Slovakia urged to stop illegal arms trade

by: Sam Mwangi

Europe: Human Rights Watch demands a clamp down on the illegal arms trade from Slovakia and other Eastern European countries to African nations. The illegal trade has fueled conflict and left millions of people dead and is harming the country’s prospects of joining the European Union and NATO.

The group says that Slovakia has served as an exporter and transit hub for arms deals from other countries and many of the weapons it supplies are trafficked to human rights-abusing countries that are under United Nations arms embargos.

Between 2002 and 2003 the group carried out an investigation on the arms trade and discovered that the country exported surplus fighter jets to Angola in 2001 when the country was at war. A combat helicopter was also repaired and smuggled illegally to Liberia and in September customs officials seized several hundred Iranian rocket-propelled grenades at Bratislava airport.

The group urged the Slovak government to adopt human rights criteria for arms exports, eliminate licensing loopholes, regulate arms brokers and tackle corruption. They want Slovakia to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

In May 2004 the country is set to join the EU and it has been reforming their arms trade at the EU’s recommendation.

Source: Human Rights Watch