The International Code of Conduct
on ArmsTransfers

Fact Sheet
Background

In 1995, Dr. Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica, invited his fellow Nobel Peace laureates to join him in developing an International Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers and providing moral leadership for the Code campaign.

Aims of the Code

The Commission, together with arms trade specialists at BASIC, Saferworld, Demilitarization for Democracy, the Council on Economic Priorities, and Amnesty International, has drafted the text of an International Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers which would obligate governments to uphold internationally recognized standards of democracy, human rights and peaceful international relations. More specifically, the Code would require arms suppliers to certify that all arms recipients meet the following criteria:

  • compliance with international human rights standards
  • compliance with international humanitarian law
  • respect for democratic rights
  • respect for international arms embargoes and military sanctions
  • participation in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms
  • commitment to promote regional peace, security and stability
  • opposition to terrorism
  • promotion of human development

( full text of the Nobel Peace laureates' International Code of Conduct )

The Commission of Nobel Peace Laureates

The Commission of Nobel Peace Laureates currently includes: the American Friends Service Committee (1947), Norman Borlaug (1970), Mairead Maguire (1976), Betty Williams (1976), Amnesty International (1977), Adolfo Perez Esquivel (1980), Lech Walesa (1983), the Rev. Desmond Tutu (1984), International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985), Elie Wiesel (1986), Oscar Arias (1987), the Dalai Lama (1989), Mikhail Gorbachev (1990), Rigoberta Menchú (1992), Joseph Rotblat (1995), the Pugwash Conferences (1995), José Ramos-Horta (1996), and Jody Williams (1997).

Mikhail Gorbachev (1990) declared his support for an International Code in his keynote address to the Second State of the World Forum in San Francisco in October 1996, saying, "This initiative is critical in this time of continuing instability."

Other Supporters of the Code

Jimmy Carter also communicated his support for the initiative in a recent letter addressed to the laureates, calling the International Code "a critically important step toward defining moral benchmarks which all countries in the world can and should strive to meet." Other prominent individuals have also spoken out in favor of codes of conduct, including: Robin Cook, UK Foreign Secretary; Michel Rocard, former French Prime Minister; Patricia Derian, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs; David Lange, former Prime Minister of New Zealand; Sir Brian Urquhart, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations; John Kenneth Galbraith, Professor of Economics, Harvard University; and Barber Conable, former President of the World Bank.

Related initiatives

Similar codes of conduct on arms transfers are also in place or have been proposed in the United Nations, the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union, the United States, and South Africa. In Europe, a cross-party network of over 300 parliamentarians have pledged their personal support for the EU and US codes. In addition, the new UK government outlined its commitment to the EU Code in its election platform, promising that "Labour will not permit the sale of arms to regimes that might use them for internal repression or international aggression, nor will we permit the sale of weapons in circumstances where this might intensify or prolong existing armed conflict or where these weapons might be used to abuse human rights."

The work of the Commission of Nobel Laureates will also be supported by national and regional campaigns undertaken by non-governmental organizations all over the world. An international network of NGOs will focus on gaining the support of their government for an international code of conduct. Simultaneously, the NGOs will continue their work to establish national and regional codes of conduct. Already, over 600 NGOs in Europe are promoting adoption of an EU-wide code. In the United States, 101 national NGOs and 234 regional NGOs have pledged their support for the codes; many of them are working actively to promote a US Code championed by Representatives Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) in the US House of Representatives, and John Kerry (D-MA) in the US Senate.

Facts and Figures

  • In 1995, conventional arms deliveries to the developing world totaled over US$21 billion. 2

  • In 1996, U.S. military support to developing countries amounted to $6.9 billion, with $4.3 billion going to non-democratic countries. 3

  • Half of the world's governments spend more on defense than on health care. 4

  • An estimated 1.3 billion people survive on less than the equivalent of U.S. $1 a day. Nearly a billion people are illiterate. Well over a billion lack access to safe drinking water. Some 840 million go hungry or face food insecurity. 5

1. The International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 1997/98. (London: Oxford University Press, 1997), p.264.
2. Richard F. Grimmett, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations," Congressional Research Service, 15 August 1996.
3. Demilitarization for Democracy, Dictators or Democracies? 1997. (Washington D.C: October 1997), p.25.
4. Ruth Leger Sivard,"World Military and Social Expenditures 1996," 16th edition (Washington, DC: World Priorities, 1996), p.5.
5. United Nations Development Program. Human Development Report 1997. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), p.5.




For more information on the International Code of Conduct,
contact Carlos Walker at code@arias.or.cr