This book illustrates how illicit trafficking affects both the stability of states & the safety of their populations. Curbing its development & proliferation calls for a better assessment of the phenomenon & a new way of looking at problems & identifying solutions. The debate in this book centres around such prominent issues as trafficking in small arms; delivery system technologies & components; & weapons of mass destruction. The book concludes with a set of recommendations on how to develop cooperation & provides an action-oriented agenda that can be adopted by such institutions as police forces, border patrols, judiciary & parliamentary institutions, INTERPOL & intelligence services.

The purpose of this research is to explore the domestic and international markets for small arms. Firstly, the research begins by summarizing the factors contributing to the illicit market of small arms and light weapons, including their ammunition, since their inception after World War II. Secondly, it explains the social, economic, and political aspects that impact weapons trafficking. Finally, it analyzes the attitudes of countries' policies towards the international regime for regulating small arms transfers, by comparing their national laws for acquiring and dealing with small weapons, as well as the various initiatives undertaken by either countries or non-governmental organizations to curb the illicit market of small arms.

There is a growing recognition of the threat that the illicit trafficking in firearms poses to local, national and international peace and security. This report provides an account of the arms trafficking situation in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, where the criminal use of firearms is a serious problem and where foreign manufactured firearms constitute over one third of all seizures. The rampant availability of firearms to individuals and to organised criminals not only threatens the security of ordinary citizens and discredits the rule of law, but could also undermine the stability of the State in the long-run. The report illustrates the fact that combating illicit firearms requires a concerted effort at the local, regional, national and international level.

A detailed survey of a growing scourge of the global economy—the smuggling of people, materials, and money. Smuggling used to be a family business. Today it is big business. Illicit Trafficking: A Reference Handbook offers a thorough introduction to the problems of illegal trafficking that have emerged from and been intensified by globalization. This title provides an examination of how criminal enterprises have exploited opportunities to enrich themselves and broadened their involvement in many areas of illegal trafficking while compromising or evading legal authorities. The coverage includes a brief history of illicit trafficking, analyzes current problems, and examines local and global containment policies such as Presidential Decision Directive 42. It also explores key international agreements on money laundering, bank secrecy laws, extradition treaties, and technologies that have exploited legitimate business opportunities to enrich their profits while compromising or evading legal authorities.

First published in 1999, the papers collected in this volume were originally prepared for four workshops organized by the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs to inform the work of the Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms. These workshops were held during 1995-96. Some of the authors updated their papers for publication in early 1998. Lora Lumpe, senior fellow with the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers in Oslo and Tamar Gabelnick, Acting Director of the Arms Sales Monitoring Project at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC edited the presentations for this book.

Shortlisted for the 2008 Young Authors Inner Temple Book Prize There are believed to be about 700 million small arms and light weapons (SALW) in the world, often contributing to highly destabilising security and other concerns in international law. SALW are the primary source of violations and abuses of humanitarian and human rights principles by states, rebels, terrorists and criminals. Many consider them the real weapons of mass destruction of our time, causing about half a million deaths annually. The unrestricted international transfer of SALW by states (99 states and 1000 companies involved in manufacturing and supply) is one of the major contributory and aggravating factors of this crisis; another is the illicit traffic in small arms. This book deals with the proliferation of SALW and their unregulated trade and transfer across borders. It addresses questions of definition, manufacturing, trade/transfer, and issues relating to state responsibility. The primary focus is on conventional small arms, in particular military-style weapons. The book tackles the core and most divisive legal problem of whether or not the laws relating to arms control and relevant norms of international law provide substantive restrictions upon the transfer of small arms by states. The application of the norms of international peace and security, non-intervention, humanitarian and human rights laws, and evolved relevant customary rules of arms control relating to these norms are considered particularly carefully. Questions of application and enforcement of relevant rules and institutional responses to the problem are also examined. The UN began considering an arms trade treaty in 2006; the publication of the book at this critical moment in time will make a positive contribution towards shaping the debate and aims to further enhance understanding in an area where close analysis is required.