Josh PaulJosh Paul
• Former Director at U.S. Department of State.
Today [21 Feb 2024] at the invitation of the State of Palestine I prepared an intervention via video for the Working Group Meeting of the Tenth Conference of States Parties to the The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) – Preparatory Process. The meeting ran out of time before it could hear from several States, let alone my own minor intervention, so instead the text of my prepared intervention will post as a working paper to the ATT website (link below) in the coming days. The prepared video is attached to this post.
In my intervention, I tell the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty that the United States Government has actual knowledge that the lethal arms it is providing Israel will be used to commit human rights violations and to commit serious violations of international law. The delegation of the State of Palestine called on all States Parties to suspend arms transfers to, and from, Israel, and my intervention calls upon the States Parties to take three specific actions to address the provision of lethal arms to Israel in the context of its violations of international law and human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
First, I call upon the United States to uphold its responsibilities as a signatory to, pending ratification of, the Arms Trade Treaty, to not undermine the purposes of the Treaty, and therefore to suspend lethal arms transfers to Israel that may be used by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Second, I call on the U.S. defense industrial base to recognize their potential criminal liability in the provision of arms where a clear risk of violation of international law exists on the part of the end user, and to take appropriate steps to remove themselves from this complicity.
Third, having worked in the arms transfer sector for over a decade, I am particularly cognizant that many States Parties are second- and third-tier suppliers to the United States, and to its defense industrial base, of parts and components for weapons systems which are transferred from the U.S. to Israel. While I believe in the importance of a strong U.S. self-defense capability-set and am grateful for the continuing armaments cooperation between the U.S. and its allies and partners when it comes to the systems that enable our own collective self-defense, I call upon the States Parties to examine those supply chains for parts and components that are being integrated into lethal weapons systems that are being provided by the United States to Israel, and to take appropriate action to restrict their transfer both directly to Israel, and via incorporation into relevant U.S. primary systems that are delivered to Israel, as is required by the Arms Trade Treaty.
Control Arms
Forum on the Arms Trade
https://lnkd.in/eVQUeC84