Swiss arms exports
The Swiss arms exports is foreign trade companies and consortia of the defense industry from Switzerland to arms and weapons of war . In Switzerland, the export of war goods requires approval from the Swiss Federal Council .
The volume of general armaments exported in 2017 was CHF 446.8 million - 8% more than in the previous year, which is 0.15% of Switzerland's total foreign trade.
history
In June 1972 the Federal Parliament passed the War Material Act. The law was created as a reaction to the popular initiative for increased arms control and an arms export ban , which in turn went back to the Bührle scandal when Swiss guns were fired at aid aircraft of the ICRC in Nigeria in 1968 . The law forbade the export of weapons to countries in which an armed conflict was raging or threatened to break out or where there was tension.
In 1996 and 2008 the law was tightened both times in the run-up to popular initiatives.
In 2014, the National Council passed a 94 to 93 vote to relax arms exports. Until then, Swiss companies were not allowed to deliver armaments to countries in which "human rights are systematically and seriously violated". Since then, such exports have only been banned if there is a high risk that Swiss weapons will be used for human rights violations.
In 2018, the easing was extended even to states in conflict where "there is no reason to believe" that the war material would be used in the conflict.
On June 21, 2018, the GSoA submitted a popular initiative against war deals, which is primarily directed against financing.
Recipient countries
2017
2017 was delivered in 64 states. The main recipients were:
2016
Egypt - Air Defense Systems
Bahrain - Air Defense Systems
Germany - unspecified goods
Saudi Arabia - Air Defense Systems
South Africa - unspecified goods
United States - unspecified goods
United Arab Emirates - Air Defense Systems
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Hansueli Schöchli: Arms exports are falling sharply | NZZ . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . February 21, 2017, ISSN 0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed November 8, 2017]).
- ↑ a b That is how low the hurdles for acquiring weapons are in Switzerland - now. In: watson.ch . December 3, 2018, accessed December 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Swiss cannons for Nigeria , NZZ, November 2, 2014
- ↑ Arms trade: Switzerland allows arms exports to crisis countries . In: Spiegel Online . March 6, 2014 ( spiegel.de [accessed November 9, 2017]).
- ↑ NZZ, June 22, 2018, page 13