ROME (DIRE Agency) – Details on the supply of Italian weapons to third countries are released; via the list of which banks – and with what amounts – finance the arms industry; stop the discussion between institutions and NGOs informed about human rights violations in third countries, as well as the possibility of accompanying companies in the conversion of armaments production to something else: these would be some of the “worrying changes” to law 185/1990 on exports of Italian weapons.
Weapons beyond the logic of business and turnover. Francesco Vignarca, spokesperson for the Chamber of Deputies, raised the alarm in a press conference at the Chamber of Deputies Italian peace and disarmament networkand Anna Fasano, president of Ethical Bank.Vignarca explains: “Law 185 of 1990 was already an imperfect law, yet it was a point of reference at an international level because for the first time it sanctioned that the production of weapons is atypical due to the impact it has on wars, lives and rights Therefore, it was established that it must be regulated with criteria that go beyond the logic of business and turnover”, explicitly prohibiting export authorizations to countries involved in wars and violations of human rights.
Control mechanisms emptied. Instead, according to the expert, the reform, which “comes under pressure from the military and financial sectors”, will be “empty of control and transparency mechanisms”, to the advantage not only of producers but, in turn, of “wars, violations of rights and corruption at a global level”, in an era in which there is growing alarm over the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the war waged by Israel in the Gaza Strip, the growing tensions in the Red Sea or the civil war in Sudan.
The untrue things that are said. The spokesperson of the Net informs: “The arms industry disputes that Italian law poses a competition problem, but this is not true: a French company has no fewer rules than an Italian one, because it is bound to compliance with international treaties on arms trade. Maybe applies them differently, but then it is a problem of application, not of rules. Second, it is false to argue that the Italian military industry is suffering in recent years: the Parliament’s report for 2023 accounts for an increase in authorizations to sales worth 6.3 billion euros, i.e. 24% more than in 2022.
86% more exports In the last five years, according to Sipri data, the Italian military industry has exported 86% more”. More Sipri data, Vignarca denounces, “warn that the global military industry sector is responsible for 40% of corruption, despite representing 2-3% of the global industry”. Promoting opacity, the expert highlights, “generates a greater impact in terms of violations of laws and rules”.
The opacities reported by Francesco Vignarca. The expert of Net he then goes into the merits of the changes contained in the bill proposed by the government, and initially approved by the Senate: “They will prevent us from knowing all those details which, for example, allowed us to undertake a legal case against Italy for the sale weapons to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates”, and which were used in the war in Yemen. A trial, recalls Vignarca, which “ended with a conviction: the sentence recognized that Italy, by authorizing the sale of those armaments, violated the International Arms Trade Treaty“. For this reason it is also important that “the new Bill contains explicit reference to that Treaty, an element which is now absent”.
Access to information prevented. The spokesperson of the Net points out that the Bill prevents “access and availability of information from the Report provided to Parliament”, and for this reason asks legislators to ensure that this Report contains “analytical indications for types, quantities, monetary values and recipient countries of the authorized weapons ” not only in the interest of citizens, but of Parliament itself: “If the sale of arms is functional to our foreign policy, Parliament must be able to know how the sector moves in order to provide its political direction”.
Other alarming amendments. Other “alarming and negatively significant” amendments concern the cancellation of the possibility for the Unit for the Authorization of Arms Materials (Uama, a body under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) to deal with national and international NGOs dealing with of human rights, and which often possess valuable information”, and then the elimination of the Office for the Coordination of Armaments at the Presidency of the Council, which had “the task of proposing industrial conversion programs to arms companies ready to exit from that sector”.
The voice of the Ethical Bank. Anna Fasano, president of Ethical Bank – an institution born precisely from organizations and social enterprises determined to implement law 185 in practice – indicates another “crucial” amendment: “We want to eliminate article 27 which lists the banking institutions authorized to finance the arms industry”, and “the figures of such financing”. A transparency rule which over the years, Fasano recalls, “has produced various results including policies relating to the arms trade, created precisely at the request of savers”.
An anachronistic and counter-trend reform. This reform, which is progressing rapidly and could be approved by July, “is not only anachronistic – reports Fasano – but also in contrast with the requests of the European institutions, which ask for greater transparency on the part of banking institutions”. Fasano again: “Let’s not forget that our parliament has approved financial education in schools” as an internal element “of global citizenship education”. To draw attention to the topic, in addition to the petition ‘No more favors for arms dealers ‘, the two leaders announce a public meeting on April 17 from 11 am at the headquarters of the Libera organization in Rome, in which representatives of all political forces will be invited to discuss with voices from civil society.
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– 2024-04-05 04:29:24
