Arms Transfer Decisions: Applying International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law Criteria ‒ a Practical Guide

States have committed to making their arms transfer decisions subject to respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law. Steps must now be taken to ensure that these criteria are applied in practice.

The ICRC’s Arms Transfer Decisions: Applying International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law Criteria ‒ a Practical Guide aims to assist States and concerned organizations in this endeavour. It provides guidance on and indicators for assessing the risk of arms transfers being used to violate IHL or human rights law.

This second edition of the Guide, which was first published in 2007, takes into account the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty in 2013 and other developments, and expands the publication’s scope to cover respect for human rights law, in addition to respect for IHL.