Responsible Arms Trading

[Sciongrad]

The General Assembly,

Reaffirming its commitment to promoting international peace and goodwill,

Recognizing the extreme hazard to national populations posed by the unregulated trade of armaments,

Hoping to limit the involvement of member nations and their citizens in violence made possible by the aforementioned unregulated trade of armaments,

1. Defines "armament" as military equipment, specifically weapons and ammunition, which possesses a practical application in military conflict, including the designs or subassemblies necessary in their construction or production;

2. Defines "transfer" as the movement of an armament from one member nation, political subdivision thereof, or non-state entity associated with a member nation to any other such entity, including non-member nations and non-state entities not associated with any nation;

3. Defines "end-user certificate" as an affidavit completed by the buyer of armaments subject to the provisions of this resolution which verifies that said buyer is the final recipient of the product;

4. Defines "conquest" as the acquisition of territory through military force by a successful state at the expense of another state; for the purpose of this resolution, conquest shall not include:

• instances where member nations seek to neutralize hostile states that pose a persistent or existential threat to their sovereignty or security or
• instances where member nations seek to reclaim territory taken from them by force with no intervening period of de facto peace;

5. Assures member nations of the exclusive right to determine purely internal arms trading and firearm policy, excepting:

• those regulations recognized by the terms of this resolution or extant international law,
• future regulations which seek to prevent firearms from being sold to or used by individuals that pose a danger of performing imminent lawless action, or
• future resolutions which seek to relax regulations on purchasing firearms for recreational reasons only;

6. Requires all manufacturers, exporters, and brokers of armaments within member nations to register with the relevant governments of the nations in which they operate and the terms of such a registration shall, at minimum, encompass the provisions of this resolution;

7. Mandates that the export of armaments by any manufacturer, exporter, or broker operating within a member nation shall make the transfer of their armaments to an intended final recipient conditional on the completion of an end-user certificate by the buyer;

8. Urges member nations to implement systems of end-use monitoring to ensure that the end-user certificate is authentic, when possible;

9. Prohibits the international transfer of armaments if:

• There is reasonable evidence to suggest they will be used in contravention of extant World Assembly legislation on human rights,
• There is reasonable evidence to suggest they will be diverted from their originally intended recipient, except in instances where the transfer is absolutely necessary in protecting national security, provided that even those transfers do not violate the other provisions of this resolution or,
• There is reasonable evidence to suggest they will be used to initiate, or aid the party conducting, a war of conquest and;

10. Further prohibits the transfer of armaments to non-member nations with the intent of transferring them to nations where the aforementioned circumstances apply.

 

[Darcness]

You're missing your 'Hereby' before Clause 1.

Clause 5 seems is perhaps too broad. Rather than 'assuring the exclusive right to determine', it is cleaner to simply say your own resolution 'Assures member nations that this resolution shall not affect purely internal...' Then you don't need to write in exceptions.

Clause 9c is going to cause problems. All war is 'conquest' (even if you've tried to scope down the definition). Any weapons purchased will, arguably, eventually lead to a war of aggression.

In Clause 10, you mention 'aforementioned circumstances'. Which circumstances are those? The ones defined in Clause 9? If so, then it should be clearly called out (or Clause 10 should be made a part of Clause 9, so they are clearly linked).

 

[Sciongrad]

You're missing your 'Hereby' before Clause 1.

Clause 5 seems is perhaps too broad. Rather than 'assuring the exclusive right to determine', it is cleaner to simply say your own resolution 'Assures member nations that this resolution shall not affect purely internal...' Then you don't need to write in exceptions.

Clause 9c is going to cause problems. All war is 'conquest' (even if you've tried to scope down the definition). Any weapons purchased will, arguably, eventually lead to a war of aggression.

In Clause 10, you mention 'aforementioned circumstances'. Which circumstances are those? The ones defined in Clause 9? If so, then it should be clearly called out (or Clause 10 should be made a part of Clause 9, so they are clearly linked).

I typically don't use hereby, but can add it if you guys would prefer.

Clause 5 is actually meant to be a broad blocker on the entire gun control category. It is supposed to be as broad as possible without violating the blocker rule.

While it is possible, if not likely, that a lot of weapons will find their way to wars of aggression, the clause requires a reason to suspect that a weapon will be used for those purposes. The mere possibility existing is not a reason to suspect - some type of evidence needs to suggest that the arm will be used for that purpose before the clause applies. All wars, though, are not wars of conquest. In fact, in most wars, only one side is conducting a war of conquest while the other party or parties are defending. The clause only applies to aggressors.

Good call with clause 10. I'll make some adjustments.

 

[Imperium Anglorum]

9(a-c) are capitalised whilst none of the other alphabetised sections are capitalised.

Is it not the case that clause 7 does not require the existence of clause 6? It would be simpler and less intrusive to have government registration required only if some firm wants to export armaments.