A long-awaited Government Bill does not go far enough to properly control Ireland's involvement in the "deadly" arms trade, Amnesty International has warned.
Several companies and individuals here are involved in the arms trade, including the manufacture of components supplied to Iraqi paramilitary forces accused of torture and unlawful killing, the Irish section of the human rights organisation said in a report issued yesterday.
Components used in helicopter attacks in Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan were also manufactured here, the report, entitled Controlling A Deadly Trade, disclosed.
It said companies here are involved in the transport of arms to Israel and Venezuela, providing technical assistance for armed robotic vehicles and the supply of "less lethal" security and prison equipment.
Although a 2006 documentary revealed Irish students could easily broker arms and "torture equipment" here, Ireland remains the only EU country with no controls on arms brokering, it said.
Noeleen Hartigan of Amnesty said the inadequacy of arms control laws was evident from the fact the companies in question were acting within the law. "We need effective law to ensure that military and security goods, technology and services from Ireland do not contribute to human rights abuses around the globe," she said.
Amnesty was not opposed to trade in military, security and police equipment but it "must be regulated".
Amnesty had been campaigning since 2001 for laws to regulate the arms trade and welcomed the Control of Exports Bill 2007, published last February, she said. However, that Bill was too weak. There was, for example, no ban on the export of "tools of torture" such as leg-irons and no controls on overseas licensed production agreements undertaken by Irish companies or covering the supply of military and security services and personnel.
The Bill also failed to require the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to provide sufficient information on export licences to enable scrutiny of the potential human rights impact of military and security exports.
Amnesty urged the speedy implementation of detailed recommendations in its report aimed at addressing its concerns about the Bill, including a recommendation that the Government publish the details of final end-users of equipment who secure export licences.
The Government should have to license the overflight or transit through Ireland of "military list" items or equipment which could be used for torture, it said. Some 56 civilian flights carrying weapons or munitions, including missiles and bomb parts, were permitted to land in Ireland from January 2003 to October 2006 while passing through Irish airspace, it noted.
Being among 153 countries which have expressed support for a new and legally binding international arms trade treaty, Ireland must not adopt "a minimalist approach" to controls, Ms Hartigan said. Amnesty's recommendations, she added, would have no disproportionate effect on Irish business.
Among the companies featured in the Amnesty report are Navan-based Timoney Technology Group, which was stated to be involved in designing and developing a range of armoured vehicles licensed by Timoney for production overseas and alleged to have been used in armed combat in Afghanistan.
The website of Global Defence and Safety Solutions Ltd, incorporated here in 2005, suggests it is involved in brokering defence and security equipment from Europe and America to police and military forces in the Asia/Pacific region, Amnesty said.
