The global arms trade accounts for around 40% of all corruption in world trade and is responsible for over half a million deaths a year. Shrouded in national-security-imposed secrecy the trade is conducted by a tiny elite of politicians, corporate executives, military and intelligence leaders, intermediaries and enablers, all of whom operate with virtual impunity. At the fulcrum of business and politics the trade undermines democracy, the rule of law and good governance, while making the world less safe. Our arms trade and militarism project aims to reveal the functioning of this secretive trade, and the militarist mindset that underpins it, in order to hold those involved to account and to advocate for a highly regulated, accountable broad-based approach to human and national security.
The Arms Out film tour is intended to bring outreach events that are tailored for local communities to explore the links between your work and the arms trade. Our goal is to support ongoing and potential campaign work on a range of issues, and to provide opportunity for people to discover ways they can further anti arms trade work in their area.
Download the Tour Pack here (or book directly here) to read more about the organisations involved and possible events to take to your communities.
See our recent Double Down News video series here:
Key Resources
Read SWI Directors’ latest article in the Brown Journal of World Affairs here
Read Andrew Feinstein & Imti Choonara on Arms Sales and Child Health here
Hear Andrew Feinstein on PPLAAF’s Whistleblower podcast The Witness here
Hear Andrew Feinstein on the Warrior Nation podcast on Spotify and Apple
Para hispanohablantes: ‘Disparando dólares: cuando la paz no sale a cuenta‘
Read Andrew Feinstein’s latest on Dutch war criminal and arms trafficker Guus Kouwenhoven for the Daily Maverick here.
Read his letter to President Ramaphosa and Foreign Minister Pandor on the global ceasefire, SA arms dealing and sanctuary for war crimes perpetrator & arms dealer Guus Kouwenhoven here.
Watch Andrew Feinstein at the Wall Exchange here
Read How a Notorious Arms Dealer Hijacked Niger’s Budget and Bought Weapons From Russia here.
Britain’s ‘robust’ arms export controls are a fiction
Andrew Feinstein and Alexandra Smidman’s latest article for Declassified UK explains the complete absence of accountability domestically and internationally in UK arms export controls.
Investigations
We undertake path-breaking, indicative investigations into corruption, malfeasance and human rights abuses in the global trade in weapons. We work with media partners to publish these investigations as widely as possible, with prosecutors where appropriate to encourage legal action, with MPs and governments to improve and enforce the regulatory environment and with civil society to develop campaigns against the perpetrators and their enablers.
Recent investigations include:
The Anglo-Italian job
Leonardo SpA, previously called Finmeccanica, one of the top ten largest defence companies on the planet, and partly owned by the Italian state, has over the past decade been embroiled in multiple corruption scandals around the world. This report covers the most egregious of those scandals and recommends action by multiple actors to deal with these issues.
State-sponsored bribery: Airbus
The Serious Fraud Office’s investigation into Airbus’s UK subsidiary GPT Special Project management is one of the most politically symbolic investigations on its books.
Dereliction of duty
In the summer of 2014, the UK government approved the export of the KNM Horten, a large former Norwegian naval vessel, by a UK company, CAS-Global, to Nigeria. The boats ended up in the hands of Global West Vessel Services, a company reportedly controlled by the former Nigerian warlord Tompolo.
Rolls Royce
Our investigation into Rolls Royce, along with other investigative work, resulted in the BBC Programme How Rolls Royce Bribed Its Way Around the World.
South African arms deal
In 1999 the young democracy spent around £6 billion on weapons that it arguably didn’t need and in which it is estimated £220 million in bribes were paid.
Yemen
The conflict in Yemen has claimed over 100,000 lives, with over 10,000 innocent civilians dying, often as a consequence of illegal, intentional targeting, according to reports of the UN Expert Panel on Yemen.
Outreach and activism
To disseminate information about the global arms trade we engage in a wide array of screenings, lectures, teach-ins, training and other events around the world. At each of these events we encourage the creation of new or the growth and deepening of existing anti-arms trade groups who we empower with regular information, training, strategic campaigning advice and support and general media support.
Utilising the Shadow World film (see Film and Books) we undertake screenings around the world, wherever possible with someone from SWI or our partners in attendance to conduct a Q&A and discussion. If you would like to arrange a screening please fill out the contact form on the site.
with speakers Andrew Feinstein, Lowkey and Lindsey German
Regulatory Change & Legal Advocacy
In addition to our investigative, outreach and campaigning work, we undertake specific activities to try and improve the regulatory and enforcement environment around the global arms trade and financial malfeasance. These include:
UK Parliament Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC)
Besides giving evidence to the CAEC, we have also been highly critical of the Committee, its failure to meaningfully oversee arms exports to undemocratic regimes and countries engaged in conflict.
Together with Members of Parliament we arranged and participated in a Citizen’s CAEC at Westminster, where the evidence the Parliamentary Committee should be hearing, but is not, was presented by experts on and victims of British arms sales. It is intended to take this Citizen’s CAEC around the UK. Together with other organisations in the UK, we are calling for a permanent Standing Committee on Arms Export Controls to provide meaningful oversight of a flawed process. We are also in discussion with MPs and political parties about an improved arms export control system and the creation of a Defence Diversification Agency.
UN Convention Against Corruption
SWI participated in a UN Expert Panel meeting on the UN Convention Against Corruption in Oslo in June 2019. In relation to the arms trade, the outcome statement explicitly recommends the following: ‘Economic offset offers in the context of defence procurement decisions should be prohibited and transparency should be ensured as regards intermediaries, the services provided, and the fees received, in line with national legislation.’
Offsets:
SWI’s Director of Investigations Paul Holden has published a peer-reviewed article in the Economics of Peace and Security Journal that shows how the offset program attached to the South African ‘Arms Deal’ of 1999 failed to deliver on its optimistic economic promises. The case-study shows that there are pressures that would apply in all defence offset deals that ensures that they deliver considerably less economic benefit than defence companies ever admit.
You can read his article here (full text for subscribers only).
Legal Advocacy:
Where appropriate, we work behind the scenes with prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to facilitate legal cases against corruption, human rights abuses and other malfeasance in the global arms trade. We have done this most prominently in South Africa, but also in the US, the UK, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, amongst others.
Climate and conflict
We are in the early stages of working with Fridays4Future and Extinction Rebellion on the crucial links between the defence sector, conflict and climate change.
This report from the Watson Institute at Brown University provides an excellent overview of these issues, including the reality that the Pentagon is the biggest polluter on the planet.
We intend to undertake similar work on the UK and other countries.