Human Wrongs Watch
More than 60% of ships involved in reported cases of sanctions-busting or illicit transfers of arms, drugs, other military equipment and sensitive dual-use goods that could be used in the development of missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are owned by companies based in the EU, NATO or other OECD states, according to the first comprehensive study on maritime trafficking by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
*Image: Emre Dogan | Public Domain
The owners of the ships are primarily commercial shipping lines based in Germany, Greece and the USA, according to the study, which looks at all reported incidents involving larger ships during the past 20 years.
‘This doesn’t mean the ship owners, or even the captains, know what they are carrying. But it is relatively easy for traffickers to hide arms and drugs in among legitimate cargoes,’ says report co-author Hugh Griffiths.
The majority of ships involved in reported destabilizing military equipment, dual-use goods and narcotics sail under so-called flags of convenience and are registered in flag states with limited regulation and control of their merchant fleets. Nevertheless, the ship-owners are mainly companies based in European Union (EU), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member states.
