The Forum on the Arms Trade is a network of civil society experts and a point of contact for strengthening public efforts to address the humanitarian, economic and other implications of arms transfers, security assistance, and weapons use. Managed from Washington DC, the Forum provides a venue for bringing its community's wide-ranging expertise together to amplify and strengthen its work, while also offering government and media members a one-stop resource for the latest information, analysis, and best contacts. Forum-listed experts are located around the world and work on diverse topics including human rights, development, arms control, humanitarian disarmament, cybersecurity, arms and the environment, anti-corruption, and related fields.

Resource Page - Int'l Trade of Firearms & Ammunition: Move to Commerce Control

BREAKING - November 7, media reports indicate that the Trump administration has made a decision to move these rules forward. 

On February 4, 2019, Congress was notified of final rules to transfer of some items on US Munitions List (USML) categories I-III to the Commerce Control List (CCL), starting a 30-day review period. Legislation to block the change has now been introduced in both the Senate and the House and a hold placed delaying its implementation. A hearing on this topic is was held Tuesday, March 26, in the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. On May 14, more than 100 organizations sent a letter to Congress opposing the changes.

On July 11, the House added an amendment (#10) to the NDAA, which would block these changes, by a vote of 225 to 205. On July 12, the House passed the full NDAA by a vote of 220 to 197, but the NDAA has since remained stalled in conference. The Senate version did not contain this provision. On October 24, 44 organizations delivered a letter calling for retention of this amendment in the NDAA, along with many others.

2018
​The proposed rule was published on May 24 and closed for public comment on July 9, 2018.

See resource for concerns expressed and more information.

Arms Supplies: Turkey's Military Actions in Syria

Worries about harm to civilians and misuse of weapons are some of the concerns raised as a number of countries are taking action to limit future weapons supplied to Turkey and Congressional leaders seek similar measures in response to Turkey's military actions in Syria. See resource page.. 

Experts Publications

​Highlighting publications in which Forum-listed experts were involved. Inclusion on the Forum on the Arms Trade expert list does not indicate agreement with or endorsement of the opinions of others.
Rachel Stohl, Shannon Dick, "Global Arms Trade: Setting an Example for Responsible Policy," Stimson Center issue brief, November 7, 2019.

Wim Zwijnenburg​, "The Environment Has Become a Hostage to Armed Conflict," New Security Beat, Wilson Center, November 7, 2019.

Rachel Stohl+, "Trump administration turns its back on child soldiers again," The Hill, November 4, 2019.

Jeff Abramson, "Explosive Weapons Declaration Gains Momentum," Arms Control Today, vol. 49, no. 9, November 4, 2019.

​Allison Pytlak+, "Armed Drones" First Committee Monitor, vol. 17, no. 5, November 4, 2019.

Denise Garcia+, "​​The Artificial Intelligence Arms Race: Trends and World Leaders in Autonomous Weapons
Development," Global Policy, vol. 10, no. 3, September 2019.

Robert Muggah+, "We can halve most forms of violence by 2030. Here's how," World Economic Forum, October 28, 2019.

Laura Boillot, "Explosive Weapons," First Committee Monitor, vol. 17, no. 4, October 28, 2019.

Ray Acheson, "Liar, Liar, People on Fire," editorial, First Committee Monitor, vol. 17, no. 4, October 28, 2019.

​Allison Pytlak, "Converging Agendas: Global Norms on Gender, Small Arms, and Development" in "Gender-responsive Small Arms Control: A Practical Guide," Small Arms Survey, October 25, 2019.

William Hartung, "US Arms Sales Include Discounts for Dictators," Inkstick, October 25, 2019.

Rachel Stohl, "The Known Unknowns: Examining the 2018 ATT Annual Reports," Arms Trade Treaty-Baseline Assessment Project (Stimson Center), October 24, 2019.

​Laura Boillot, "Explosive Weapons," First Committee Monitor, vol. 17, no. 3, October 21, 2019.

Allison Pytlak, "Cyber," First Committee Monitor, vol. 17, no. 3, October 21, 2019.

Shannon Dick, "How the United States can ensure American weapons aren't used for human rights abuses," MilitaryTimes, October 17, 2019.

Dan Mahanty+, "We Americans Always Say We Do Our Best Not to Hurt Civilians. But Our Best Isn't Good Enough | Opinion," Newsweek, October 17, 2019.

William Hartung, "To Curb Turkey's Invasion of Syria, Cut off US Arms and Support," Inkstick, October 15, 2019.

Doug Weir+, "The United Kingdom's practice on the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts," Conflict and Environment Observatory, October 14, 2019.​

Allison Pytlak, "Cyber," First Committee Monitor, vol. 17, no. 2, October 14, 2019.

Laura Boillot, "Explosive Weapons," First Committee Monitor, vol. 17, no. 2, October 14, 2019.

Mary Wareham, "Fully Autonomous Weapons," First Committee Monitor, October 14, 2019.

William Hartung, "Turkey Issue Brief," Security Assistance Monitor, October 11, 2019.

William Hartung, "Turkey's Invasion of Syria, Made In The USA," Forbes, October 10, 2019.

Erin Hunt+, "#WPSAdvice: Put Canada Back in Humanitarian Disarmament," Women, Peace and Security Network - Canada, October 10, 2019.

Ray Acheson, "Preserving First Committee's Global Village," First Committee Monitor, vol. 17, no. 1, October 7, 2019. 
​
Allison Pytlak, "States commit to take political action on explosive weapons at Vienna Conference," First Committee Monitor, vol. 17, no. 1, October 7, 2019.

​William Hartung, "Why is the United States still siding with the ruthless regime in Saudi Arabia?" The Washington Post, October 6, 2019.

Anna Stavrianakis, "UK Stance on Khashoggi murder betrayed by unlawful arms sales to Saudis," The Guardian, October 3, 2019.

Bonnie Docherty, "The Function of Political Declarations," Conference on Protecting Civilians in Urban Warfare, October 2, 2019.

William Hartung+, "Trump and money are shielding Saudi Arabia from accountability for Khashoggi's killing," Los Angeles Times, October 2, 2019.

Cesar Jaramillo+, "Canada joins the Arms Trade Treaty - but will it cancel the Saudi deal?" OpenCanada, October 1, 2019.

Josh Ruebner, "It's time for Congress to defund Trump's 'favourite dictator'," Alaraby, September 26, 2019 (updated).

​Dan Gettinger, "The Drone Databook," Center for the Study of the Drone, September 25, 2019.

Iain Overton, "A Hospital on the Edge of Civilisation," Byline Times, September 23, 2019.

Wim Zwijnenburg, "Time to Harden International Norms on Armed Drones," Defense One," September 21, 2019.

Diana Ohlbaum+, "Diplomacy is still the best option for dealing with Iran," The Hill, September 20, 2019.

Roy Isbister, "The UK's Arms-to-Saudi quagmire: from tragedy to farce," Saferworld, September 20, 2019.
View the full list of recent and past publications featuring Forum on the Arms Trade-listed experts.

U.S. Presidential Election 2020 - Candidate Positions 

Quotes and other resources identifying positions of 21 candidates for U.S. President on three key arms trade issues: Arms Trade Treaty; arms to Saudi-led coalition; firearms export oversight. Will be expanded and updated regularly. See resource.

Notification Tracker

New FMS notifications: November 7 - United Arab Emirates - $830.3 million for 10 Chinook cargo helicopters October 30 - Croatia - $115 million for two (2) UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters October 29 - Japan - $4.5 billion to upgrade of up to ninety-eight (98) F-15J October 22 - Bahrain - $150 million to refurbish a retired Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate for transfer October 17 - South Korea $253 million for 120 AIM-120C-7/C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) October 10 - Kuwait $281 million for M88A2 HERCULES recovery vehicles Tunisia - $234 million for 12 T-6C Texan II aircraft October 3 - Ukraine $39.2 million for 150 Javelin missiles October 1 - Japan $140 million AEGIS follow-on support September 24 - Thailand $400 million 8 light attack helicopters Qatar $86 million for head of state aircraft protection September 11 - Morocco $776 million for 2400+ TOW (anti-tank) missiles; $209 million for 6000+ bombs September 10 - Poland $6.5 billion for 32 F-35s August 27 - Japan $3.295 billion for SM-3 Block IIA missiles South Korea $72 million for torpedoes Hungary $500 million for air-to-air missiles Lithuania $170.8 million light tactical vehicles Denmark $200 million for Sonar and Sonobuoys  August 20 - Taiwan $8 billion for F-16 aircraft August 7 - South Korea $800 million for multi-mission helicopters July 29 - South Korea $950 million for support to RQ-4 Block 30 remotely piloted aircraft Egypt $544 million for ship support Canada $44 million for radio syems July 26 - India $670 million for C-17 support Pakistan $125 million for F-16 support Thailand $175 million for 60 Stryker infantry carriers July 12 - Greece $600 million for 7 MH-60R helicopters Germany $401 million for 50 PAC-3 missiles July 8 - Taiwan $2 billion for Abrams tanks and $223.56 million for Stinger missiles   see resource 

2020 Annual Conference

U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan

After months of anticipation, on August 20, 2019, the Trump administration formally notified Congress of the possible sale of 66 F-16 fighter aircraft to Taiwan for $8 billion, drawing greater attention to U.S.-Taiwan arms sales, especially as U.S.-China trade talks appeared to be faltering. See resource page.

High School Debate '19-20

Check our resource page designed to help U.S. high school debate participants in the current national series focused on the arms trade.

"Arms Trade FAQ" videos

See transcripts and more details here.

Experts

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other partners, listed experts, or resources produced by the Forum.