Weapons and arms from dozens of countries
including Russia, China and the US have fallen into the hands of Islamic
State militants who in turn have used them to kill, terrorise and
attack.
A damning report by human rights group Amnesty International has found Islamic State atrocities have been fuelled by decades of reckless arms trading — and it’s partly the west’s fault.
In its report released today, Taking Stock: The arming of Islamic State, Amnesty reveal lax controls and decades of a poorly regulated arms trade are to blame for the terror group acquiring a huge and deadly arsenal of weapons.
Amnesty said widespread corruption within successive Iraqi governments had also given Islamic State unprecedented access to firepower.
The terror group have used these weapons to commit gross war crimes in both Syria and Iraq and also to take control over areas across Syria and Iraq.
The report draws on expert analysis of thousands of verified videos and images and details how IS fighters are using arms, mainly looted from Iraqi military stocks, which were manufactured and designed in more than two dozen countries, including EU states.
Other weapons have been acquired during battle, through illicit trade as well as through defection of fighters across Syria and Iraq.
Patrick Wilcken, Researcher on Arms Control, Security Trade and Human Rights at Amnesty International said the vast and varied weaponry being used by militants was “a textbook case of how reckless arms trading fuels atrocities on a massive scale.”
Note EU-Digest: the solution is simple: but the implementation is nearly impossible. National governments in cooperation with the UN must register all local and international arms dealers and trace their sales and whenever possible prosecute them.The least National Governments can do is to make the life of weapons dealers more difficult. It proves once again, given the actual facts, how hypocritical governments are when it comes to curbing their profitable weapons industry.
Read more: ISIS weapons sourced from Russia, China, US and EU
A damning report by human rights group Amnesty International has found Islamic State atrocities have been fuelled by decades of reckless arms trading — and it’s partly the west’s fault.
In its report released today, Taking Stock: The arming of Islamic State, Amnesty reveal lax controls and decades of a poorly regulated arms trade are to blame for the terror group acquiring a huge and deadly arsenal of weapons.
Amnesty said widespread corruption within successive Iraqi governments had also given Islamic State unprecedented access to firepower.
The terror group have used these weapons to commit gross war crimes in both Syria and Iraq and also to take control over areas across Syria and Iraq.
The report draws on expert analysis of thousands of verified videos and images and details how IS fighters are using arms, mainly looted from Iraqi military stocks, which were manufactured and designed in more than two dozen countries, including EU states.
Other weapons have been acquired during battle, through illicit trade as well as through defection of fighters across Syria and Iraq.
Patrick Wilcken, Researcher on Arms Control, Security Trade and Human Rights at Amnesty International said the vast and varied weaponry being used by militants was “a textbook case of how reckless arms trading fuels atrocities on a massive scale.”
Note EU-Digest: the solution is simple: but the implementation is nearly impossible. National governments in cooperation with the UN must register all local and international arms dealers and trace their sales and whenever possible prosecute them.The least National Governments can do is to make the life of weapons dealers more difficult. It proves once again, given the actual facts, how hypocritical governments are when it comes to curbing their profitable weapons industry.
Read more: ISIS weapons sourced from Russia, China, US and EU
