[Bloquez l'empire!] CBC: Canada benefits from arms sale loophole: report

[aaron at resist.ca]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/10/02/weapons-global.html



Canada and other arms-producing nations are taking advantage of a legal 
loophole to sell weapons components to countries subject to international 
arms embargoes, a new report says.

The report by Control Arms, a group comprising organizations including 
Amnesty International and Oxfam, says the arms trade, worth $1 trillion 
annually, has globalized, meaning weapons are being assembled using 
components from countries around the world with little control on where 
they end up.

For example, China's Z-10 military helicopter is built from components 
made in the United States, Britain and Canada. Pratt & Whitney Canada 
manufactures the helicopter's turboshaft engine.

Canadian, British or American rules would prohibit the sale of an entire 
helicopter to China because of its human-rights record and its sale of 
weapons to countries with a history of human-rights abuses.

However, selling only parts of a weapon is perfectly legal, a loophole the 
report, "Arms without Borders," says needs to be closed.

The report calls for a global treaty to block the sale of weapons 
components to countries that violate human rights, block the resale of 
weapons to these countries and limit the supply of such weapons to rebel 
groups around the world.

The report also urges the United Nations to do more to block the trade in 
military hardware and small arms that kill at least 300,000 people every 
year. The UN is to debate disarmament measures this week.