Over the past decade, States have increasingly recognized the role of corruption in fuelling arms diversion. By agreeing to share information “on corruption” to establish “effective measures to address diversion” in the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), States acknowledged that arms exports can be diverted to the illicit market through corruption. To date, however, there is a surprising dearth of analysis on the critical ways corruption can fuel diversion. Similarly, there has been little dialogue under the ATT framework so far on the regulation of brokers and brokering, including ensuring that unscrupulous brokers and activities don’t exploit institutional weaknesses susceptible to different types of corruption.
This side-event, organized in the margins of the ATT Working Group 2025 meetings, seeks to fill these gaps. To initiate discussion, it will provide an opportunity for dialogue with experts in defence, arms trade and anti-corruption fields. The event will discuss findings from Transparency International Defence and Security upcoming report, “Under the Radar: Corruption’s Role in Fuelling Arms Diversion”, including the most common types of corruption employed in arms diversion and institutional gaps that create these opportunities. Relatedly, it will feature the release of the research consortium’s (UNIDIR, Conflict Armament Research and the Stimson Center) ATT Issue Brief 5, “The Arms Trade Treaty: Regulating Brokering to Reduce the Risk of Diversion”, aimed at enhancing knowledge on brokering. It will also serve as a reference for future meaningful dialogue on this related topic within the ATT framework.
Speakers
- Francesca Grandi, Head of Advocacy, Transparency International Defence and Security
- Hardy Giezendanner, Senior Researcher, Conventional Arms and Ammunition Programme, UNIDIR
- Luigi De Martino, Head of Policy and Capacity Support, Small Arms Survey
- Alexander Burian, Senior Advisor, Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance
- Hiruni Alwishewa, University of Geneva
Moderated by Rachel Stohl, Senior Vice President of Research Programs and Director of the Conventional Defense Program, Stimson Center
When and where
Friday, 28 February, 14:00 – 15:00 CET, Room E, Geneva International Conference Centre, Geneva.
*Coffee/tea/light refreshments will be served to the participants attending in person.
Participants
The co-organizers encourage the participation of all State representatives, UN entities, representatives of other international and regional organizations, non-governmental expert organizations as well as civil society representatives and experts interested in the issue.
RSVP
Participants do not require registration to the conference to join this side event.
Further information
For questions or queries, please contact Francesca Grandi at fgrandi@transparency.org or Hardy Giezendanner at giezendanner@un.org.
In partnership with
