Weapon transfers to peacekeeping missions : nothing to report?

15 December 2011

Peacekeeping operations multiply and evolve, and weapon transfers towards these missions rarely raise questions. This article develops the conditions necessary for such transfers and their implications. Even though they always appear as transfers to peacekeeping operations, they are above all transfers to the troop contributing countries, which assign them to their regiments deployed in an international operation. Within these missions, with losses, corruption and traffic, the opportunities for diverting the weapon are numerous. We should also not overlook the risks that appear after the end of the mission, when the soldiers go home, armed but sometimes aimless.