rosa e noronha - 2013- arms transfers and human rights the-impacts on regions in conflict

8/16/2019 ROSA e NORONHA - 2013- Arms Transfers and Human Rights the-Impacts on Regions in Conflict

1/22

286

United Nations Human Rights Council

UFRGSMUN | UFRGS Model United Nations JournalISSN: 2318-3195 | v1, 2013| p.286-307

Arms Transfers and Human Rights: The Impacts on Re-

gions in Conflict

Renata Schmitt Noronha Júlia Oliveira Rosa

“A sword and a strong arm are no longer suffi cient for victory... only the mostmodern ries will do.”

Khedive Ismail

1. Historical background

It is widely known that weapons have long been “an important commodity”(Stohl and Grillot 2009, 11), due to Tucydides writings about the importance oweapons’ supply as early as in the Peloponesian War. Teir transers and productionwere present in all o Europe’s greatest powers throughout the centuries, such as

Italy in the feenth century, England during the sixteenth century, as well asRussia and Portugal. Portugal, as a producer and as a trader, ofen sent weaponryto Arica and Asia, helped by its already existent commercial routes. Furthermore,the arms production and trade was not a privilege o central Europe, becomingspread practices on Sweden, India, the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire and Japan(Stohl and Grillot 2009).

Afer the development o industry in the eighteenth century, weaponry becameeasier and cheaper to produce, enhancing international arms trade. In the early1800s, Egypt invested in creating a military and industrial complex o its own, the

rst in the Middle East. Simultaneously, the United States o America developed itsarms industry afer the Civil War, particularly with new technologies as the onesused in the new ries, with more modern projectiles. Te United States’ markethad been ooded with weaponry and necessity led them on the search or marketsexpansion, including in Egypt. From then on, arms export became a trend, andcountries which had the technology to produce participating on the internationaltrade, which was mostly done by private rms, up until the First World War(Stoker and Grant 2003; Krause 1992). Similarly to the United States’ industry, theGerman manuacturers also developed ries and pistols that were later exported

to Eastern Europe and the Balkans, particularly Serbia. Models were also exportedto South Arica, being highly used during the Second Boer War (1899-1902), and


2/22


3/22


4/22


5/22


6/22


7/22


8/22


9/22


10/22


11/22


12/22


13/22


14/22


15/22


16/22


17/22


18/22


19/22


20/22


21/22


22/22

rosa e noronha - 2013- arms transfers and human rights the-impacts on regions in conflict

Documents