US arms sales fuel conflict around the world: Study

The US arms trade is booming, sales reached USD 32 billion in 2007, and more than half of the purchasers in the developing world are either undemocratic governments or regimes that engaged in human rights abuses, a private think tank reported.

The US arms trade is booming, sales reached USD 32 billion in 2007, and more than half of the purchasers in the developing world are either undemocratic governments or regimes that engaged in human rights abuses, a private think tank reported.

Timed to the 60th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the report by the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan policy institute, named 13 of the top 25 arms purchasers in the developing world as either undemocratic or engaged in major human rights abuses.

The 13 listed in the report were Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Egypt, Colombia, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Morocco, Yemen and Tunisia.

Sales to these countries totaled more than USD 16.2 billion over 2006 and 2007.

The total ‘contrasts sharply with the Bush administration’s pro-democracy rhetoric,’ the report said.

Also, the report said that 20 of the 27 nations engaged in major armed conflicts were receiving weapons and training from the United States.

“US arms transfers are undermining human rights, weakening democracy and fueling conflict around the world,” the report said.

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William D Hartung, the lead author of the report, said, “The United States cannot demand respect for human rights and arm human rights abusers at the same time.”

US arms sales grew to USD 32 billion in 2007, more than three times the level when President George W Bush took office in 2001, the report said.