A model country with double standards

Slijper: Many countries do not adhere to international rules on weapons exports

20 January 2011

Johan van der Tol

Radio Nederland Wereldomroep

The Dutch government oversight on transshipments of arms is not as strict as international rules require.

The Netherlands produces and exports a variety of weaponry including naval vessels and advanced military electronics. And the country usually closely checks the destination of its exports to ensure they do not fall in the wrong hands. However, Dutch government oversight is much less strict - if not completely absent - where it concerns transshipments of arms passing through the port of Rotterdam or Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Frank Slijper of the NGO Campagne tegen Wapenhandel (Campaign against the Arms Trade) says many of these exporting countries do not adhere strictly to international rules.

Sri Lanka

“Research that we conducted shows that countries such as the Czech Republic and Bulgaria do not apply the rules as strictly as the Netherlands does. As a result, 20,000 Czech machine guns were shipped to Sri Lanka via Rotterdam.”

The shipment Mr Slijper is referring to was sent to Sri Lanka shortly before a 2009 government offensive in which the Tamil rebels were definitively defeated. The United Nations says at least 7,000 people were killed and government forces reportedly committed human rights violations.

Read the full article here.

Recent publications from Peace & Security

How international rules on countering the financing of terrorism impact civil society Making banks and non-profits liable for the acts and social networks of their customers and beneficiaries while holding charities and CSOs responsible for the ‘extremist’ views and actions of their associates stifles freedom of association and expression and promotes self-censorship.	Guns, debt and corruption High levels of military spending played a key role in the unfolding economic crisis in Europe and continues to undermine efforts to resolve it.
Secrets, Lies, & Propaganda After the US embrace of torture after 9/11 it was only a matter of time before Hollywood decided to make a tribute to America’s liberal culture of torture for the big screen; Zero Dark Thirty	The Other Burma Northeast India's strategic location between India, China and southeast Asia has led to a recent boom in resource extraction and investment by multinational corporations, but the world continues to remain largely silent on the human rights abuses that continue to be perpetrated by the Indian military.