are bound by this agreement. Section 4, part C, paragraph 1 states that:

"The participating States agree that the preferred method for the disposal of small arms is destruction. Destruction should render the weapon both permanently disabled and physically damaged. Any small arms identified as surplus to a national requirement should, by preference, be destroyed. However, if their disposal is to be effected by export from the territory of a participating State, such an export will only take place in accordance with the export criteria set out in Section IIIA, paragraphs 1 and 2 of this document."(43)

Despite such international commitments and obligations, some European states (see examples below) have not provided adequate resources or political will to ensure that surplus SALW are disposed of responsibly. Officials are essentially instructed to dispose of them as quickly as possible, without expense and if possible at a profit. In some EU and new Member States this practice has led to arms being transferred to criminals or to security forces or non-state actors that have used such weaponry for human rights abuses.


New Member States

Although some EU Member States also sold surplus arms following the end of the Cold War,(44) a number of the new Member States together with other Central and Eastern European countries sold off large amounts of their surplus Soviet-era weapons and ammunition. This is particularly true for candidates for NATO membership, as well as new NATO members, who have been modernizing their armed forces in line with NATO guidelines. The surplus weapons have sometimes been transferred to conflict zones or to governments with a record of using similar weapons to facilitate human rights abuses.(45)

Some limited regional and international initiatives have been initiated to attempt to address the ongoing cascade of surplus weapons from the former Soviet Bloc to the world's human rights and conflict zones, by reducing the quantities of such weapons available for sale. NATO and its Partnership for Peace program, for example, have made funds available for the destruction of surplus small arms in NATO candidate countries, as have individual donor countries from the EU. However, some of those EU New Member States with large surplus arms have not taken full advantage of these offers of support.

Slovakia:
Slovakia had failed to utilise such programs. Instead sales of surplus weapons were found to comprise a significant portion of Slovakia's foreign trade in arms. In 2000, for example, nearly two-thirds of all arms exports were surplus weapons, as opposed to new production.(46)

Many more surplus weapons are expected to come onto the market as Slovakia institutes military reforms that will considerably reduce the size of its forces.(47) By 2010 Slovakia plans to reduce its forces by 21,000 troops, and the country will seek to shed heavy equipment in favour of lighter military equipment that can be more rapidly deployed. Official information on Slovakia's military holdings, when compared to its planned force structure for 2010, reveal the scale of weapons that could potentially be dumped onto the market place: In 2002 the Slovak armed forces had 271 battle tanks in their arsenal, and by 2010 this number was expected to be reduced to 52; the 524 armored combat vehicles held in 2002 are to be brought down to 164 by 2010.(48)

The Slovak military has also made clear that it intends to use revenue from the sale of unneeded weapons to finance its modernization.(49) In the absence of a well-funded destruction surplus arms destruction program, the financial incentive to sell surplus arms is strong. According to a 2001 estimate, the destruction of surplus battle tanks reportedly costs approximately 100,000 SKK (some $2000) per unit in Slovakia. Surplus tanks sold to Angola, on the other hand, were said to have earned some 700,000 SKK (approximately $15,000) apiece.(50) A senior MOD official said Slovakia was able to sell only a few of the more than twenty surplus MiG-21 fighter planes it had on offer in the late 1990s, and that the cost of dismantling the rest was 150,000 SKK (approximately $3000) per unit.(51) Selling the weapons not only spares the government the added expense of storage or destruction, it also earns income for the government. In the first half of 2000, the Slovak MOD reportedly added 73 million SKK (more than $1. 5 million) to its budget from the sale of surplus aircraft and tanks.(52)

Pressures to make sales are such that the government often intervenes to market the surplus wares of its military.(53) According to official data, from 1999 to the end of 2002 Slovakia sold Angola 205 battle tanks, thirty-eight large-calibre artillery systems, and twenty-five combat planes. Most were direct exports of surplus weapons from Slovak stocks, but a considerable number were re-exports by Slovak companies of weapons from the arsenals of Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. (54)

Poland:
A 1999 shipment of Polish tanks to Yemen was diverted en route and reportedly delivered to Sudan, sparking an international scandal that drew attention to the risk of weapons diversion and the responsibility of arms exporters to evaluate more carefully potential arms clients. The shipments were part of a deal between Yemen and Poland's state-run Cenzin arms company reportedly worth $1.2 million.(55) However despite this history of diversion by Yemen, Poland continued to engage in the arms trade with Yemen, with confirmed exports in 2001.(56)

Poland has also continued to sell off other Soviet-standard weapons. In early 2002 it reportedly had some 800 outdated tanks available for sale. It was seeking markets for its surplus weapons in Asian countries, including Indonesia.(57)

Czech Republic:
Between the end of 2000 and the beginning of 2001, the Czech Ministry of Interior started selling significant quantities of surplus SALW to selected Czech firms that wanted to export the weapons abroad. The arms, which belonged to the old Interior Ministry troop arsenals, included hundreds of machine guns, tens of thousands of submachine guns and 40 bazookas.(58) In the recent past the Czech government has licensed the transfer of surplus conventional arms to governments with poor human rights records. For example, in 2000 the Czech government agreed a licence for the transfer of an estimated 16 RM 70 122mm mobile rocket launchers from ex Czech army stocks to Sri Lanka. These were delivered in 2000-1. Sri Lanka also received an estimated 41 T-55 AM-2 main battle tanks again from ex-Czech army stocks. Similarly the government of Zimbabwe received a consignment of six ex-Czech army RM 70 122mm multiple rocket launchers in 2000.(59)

There have also been concerns about Czech surplus weapons transfers to governments with poor end use controls and a history of diversion. In 1999 the Czech government licensed the transfer of an estimated 106 T-55 AM-2 main battle tanks – all ex Czech army, possibly including T-54 tanks, possibly modernised before delivery - to Yemen.(60) Previously, Poland was reported to have halted a shipment of 20 T-55s bound for Yemen after it was found that an earlier shipment of 20 T-55s had found its way to Sudan (see above).

Nevertheless, the Czech government announced in August 2002 that it would offer for sale nearly 200 surplus battle tanks and some fifty combat planes.(61) It was also reported in February 2002 that the Czech Interior Ministry intends, over the next few years, to sell off 45,000 police pistols. The company Ceska Zbrojovka began supplying the police with the same number of new weapons at the beginning of the year. In reply to a question on whether the Czech Interior Ministry is capable of guaranteeing that the 45,000 pistols will not eventually end up in embargoed regions of the world, where they could be misused, the Czech Interior Minister Anna Stanclova said: "We are very careful about selling weapons. Only companies that have a license to deal in weapons obtain them. Nevertheless, we are unable to guarantee that they do not then end up in these regions." (62)


EU Member States before 2004 enlargement

However, it is not only new Member States that have been guilty of irresponsibly exporting surplus arms contrary to the criteria of the EU Code, but also some of the existing EU members.

Denmark:
The Danish government reportedly gave a false statement to UN in an apparent attempt to hide an irresponsible export of surplus weapons. In March 2001, as part of a UN fact-finding operation into SALW, the UN Secretary General invited Member States to inform them about national measures to "destroy surplus, confiscated or collected small arms and light weapons."(63) In their response to the UN the Danish authorities claimed that: "All small arms and light weapons of the police forces which have been taken out of service are destroyed centrally through melting or shredding."(64) However it was subsequently reported that the Danish Minister of Justice, Ms Lene Espersen, admitted that this information was false and that instead of destroying such weapons the Danish authorities had sold them to a German arms dealer.(65)

Since 1998 10,000 old Walther 7.65mm calibre guns previously in service with the Danish police have been replaced with new 9mm weapons from the German arms producer Heckler and Koch. Part of the 24 million Danish kroner cost of the arms replacement deal was offset by Heckler and Koch agreeing to buy the old weapons from the Danish government for a cost of 7 million kroner, with the purpose of selling them on the open weapons market. It has since been reported that some of these guns have been sold over the internet.(66)

This surplus weapons sell off is contrary to the spirit of UN General Assembly resolutions on SALW, which have been strongly supported by Danish government. For example the 1998 UNGA resolution says that: "All States should exercise restraint with respect to the transfer of the surplus of small arms and light weapons manufactured solely for…use by the military and police forces. All States should…consider the possibility of destroying such surplus weapons.(67)"

Statewatch reported that at no time during the deal did the Danish police enquire of the Danish Foreign Ministry whether they would be violating Danish government small arms policy. The police stated that the deal would not be violating the UN resolutions and that if people wanted guns and "did not have the possibility to buy the police weapons they would, all things considered, buy other weapons."

In another example from 1999, the Danish army sold 40,000 used 7.62 Garand rifles to a private arms dealer.The rifles were then sold to a dealer in Canada. When the Canadian arms dealer applied to the Canadian government for a license to export the rifles to the USA, the Canadian government refused. The dealer then took the guns apart and shipped the components to the USA for later re-assembly. The subterfuge came to light in 2000 when some 20,000 rifles were seized by US and Canadian Customs in the biggest arms seizure in US history.(68)

In December 2003, after these press revelations, the Danish Justice Minister Lene Espersen confirmed that police and military sales of used firearms would be suspended: "There will be no agreements in the future on the sale of decommissioned police weapons. These weapons will be destroyed in the future."(69) Similarly the Defence Ministry has decided that the military will no longer sell or turn over handguns to civilians, unless the weapons have been rendered unusable in advance.(70)

United Kingdom :
The UK government asserted in 2000(71) that small arms declared surplus by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) (other than automatic weapons, which are routinely destroyed) are "made available only to Governments, for use by acceptable military, paramilitary and police organisations, either directly or through duly licensed entities authorised to procure weapons."(72) Surplus weapons are sold by the Disposal Services Agency (DSA), which is a subsidiary of the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), within the MOD. The DSA "normally requires overseas governments which purchase surplus MOD equipment to obtain a UK export licence before collection of equipment from the UK."(73)

Two major aims of the DSA are to secure the best financial return from the sale of surplus equipment and to promote British business. As such, there is a tension between the principles governing the disposal of surplus small arms and the basic aims of the DSA. This was highlighted in late 2002, when, at the African Aerospace and Defence Exhibition hosted by the South African government, the DSA had a brochure offering the SA80 rifle (designated the L85A1), including the most recently updated model L85A2 for sale.(74) This most recent update was only just being introduced into the UK armed forces at the time, so it seems strange that at the same time it was being marketed as surplus weaponry. The last African Aerospace and Defence Exhibition attracted more than 20,000 trade visitors from five continents and 40 countries. In all, 87 official delegations representing 37 countries attended the exhibition.(75)

It is of concern that these sophisticated and deadly small arms were being marketed in South Africa, a country which has one the highest rates of gun violence in the world,(76) and which is in the midst of the Southern African region where the uncontrolled proliferation and misuse of SALW by state and non-state actors has resulted in widespread human rights abuses in many countries. This marketing of surplus rifles contradicts the UK's positive work in combating weapon proliferation in Southern Africa, through its role since December 1998 in the EU-SADC dialogue on small arms.

As well as marketing SALW, the DSA has also advertised surplus ammunition and explosive ordnance. At both the International Defense Industry, Aerospace and Maritime Fair (IDEF) 2003 (Turkey) and Defence Systems and Equipment International Exhibition and Conference (DSEI) 2003, the DSA was offering ammunition and mortar rounds for sale to government representatives. A picture on the brochure was identified as the .224 BOZ round developed by Civil Defence Supply in the UK – a modern high power round. (77).

Germany:
In January 2004, it was reported that the Interior Ministry of Lower Saxony was considering the option of selling a large amount of old police weapons on the free market. By 2006, around 15,000 to 17,000 type P7 pistols will be replaced by the more modern type P 2000 and will thus become redundant. According to the Ministry, these weapons will be 'sold to reliable companies and traders'. Whether the weapons will remain within Germany or whether they will be exported is currently unknown. (78)

France:
On 19 May 2003, France's Ministry of the Interior signed a contract with J.P. Sauer & Sohn's French partner Rivolier S.A. for the provision of the new duty pistol for the French law enforcement authorities. Under this contract the companies will deliver over 200,000 pistols to the French Gendarmerie Nationale, Police Nationale and French Customs. (79) At the time of writing the French government has not responded to requests from Amnesty International for a statement on whether the surplus pistols being replaced will be destroyed or sold and if to be sold, to whom.(80)

Key lessons to be learned

EU Member States should agree without delay an Operative Provision to ensure that transfers of surplus arms do not contravene any of the EU Code criteria. EU states must never export or transfer surplus arms to countries where they will be used for human rights violations, breaches of international humanitarian law or other violations of international law.

The EU Member States should agree without delay a binding Common Position, to destroy all confiscated illegal arms and to make every effort to destroy arms deemed surplus to their security needs - including both police and military arms and potentially lethal security equipment. Where such destruction is not possible, surplus arms should be securely stockpiled. EU Member States should provide human and financial assistance to EU partners with insufficient resources to carry out destruction or secure stockpiling programmes.